Exercise Tiger: The WW2 Cover-Up Before D Day

Back in the early 1980's, I worked with a man who had been on one of the ships sunk. I still remember his exact words when I asked him about his WW2 service. He said: "Yeah, the Germans sunk our a@@" He said that the ship burned so bright, that it lit up the night sky like daylight. After he was picked up, they took him to a camp surrounded by barbwire and didn't let them out for a while, and he was told that the loss of his ship was a secret and not to tell anyone. Later he was assigned to another ship that was delivering men and supplies to the Normandy beach head. He said that after the ship had been emptied and they had to wait for a time before they could leave, some of his shipmates went onto the beach looking for souvenirs. He walked down to the edge of the ramp and was about to step onto the beach when he heard an engine revving, he looked up and a army truck was coming down the beach, and about the moment he looked at the truck, there was a tremendous explosion and the truck was destroyed. He didn't know how many were in the truck, but there were no survivors. He assumed it had hit a mine, and he never set foot on French soil.

Thanks for doing this story Chris. Talk about the wolves in amongst the sheep. I imagine those E boat crews had never experienced such an opportunity to attack their enemy before and never would again.

A sad but fascinating story, but their loss should be remembered as well.

Chris, another wonderful success and telling a part of WW2 which has been largely forgotten and kept secret, I salute you sir for your dedication to preserving history for posterity. I am sure there was a sailor out there somewhere who during a drunken episode probably tried and was successful at walking across without getting his feet wet! 😂😅 One thing I learned about being a soldier is there is no such thing as friendly fire, all fire is hostile!

Thank you, Chris, for honoring these men with your video. As an American veteran and military history lover, I've never heard of this. We Americans aren't big on highlighting our failures, especially in regards to the military. We look at blue on blue fire or training accidents as kind of "another day at the office". It's definitely a dark attitude that sometimes causes hate and discontent with our allies.

Many thanks for posting Chris! Keeping British history alive through your channel!!

I just found your channel about a month ago and it immediately became one of my favorites. Being an American Boomer, I kn😢so much through school and reading non-fiction history books about WWII regarding the US exploits but not so much about other Allies exploits and of course no one knew much about the Eastern Front until the fall of the Soviet Union! Your channel has shone a light on two of my favorite actors also-David Niven and Richard Todd. Keep up the great job and I’ll be watching and enjoying!

On a visit to the area in 2013 we were shown Slapton Sands by my late husband's brother in law. Thanks for the video explaining tge events. Tragic.

Another excellent video Chris. I have heard this story before but not in your detail. Very sad and certainly lessons learnt for D Day. As for more videos from you I will not be here to enjoy them. I am off to Sword Beach and Pegasus Bridge for the 80th commemorations. Have not attended there since pre covid and the 75th. Met Penny Bates, a lovely lady and daughter of Major Howard. The commemoration service just after midnight is very special. A holiday in Brittany follows then cross France for the commemorations at the Somme on July 1st. Your videos will be something to look forward to while travelling. Manythanks

Thank you for sharing this story, WHAT A TRAGEDY!

Thanks Chris, I knew this took place but your post was brilliant and more clarifying.

My friend survived the sinking of his LST during Tiger. Instead of getting the standard leave for when your ship was sunk he was immediately assigned to another LST for D-Day. He kept the secret until it was declassified many years later.

This is the first I ever heard about this incident. Thanks so much for the video.

Morpurgo always chooses interesting topics for his books. The Slapton Sands incident deserves this sort of focus. Thanks for another fascinating video.

An amazing and sad story thanks for sharing.

We have friends who live in south Devon very near the memorial tank shown at about 0:30. If anyone is visiting that area there's a really good pub almost opposite - their fish & chips is superb. 🍟

Was vaguely familiar with this battle but now i know really well. Thank you mr. Green

Thanks for that really interesting and sad story, all those men losing their lives on the beeches on D-Day and the French now will not fly the Union Jack to commemorate this day, I will never go to France ever again!!! Stay well and have a great weekend.

I knew about the story, being a WWII nerd, but for some reason I always had the wrong type of LST in mind. Thanks for clearing that up. As for anyverseries, it's the aniversary of HMS Hood's sinking today. Maybe you could do a piece on her, or on her namegiver. As for Jack Higgins, another great book of his, under his earlier writing name of Harry Patterson, is called The Walhalla Exchange, a great novel, loosely based on the attack on castle Itter. Great episode as always.

Absolutely disgraceful that they hushed this event up, all those poor blokes dead and the only concern was to keep it quiet.