Service to remember D-Day rehearsal tragedy

• By Georgina Barnes
• BBCNews

A service is set to take place to commemorate the 80th anniversary of a D-Day Exercise tragedy, the Diocese of Exeter has said.

In 1944, 639 American soldiers and sailors died when their vessels were attacked by German E-boats during a rehearsal for the Normandy landings.

The vessels were heading from Lyme Bay to Slapton Sands when they were attacked during Exercise Tiger.

The area was chosen for the exercise due to its topography resembling Utah beach – where D-Day was to take place, the Diocese said.

The Reverend Mark Neave, Priest-in-Charge of the Start Bay Mission Community, said the commemoration was a “poignant prelude.”

He said: “With the passing of the years, this may be the last time that our American friends are able to visit Torcross to mark the loss of their countrymen.

“But having an American tank at the site is an enduring reminder of the special relationship between our two countries, that continues despite the many changes that have happened over the past 80 years.”

Ahead of the exercise, thousands of residents of the South Hams villages and farms near Slapton were forced to evacuate since 1943 onwards to enable the D-Day preparations to take place.

Mr Neave said: “Had the exercise not gone so horribly wrong, then it is unlikely that Exercise Tiger would be remembered as a military operation in its own right.

“But the impact of the exercise on the local community, with over three thousand residents having to lock up and leave their homes, farms, schools and churches, with only a few weeks’ notice, not knowing when they might be able to return, has become embedded in local history.”

Those attending include local dignitaries, military personnel and the American families of those who were killed and injured during Exercise Tiger.

The service will take place at the Torcross Tank memorial at 14:00 BST.