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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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!!

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

Thanks for this video. I was hoping you would do some talks on D-Day as the 80th anniversary draws near. I appreciate hearing from the British perspective.

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

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. 🍟

Thank you for sharing this story, WHAT A TRAGEDY!

Thank you for sharing this event. I’ve heard about it and have been there, but didn’t know the full details of the disaster. I do hope the youth of today realised the sacrifice that these young men gave.

Your comment about going across the harbour without getting your feet wet made me think about my home when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s (I was born in 1964). I am from (and have returned to) Peterhead, in the N.E. of Scotland. It used to be the biggest whitefish Port in Europe. And, yes, you could walk across the harbour without getting your feet wet. Sadly nowadays the fleet is reduced by about 95%, and all the fishing is done by giant factory ships.....progress? I have not looked into the actual history of WWII re. Peterhead - but my Mother claimed to have been witness to a machine gun burst during an air raid in the town. She says she was only saved when her uncle (a veteran of the Atlantic Convoys) pulled her into a doorway. When I think about it, I have a lot of stories. I spent so much of my childhood going fishing with men who had been in the last war that I almost felt I had been there. My best friend in the world was Mr. Harry Clyne (should be Klein, but you gotta love British border guys...). He was a Jew who fought with the Gordon Highlanders through N. Africa into Italy. Sorry, I am rambling, but on the level. George

An amazing and sad story thanks for sharing.

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.

German E-boats were active on D-Day. The Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Svenner was hit by two torpedoes, and sank with a loss of 34, where 32 were Norwegian, and 2 British.