EveningStar
04-28-2001, 11:09 AM
My local newspaper recounts Exercise Tiger, a little known World War II incident which happened 57 years ago today.
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The Orange County Register http://www.ocregister.com
April 28, 2001
A SECRET SACRIFICE IN PREPARING FOR D-DAY
German torpedoes took 749 lives during Exercise Tiger, a dry run for Normandy.
By Tom Berg
Nobody expected trouble on this night, with D-Day six weeks away.
Navy gunnery officer Brent Wahlberg pulled on his heaviest jacket and took the overnight watch on the lead ship of a convoy cruising up the English Channel.
Before dawn, he would see three ships behind him struck by German torpedoes, killing 749 men in the frigid waters.
Yet it would be 40 years before he uttered a word about it - before anyone spoke about it. Such was the secrecy of "Exercise Tiger," a dry run for the Normandy beach invasion, and now considered one of the best-concealed disasters of World War II.
Two Orange County men were there 57 years ago today - one aboard the ship that picked up the living, and one aboard the ship that picked up the dead.
"'Tough' is one word to describe it," says Wahlberg, 79, of Santa Ana, who was standing watch aboard LST 515, the first of eight landing ships in the convoy. "Another is ‘miserable.’ Every now and then you think about it."
Plans called for his convoy to follow one that had just made a simulated assault on Slapton Sands, England, chosen because it resembled the beaches of Normandy.
But German E-Boats, high-speed torpedo boats, ambushed the flotilla sometime after 1 a.m.
"I was on the conning tower," says Wahlberg. "It was absolutely pitch dark. Then the third ship behind us blew. I looked back and saw big flames."
Soon, two more ships were hit.
"We weren't expecting, it," he says. "We didn't have sonar or anything. What came to mind was, 'Oh no. Where the hell is it coming from? What is it?’ You worried about being the next one."
The five undamaged ships were ordered ashore, but Capt. John Doyle of LST 515 disobeyed orders and turned back to pick up survivors.
Six small landing craft, each 36 feet long, were dropped into the water. In charge of the first was Eddie McCann, just 15 and already a veteran of a beach landing in Sicily.
Now a retired Oakland police officer living in Everett, Wash., he finds the anniversary always weighs heavily on him. Not only because of what he saw, but because of what he could not say for so long.
At first, the military threatened to court-martial anyone who spoke of the disaster for security reasons. Families were told only that their loved ones died in the line of duty. After the war, so few records were available that the event went largely unknown for decades.
It wasn't until military historians uncovered the facts in 1984 while preparing for the 40th anniversary of D-Day that the American public first heard about Exercise Tiger through television and newspaper accounts. Today, it remains largely unknown.
"It really hurts," says McCann, 72. "It hurts because we had to keep it inside, and you know, I can close my eyes to this day and see a lieutenant laying there with his head split open, and a boatswain's mate I knew. I found him dead, and these people, I couldn't even pick up. I had to leave them."
Robert "Stretch" Brandt, 79, of Mission Viejo, was the quartermaster in charge of navigation for LST 309, which arrived later with the third convoy.
"For two days, we had to pick up bodies," he said. "The current in the channel runs six to eight knots. When it was going out, it would bring the bodies out to the ocean, and a few hours later the tide would bring the bodies back in."
It bothers him that so few people know what happened. Especially, he points out, because aside from Pearl Harbor, it is believed that more American servicemen died that night than in any other single day of battle during the war.
"Everyone's heard about Pearl Harbor," he says. "But nobody's ever heard of Exercise Tiger. It's just a shame."
There will be a few ceremonies today around the country, but little fanfare. Even the survivors plan another quiet day - just as they were conditioned to all those years ago.
"There were a lot of secrets," says Wahlberg. "A lot of things we didn't talk about."
---------------
PARTIAL WORLD WAR II TIME LINE:
Sept. 1, 1939: Nazis invade Poland.
Sept. 3: Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
Sept. 5: U.S. proclaims neutrality.
Sept. 17: Soviets invade Poland.
Sept. 7, 1940: German blitz against England begins.
Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.
Dec. 8: United States and Britain declare war on Japan.
Dec. 11: Germany declares war on the United States.
Jan. 26, 1942: First American forces arrive in Great Britain.
Aug. 17: First all-American air attack in Europe.
Jan. 27, 1943: First bombing raid by Americans on Germany.
July 9/10: Allies land in Sicily.
April 28, 1944: Practice run for D-Day, called Exercise Tiger.
June 6: D-Day landings at Normandy beach involving 250,000 American service men and women - the decisive battle that led to the end of Nazi domination.
Aug. 25: Liberation of Paris.
Dec. 16: Start of the Battle of the Bulge on the German/Belgian border. Largest land battle of the war in which the U.S. participated.
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 7: Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.
May 8: V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
Aug. 6: First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.
Aug. 8: Soviets declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria.
