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TIGER...
The LST's Finest Hour
What
began as a top secret naval operation to prepare US
Army and Naval forces for the June 6th D-Day Invasion,
would end with one of the highest losses ever suffered
in combat by the US Army and Navy in WW II.
At 0135 on the morning of April 28th,
1944, eight Tank Landing Ships (LST's) and thier lone
escort, the British corvette HMS AZALEA, were en route
to the landing area. Slapton Sands was selected because
its beach looked every bit like the beaches at Normandy
that would be code named Utah and Omaha by the allies.
The eight LST's of LST Group 32, formed
convoy T-4. they were the support group for elements
of the 4th & 29th Infantry, 82nd Airborne and
188th Field Artillery Group already ashore at Slapton
Sands.
The LST's were carrying the 1st Engineer
Special Brigade, the 3206th Quartermaster Company
from Missouri, the 3207th Company and 462nd and 478th
combat truck support companies as well as other elements
of the US Army's engineer, signal, medical and chemical
corps along with some infantry.
Miles south in the mouth of Lyme bay,
lay the bulk of the Tiger naval force. Protected by
the cruiser USS AGUSTA and the new British "O"
class destroyers HMS ONSLOW and HMS OBEDIENT as well
as the Tribal Class destroyer HMS ASHANTI and a covering
force of motor torpedo boats. Anchored along with
LST's 55 and 382 they would be of no help to the ambushed
LST force of T-4.
Attacking in the pitch black night, 9
German Navy "E" boats (torpedo) struck quickly
and decisively. Without warning LST 507 was torpedoed
first. Explosions and flame lit the night. At 0217
LST 531 is torpedoed. It sinks in six minutes. Of
the 496 soldiers and sailors on her, 424 of them died.
It would be on this ship that the state of Missouri
would lose some 201 of its boys of the 3206th.
LST 289 tried to evade the fast German
"E" boats but was hit in the stern. LST's
496, 515, and 511 all began firing at their attackers,
LST 289 joined in returning fire while lowering landing
craft to pull it out of harms way.
At 0225 the LST 499 radioed for help.Minutes
later the lead ship ,LST 515 sent out an urgent and
chilling message. " 'E' boat attack". Radio
stations along the coast pick up the dramatic calls
for help. unaware of the top secret operation underway,
the calls go unanswered. Only after an alert radio
operator heard the words "T-4", did the
Naval Command realize the calls were from "Tiger"
and send help.
By 0240 the horror was slowly realized.
Two LST's sunk, a third lay crippled. Of the 4000
man force nearly a fourth were missing or killed .
Official Dept. of Defense records confirm 749 dead
, 551 US Army and 198 US Navy. The death toll makes
"Tiger" the costliest battle to U.S. forces
at that point in the war after Pearl Harbor.
On April 28th, 1944, the LST's darkest
yet finest hour occurred. When, for one hour, the
men and ships of Convoy T-4 fought the greatest naval
battle ever faced by an LST force in history. Against
superior enemy warships, the Tiger amphibious force
held its own.
The German attack did not stop Exercise
Tiger. Landing operations resumed later on the 28th.
It is a credit to the tenacity and determination of
the soldiers and sailors involved in Exercise Tiger,
that the D-Day invasion at Normandy occurred as planned.
The events surrounding Exercise Tiger
were officially declassified in early August 1944,
two months after the Normandy Invasion. On April 28th
1996 Secretary of The Navy John Dalton stated in his
remarks “Tiger….was the LST’s finest
hour.”
More historical information is
available at the Naval
Historical Center Website.
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