Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal

In April 1944, the Allies planned Exercise Tiger to practise their landing on France's Normandy beaches ahead of D-Day. During the rehearsal, a German fleet attacked, sinking two allied ships. Around 749 US servicemen died. The Allies’ military leaders ordered troops not to discuss the disaster because they didn’t want to damage morale or give away the D-Day plans. So, Exercise Tiger was largely forgotten for decades. Ben Henderson tells the story using archive interviews with Paul Gerolstein, who was on board one of the ships that came under attack. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP. This programme has been updated since the original broadcast. Archive: Exercise Tiger Memorial Ltd courtesy of Dean Small and Laurie Bolton, audio/visual maintained by Chris Kirsten of CeeVisk David FitzGerald (Photo: US troops ahead of D-Day. Credit: AP)

You can listen to Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal is an episode from Witness: World War 2 Collection by BBC.

This episode is 10:42 long.

This episode was published on Apr 21, 2025.

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