Aug. 9: Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.
Aug. 14: Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.
------------------------------
The Orange County Register http://www.ocregister.com
April 28, 2001
A SECRET SACRIFICE IN PREPARING FOR D-DAY
German torpedoes took 749 lives during Exercise Tiger, a dry run for Normandy.
By Tom Berg
Nobody expected trouble on this night, with D-Day six weeks away.
Navy gunnery officer Brent Wahlberg pulled on his heaviest jacket and took the overnight watch on the lead ship of a convoy cruising up the English Channel.
Before dawn, he would see three ships behind him struck by German torpedoes, killing 749 men in the frigid waters.
Yet it would be 40 years before he uttered a word about it - before anyone spoke about it. Such was the secrecy of "Exercise Tiger," a dry run for the Normandy beach invasion, and now considered one of the best-concealed disasters of World War II.
Two Orange County men were there 57 years ago today - one aboard the ship that picked up the living, and one aboard the ship that picked up the dead.
"'Tough' is one word to describe it," says Wahlberg, 79, of Santa Ana, who was standing watch aboard LST 515, the first of eight landing ships in the convoy. "Another is ‘miserable.’ Every now and then you think about it."
Plans called for his convoy to follow one that had just made a simulated assault on Slapton Sands, England, chosen because it resembled the beaches of Normandy.
But German E-Boats, high-speed torpedo boats, ambushed the flotilla sometime after 1 a.m.
"I was on the conning tower," says Wahlberg. "It was absolutely pitch dark. Then the third ship behind us blew. I looked back and saw big flames."
Soon, two more ships were hit.
"We weren't expecting, it," he says. "We didn't have sonar or anything. What came to mind was, 'Oh no. Where the hell is it coming from? What is it?’ You worried about being the next one."
The five undamaged ships were ordered ashore, but Capt. John Doyle of LST 515 disobeyed orders and turned back to pick up survivors.
Six small landing craft, each 36 feet long, were dropped into the water. In charge of the first was Eddie McCann, just 15 and already a veteran of a beach landing in Sicily.
Now a retired Oakland police officer living in Everett, Wash., he finds the anniversary always weighs heavily on him. Not only because of what he saw, but because of what he could not say for so long.
At first, the military threatened to court-martial anyone who spoke of the disaster for security reasons. Families were told only that their loved ones died in the line of duty. After the war, so few records were available that the event went largely unknown for decades.
It wasn't until military historians uncovered the facts in 1984 while preparing for the 40th anniversary of D-Day that the American public first heard about Exercise Tiger through television and newspaper accounts. Today, it remains largely unknown.
"It really hurts," says McCann, 72. "It hurts because we had to keep it inside, and you know, I can close my eyes to this day and see a lieutenant laying there with his head split open, and a boatswain's mate I knew. I found him dead, and these people, I couldn't even pick up. I had to leave them."
Robert "Stretch" Brandt, 79, of Mission Viejo, was the quartermaster in charge of navigation for LST 309, which arrived later with the third convoy.
"For two days, we had to pick up bodies," he said. "The current in the channel runs six to eight knots. When it was going out, it would bring the bodies out to the ocean, and a few hours later the tide would bring the bodies back in."
It bothers him that so few people know what happened. Especially, he points out, because aside from Pearl Harbor, it is believed that more American servicemen died that night than in any other single day of battle during the war.
"Everyone's heard about Pearl Harbor," he says. "But nobody's ever heard of Exercise Tiger. It's just a shame."
There will be a few ceremonies today around the country, but little fanfare. Even the survivors plan another quiet day - just as they were conditioned to all those years ago.
"There were a lot of secrets," says Wahlberg. "A lot of things we didn't talk about."
---------------
PARTIAL WORLD WAR II TIME LINE:
Sept. 1, 1939: Nazis invade Poland.
Sept. 3: Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
Sept. 5: U.S. proclaims neutrality.
Sept. 17: Soviets invade Poland.
Sept. 7, 1940: German blitz against England begins.
Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.
Dec. 8: United States and Britain declare war on Japan.
Dec. 11: Germany declares war on the United States.
Jan. 26, 1942: First American forces arrive in Great Britain.
Aug. 17: First all-American air attack in Europe.
Jan. 27, 1943: First bombing raid by Americans on Germany.
July 9/10: Allies land in Sicily.
April 28, 1944: Practice run for D-Day, called Exercise Tiger.
June 6: D-Day landings at Normandy beach involving 250,000 American service men and women - the decisive battle that led to the end of Nazi domination.
Aug. 25: Liberation of Paris.
Dec. 16: Start of the Battle of the Bulge on the German/Belgian border. Largest land battle of the war in which the U.S. participated.
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 7: Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.
May 8: V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
Aug. 6: First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.
Aug. 8: Soviets declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria.
Aug. 9: Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.
Aug. 14: Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.