HISTORY
tilled the fields every since there was a church. This church, this churchyard in which their loved ones lie at rest, these homes, these fields are as dear to those who have left them as are the homes and graves and fields which you, our allies have left behind you. They hope to return one day as you hope to return to yours, to find them waiting to welcome them home. They entrust them to your care meanwhile and pray that God’s blessing rest upon us all.” God’s blessing did not come for more than 1,000 of those American soldiers, who were involved in the debacle of Exercise Tiger in April 1944. A late night practice for a beach landing was sent into chaos when German E boats, completely by chance, stumbled on the convoy of ships waiting in Lyme Bay. Communication errors and faulty equipment saw more than 700 die. What is often not reported is another 300 men died the next day when landing on Slapton, as they were shot with ‘friendly fire’ trying to go up the beach. Dartmouth’s Britannia Royal
Naval College, empty since February 1943 as the cadets were being trained in Cheshire, was requisitioned as headquarters for the nattily titled US Naval Advanced Amphibious Base. American officers were surprised at the poor heating and other plumbing in the Aston-Webb designed building, but British officers were just as unimpressed when their American counterparts used the Quarterdeck as a store for supplies and one British Naval man was horrified to see an American use the base of the statue of King George V to light his cigar! Eisenhower himself, Supreme Commander of Allied forces, is rumoured to have visited Dartmouth after the problems of Exercise Tiger and visited the BRNC during this time. Coronation Park was used as
base, store and somewhere to repair damaged vehicles. In pictures, the area is virtually unrecognisable, with Nissen huts covering the ground and the whole area a bustle
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of activity. Philip and Son’s boatyards at Sandquay and Noss were both charged with undertaking repairs and maintenance in preparations for the big day – D-Day. Everyone was aware something was
up. The preparations around the town and elsewhere were clearly building to some sort of operation, but secrecy held. Men avoided talking about what the preparations meant because you never knew who was listening. 4,000 American troops were living around Dartmouth. They made a huge impression, mainly positive, on those who lived here – and then suddenly, one day, they were gone.
On June 1 the men were moved onto their ships to await the command to leave. On June 4 they sailed – but to many in the town they simply disappeared. The American and British troops that left – many part of Attack Force U that took on Utah beach – faced one of the most extraordinary and frightening mission any of them could imagine. 37,000 ground troops lost their lives storming the beaches of Normandy. Their sacrifice allowed the Allies to gain a foothold on the continent and eventually push on to Berlin, bringing Victory in Europe by the middle of May 1945.• by Phil Scoble
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