Operation Smash
John Greeves looks back on a D-day training exercise that had fatal consequences
Between 3 and 23 April 1944, a massive training exercise took place in Dorset’s Studland Bay in preparation for the D-day landings in Normandy. Live ammunition was used to make it appear as realistic as possible with the Studland beaches chosen for their physical resemblance to the northern beaches of France and because much of the surrounding area was largely unpopulated. Many people had moved away, as was the case in the nearby village of Tyneham on the Lulworth ranges which was deserted.
This epic operation was codenamed Operation Smash and consisted of a full divisional exercise that combined navy, army and air force, and was undertaken in several phases. It was carried out in four parts with three and four carried out later. Some operations undertaken were repeats of previous exercises and only used different military units. The overall purpose was a rehearsal for the D-day invasion. The strategy was to launch beach assaults in which amphibious craft and tanks would play a major part in establishing beachheads as quickly as possible. When achieved, the land advance could then push rapidly inland.
Smash also saw the testing of a revolutionary new variant of tank, the DD (Duplex Drive) Valentine – an amphibious swimming tank. These Duplex tanks were modified versions of the existing Valentine model which had twin propellers and a canvas flotation “skirt” so they could be launched offshore as part of the assault on the Normandy beaches and were largely untested up to this time.
The biggest danger posed for the Valentine DD tanks was when they entered the water down the landing ramp. Here the imminent threat of water coming over the top of the skirt and swamping the tank constituted a real threat. If the tank did launch successfully from the LCT (Landing Craft Tank), there was still the danger of sinking if the waves came over the top.
Smash 1 was postponed by 24 hours because of bad weather until dawn on 4 April when the exercise took place using live ammunition. The assault was assigned to two designated sections of the beach, King Green and King White, but access to King Green was restricted in part due to an artificial breakwater close to the main shipping channel into Poole Harbour, which limited its overall use. The beaches were mined and so minefields in these areas were removed before operations.
Two squadrons of DD tanks, affectionately known as Donald Duck tanks, from 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards were launched from 10 LCTS, to support the infantry landings of the Northumbrian Division and so secure a number of military objectives on land. Thirty-two canvas-skirted Valentine DD tanks were launched with the freeboard barely 12ins above the waterline, meaning even in a relatively calm Force 1 to 3 wind, tanks could still take in water. The driver needed a periscope to see over the skirt. The commander and gunner sat on top of the tank, still several feet below the surface of the sea. The weather during Smash 1 soon changed for the worse.
In some “floating units”, water came in fast and the small pumps proved ineffective. The weight of water against the canvas became too heavy, subsequent waves crashing over the skirt causing several tanks to sink. Witness
RW Mole recalls how waves “slopped in” after launch from the landing craft ramp, making it front heavy and causing it to go straight down. Official accounts blame the weather for the loss of six tanks and six men on that fateful day. A seventh tank was abandoned when one of its tracks became caught on the “training bank”, an underwater line of rocks used to “train” the incoming and outgoing tides in Poole Harbour.
Those that lost their lives were Lieutenant Charles R Gould, Sergeant Victor Hartley, Trooper Albert V Kirby, Corporal AJ Park, Trooper Ernest G Petty, and Corporal VN Townson.
What makes their story so sad is that five of the six have no known grave and are commemorated by name only on the Brookwood 1939-45 Memorial in Surrey. Squadron commanders at the time could only write to the widows in the vaguest terms saying their husbands had died bravely at dawn. Their deaths were kept secret for decades before the truth was finally revealed. A more recent memorial was erected to mark the 60th anniversary in 2004 beside Fort Henry overlooking Studland Bay. Twenty-yearold Lieutenant Gould remains the only one of the six buried, at Highcliffe (St Mark) churchyard in Hampshire.
The biggest bombardment was yet to come in these wartime exercises and took place on 18 April in Studland Bay. British infantry, including the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, embarked on amphibious landing. Typhoons and American Thunderbolt fighters provided rocket fire while cruisers and destroyers carried out bombardment from offshore. A regiment of United States anti-aircraft artillery guns and troops were dispersed around the Studland villages to defend the forces and visiting VIPS from real attack from any Luftwaffe threat.
Operations on 18 April were viewed by King George VI, prime minister Winston Churchill, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D Eisenhower, General Bernard Montgomery and Acting Admiral Louis Mountbatten from Fort Henry. This was an imposing 90ft concrete bunker and observation post on Redend Point with 3ft-thick concrete walls. It overlooked Studland Bay and provided a commanding view of the exercise undertaken by the combined allied forces.
On D-day, 6 June, the performance of DD tanks was mixed, although overall they saved many allied lives. Various variants of the Sherman DDS were used instead of the Valentine DDS, but the importance of the Valentine tank should not be dismissed. As John Pearson rightly points out: “The Sherman DD was not available to the very start of January 1944. The major contribution of the Valentine DD was that it worked and was reliable and enabled the training and tactics to be developed without which D-day would have been a failure. The 13th/18th Hussars off Sword Beach landed 31 out of 34 of their Sherman DDS, while off Gold Beach the Sherwood lost eight tanks.
“The Canadians off Juno Beach saw 21 out of 29 make it ashore, while the US 70th Battalion off Utah Beach only lost one tank. Omaha was a different story with only two out of 29 tanks of the 741st Battalion making it ashore. Here Americans suffered 2,400 casualties due to several catastrophic factors, but by the end of the day the allies had landed 34,000 troops and eventually achieved their objectives.”
As for the aftermath of Operation Smash, Bournemouth University undertook a study in 2014 to accurately position the remains of the Valentine tanks lost in the exercise. Five DD sites were successfully located using geophysical survey techniques and their accurate location recorded. In the late 1980s, the navy blew up many DD wrecks with explosives to prevent the live ammunition being salvaged from the sites and sold.
Public outcry, however, ensured two of the DD Valentines sunk in Operation Smash, on 4 April 1944, would remain in Studland Bay in 60ft of water and smaller charges were used which dislodged the turrets but did not destroy the hull.
The wrecks have been examined by underwater archaeologists and members of the Isle of Purbeck Sub-aqua Club. The two semi-intact tanks have at least part of their turrets and the guns in place. They are covered in algae and act as an artificial reef for marine life and as a poignant reminder to those that unselfishly sacrificed their lives.
For visitors to Studland Bay (01929 450500, nationaltrust.org. uk/studland-beach), there is a comprehensive Studland Beach World War Two walk exploring the hidden features of Studland’s past.