NEW THIS WEEK – MONDAY 19 JULY 2010

Wecome once again to you all !

After featuring the landing craft hards at Brixham last week, this week we’re just down the coast at Slapton Sands and visiting it’s rare Sherman swimming tank. We have a write up on Slapton and the Sherman in our new Then & Now section, so we’ll just include a flavour to tempt you to visit it.

In the build up to the D-Day Landings, training and more training was needed to ensure the operation was to be a success. What better than to find a beach that was copy of one of the landing beaches itself. In 1943, Slapton Sands beach in South Devon had been identified by the planners as being a relpica of Utah Beach. 

Slapton Sands, July 2010

British scientists had remarkably invented a swimming tank ! Based on a Sherman Tank, it had two propellers on the back and a thick canvas screen that was raised around it. Launched out at sea, upto 2 miles from the beach, the DD or Duplex Drive Sherman would swim to the beach, drop its screen and then continue to shoot up German pillboxes. 

During the practice landings on Slapton Sands, one of these Sherman DD’s sank in 65 feet of water, 3/4 of a mile oddshore. In 1984, it was rescued and hauled out onto a stand near the village of Torcross, which stands at one end of Slapton Sands. Visit our Then and Now section for more photos and detail of its rescue.