Exercise Tiger - The covered up, part friendly fire incident which killed 946 American servicemen

eye witnesses clearly see US soldiers on the beach "defences" mowing down US soldiers coming ashore, with live ammunition

I've always been keen on military history, especially WWII and came across this today totally by accident.

I'd never heard of the incident before. I was even based in Devon at one time but didn't know this existed.

The British heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins shelled the beach with live ammunition, following an order made by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who felt that the men must be hardened by exposure to real battle conditions.

Source

A combination of military blunders, the use of live ammunition whilst training and German E-boat attack caused 3 times more casualties than the actual invasion of Utah Beach itself.

It was a disaster which lay hidden from the World for 40 years . . . an official American Army cover-up."

That a massive cover-up took place is beyond doubt. And that General Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized it is equally clear."

Generals Omar N. Bradley and Eisenhower watched "the murderous chaos" and "were horrified and determined that details of their own mistakes would be buried with their men."

"Relatives of the dead men have been misinformed -- and even lied to -- by their government. "

It was "a story the government kept quiet ... hushed up for decades ... a dirty little secret of World War II."

Source

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A very interesting read indeed.
Ill be sure to have a good look into the information posted.

I got nothing to add so far, just wanted to give a tumbs up.

Not that I'm a fan of YouTube but below is a short video of a man describing his fathers part in Op Tiger.

Will definatley look more into this...S&F for u Thanks for the info!

The more I research this - the more conflicting information I get. Has anyone any definitive information? This is frustrating!

Apparently there could have been no E-Boats involved in this!

[edit on 24/1/09 by vonspurter]