We sailed along in fatal ignorance," writes Lieutenant Eugene E. Eckstam, a medical officer aboard the first of two tank landing ships to be sunk by German S-boats off the southern coast of England on the night of 27/28 April 1944. The attack, which happened in the midst of an Allied dress rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killed hundreds of men. Some of them succumbed to blast injuries and burns, others to drowning or hypothermia.
The disaster that befell Convoy T-4 was not a fluke. It was the product of an effort by the Germans to disrupt preparations for the invasion of northwestern France, and it happened as a result of actionable intelligence from the Luftwaffe and Germany's B-Dienst. Tank landing ships (LSTs)slow, unwieldy, and cavernouswere ideal targets for fast torpedo boats, which patrolled those areas that the German admiralty determined most likely to host enemy convoys and training exercises. With only one escort and no meaningful radio capabilities, Convoy T-4 stood little chance.
Exercise Tiger: Disaster at Slapton Sands 28 April 1944
80th Anniversary
This year sees the 80th Anniversary of that fateful night, and an opportunity to remember the servicemen who gave their lives in the early hours of 28th April 1944.
The disaster that befell Convoy T-4 was not a fluke. It was the product of an effort by the Germans to disrupt preparations for the invasion of northwestern France, and it happened as a result of actionable intelligence from the Luftwaffe and Germany's B-Dienst. Tank landing ships (LSTs)slow, unwieldy, and cavernouswere ideal targets for fast torpedo boats, which patrolled those areas that the German admiralty determined most likely to host enemy convoys and training exercises. With only one escort and no meaningful radio capabilities, Convoy T-4 stood little chance.
Exercise Tiger: Disaster at Slapton Sands 28 April 1944
80th Anniversary
This year sees the 80th Anniversary of that fateful night, and an opportunity to remember the servicemen who gave their lives in the early hours of 28th April 1944.