In August 1944, Operation Overlord began in Normandy with a landing in northern France. The Allies have opened a second front, promised so long ago to the Soviet Union. Many people know about this operation from the movie "Saving Private Ryan", but few people know that "Overlord" gathered his bloody harvest much earlier.
It's hard to learn …
Alexander Suvorov once said: "It's hard in training, easy in battle." And in 1944, the Americans confirmed the wisdom of the great commander. In any case, it was much more difficult for them during the exercises than in a real battle.
It all started in preparation for Operation Overlord. Jumping across the English Channel is an extremely serious matter, and before embarking on an operation, it was necessary to prepare well. To this end, it was decided to conduct exercises, which were called Operation Tiger.
The importance of the teachings was difficult to overestimate. After all, "Overlord" was unprecedented not only in its scale, but also in its military and political significance. If the operation had failed, then most likely it would have had to be postponed until next year. After all, autumn was approaching, and with it the period of autumn storms in the North Sea and the English Channel. And in such conditions it would be extremely difficult to carry out the landing. In addition, the surprise factor would have been lost, the Germans, who previously did not believe in any second front, would be convinced of the seriousness of the Allies' intentions and would be able to prepare to repel the landing more thoroughly.
Therefore, the Joint Command decided to conduct a training amphibious operation in order to identify in advance all the weaknesses in the preparation of the invasion of Europe.
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In tiger paws
The place for the operation was found quickly, literally close by - in Devon County, on the coast of the English Channel. The site was called Slapton Sands and it was practically a copy of the Normandy beaches located in the Utah sector (one of the allied landing sites in Northern France). To keep the teachings secret, more than three thousand local residents were evicted from the surrounding villages.
Personnel training began in December 1943, and the main stage of the Tiger exercise was supposed to be held from 22 to 30 April. In the training maneuvers, it was necessary to use several large LST amphibious assault ships, and from the sea all this action was covered by Her Majesty's warships, which made their contribution to ensuring that the exercises were held in conditions close to combat.
According to the plan, it was assumed that the ships of the British Royal Navy would have to fire real shells at the landing site so that the soldiers, as they say, "sniffed the powder," but something went wrong.
The problems began after the April 27 exercise was moved from 7:30 am to an hour later. It is a pity that not everyone knew about this. For example, some of the commanders of the landing ships did not receive this order at all and they arrived exactly at the appointed time - at 7:30.
But the order reached the commander of the British heavy cruiser "Norfolk", so the ship, as expected, at exactly 7:30 began "friendly" artillery preparation. Just as several LSTs, arriving "ahead of schedule", began to land. It must be said that the American soldiers appreciated the deadly accuracy of the Royal Navy's fire. Or maybe the Norfolk commander just remembered how the United States gained independence and decided to teach the former subjects of the crown a lesson? Well, so as not to get up twice?
Be that as it may, the exercise took place in an extremely realistic setting with 450 dead and about 1000 wounded. Needless to say, it is really hard in training … During the actual landing on the Utah site, the losses were much less - 197 people were killed.
Meanwhile, the "Tiger" continued to gather its bloody harvest.
Schnelboats attack
Despite such an interesting past April 27, the Allied command decided to continue the exercises. And the next day, April 28, fully met their expectations. The "fun" continued, this time the kringsmarine command decided to take part in the maneuvers. It turned out, however, impromptu, so the Germans did not have time to send an application for their presence. It was like this. On this day, a T-4 convoy of eight large landing craft transported the equipment necessary for the landing of the assault force, as well as the personnel of the units. The convoy was guarded by two British ships: the corvette "Azalea", which led the convoy, and the destroyer "Simitar". The latter walked in the tail of the column, where he collided with one of the LST landing ships. Having received damage from the collision, the destroyer was forced to turn back to the port. Unfortunately, the escort ships and landing ships they guardedthere was no connection, so the LST commanders did not even know that the convoy was no longer covered from the rear.
And they also did not know that at this time several pairs of very curious eyes were watching the convoy. The fact is that all this confusion - explosions on the shore, volleys of naval guns have long attracted the attention of the Germans. And they simply languished with curiosity - what is happening on the other side of the English Channel? Maybe the United States and England are grappling with each other? But how do you know? And for this purpose they decided to send schnelboats, as torpedo boats were called in Kringsmarine.
And so on a dead night in Lyme Bay, whose waters wash the counties of Devon and Dorset in the southeast of England, a convoy of allies and German boats met, languishing with a desire to also take part in the general fun.
At first, upon seeing unfamiliar ships, the commanders of the schnelboats were puzzled - what is it in front of them? After all, they had never met LST before. But then they decided that first we needed to get involved in a fight, and then we’ll see who won. Well, besides, the German schnelboats were famous for their dashing, engaging in machine-gun duels even with destroyers. And the German torpedo boats went on the attack.
LST-507 was the first to get hit. At about 2 am, he received a torpedo on board and sank almost immediately. Together with the ship, 202 people died - the crew and the soldiers on board.
Then it was the turn of the next ship. It turned out to be LST-531. It exploded from being hit by a torpedo, taking 424 lives with it to the bottom of the English Channel. A few minutes later, the torpedo hit the LST-531. This ship was more fortunate: although a fire broke out on board, the ship retained its speed and buoyancy, this was enough to be washed ashore. 123 people died on LST-531, the rest were saved.
Although the allied ships opened fire on the schnelboats, forcing the German boats to stop attacks and hide in the dark, they did not cause serious damage to the Germans. The bill was dry in favor of the kringsmarine. But another landing ship LST-511 suffered a little from the "friendly" fire.
Charters are written in blood
How many soldiers died during the exercises is still not clear. Different historians give different numbers. For example, it is generally accepted that 749 casualties were reported during the schnellboat attack, of which 198 were Royal Navy sailors and 551 US soldiers. Another 200 people were injured. The main reason for such large losses is called the soldiers' lack of knowledge of the location of life-saving equipment on board ships and the inability to handle them. As a result, most of the victims either drowned or died of hypothermia in the cold waters of the English Channel.
The situation was seriously complicated by the fact that on board the dead LST were 10 high-ranking officers who were aware of all the details of the planned Operation Overlord. And these 10 officers disappeared without a trace. Maybe they died, or maybe they fell into the hands of the Germans?
The entire plan for Operation Overlord was in jeopardy. The search for the bodies of the missing officers began. In the meantime, British aerial reconnaissance was conducting careful observations - were the Germans going to build additional fortifications on the coast of Normandy? But soon everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The bodies of all 10 missing officers were found - they were washed by the surf on the coast of England, and the Germans did not carry out any fortification work in Normandy.
We must pay tribute to the allies - they took into account all the mistakes made during the exercises. The soldiers were taught how to use life belts, all means of communication were standardized, serious work was carried out to improve the interaction between various branches of the military. As a result, one of the greatest operations of the 20th century went exactly as planned.
Journal: War and Fatherland # 10 (39). Author: Evgeny Popov