0:00:31 > 0:00:34By 1943, the civilian population of Britain
0:00:34 > 0:00:36were well accustomed to sacrifice.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40The inhabitants around Slapton Sands were about to pay the price
0:00:40 > 0:00:43for living near this particular stretch of coastline.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48In November 1943, the tranquil atmosphere of villages
0:00:48 > 0:00:51surrounding Slapton Sands were shattered.
0:00:51 > 0:00:543,000 residents received official notification
0:00:54 > 0:00:57that their homes were to be requisitioned for military purposes.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01They were given just six weeks to pack up and move out.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03There were no exceptions.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08John Hannaford was only 17 at the time.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11His family have owned and run the local butchers
0:01:11 > 0:01:14near Slapton Sands for four generations.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17He can remember that even before the evacuation announcement,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20there was a feeling that something strange was going on.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Well, there were all these rumours going around,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26but when you're a teenager, it's over your head.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30You don't think about these things, it's never gonna happen to you.
0:01:30 > 0:01:36And then they got more serious, that they were gonna commandeer this area
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and people weren't very happy. It was such a big upheaval for them.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42You see, an awful lot of them,
0:01:42 > 0:01:47I suppose they'd never been away from their home, you know.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50It was a situation, there was a war on,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53and that was at the back of everybody's mind, you know.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57There was war on, you had to do these things.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Everybody living in an area covering 46 square miles,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04and including 180 farms, had to leave their properties,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06taking whatever they could manage,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09not knowing when, if ever, they would be able to return.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Did you actually know what was going to happen here?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Did you have a feeling for what was happening?
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Well, of course, you had an idea.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22If it was going to be used as a battle training area,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25well, you knew what was going to be.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27And, er...
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Well, you prepared yourself for the worst.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34Would it be here when you came back,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37or would it be here for you to come back to?
0:02:37 > 0:02:40What kind of battle training could possibly justify
0:02:40 > 0:02:43evacuating such an enormous area?
0:02:45 > 0:02:47What the residents didn't know was that for months
0:02:47 > 0:02:51the military had been planning the most important offensive
0:02:51 > 0:02:54of the Second World War - the landing on the beaches of Normandy,
0:02:54 > 0:02:59to begin the long-awaited liberation of Europe. D-Day.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01If the Allied Forces were to be successful,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04it was crucial that they found somewhere suitable to practise.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10The Allies had spent a long time planning for D-Day.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13One of the main beaches to be assaulted was Utah.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17And at Utah, you've got the sea, you've got the beach,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19and duned with the coastal road on it,
0:03:19 > 0:03:21and inland of that, in the hinterland,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24the Germans had flooded that area as an obstacle,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28which meant that the infantry and vehicles would have a real problem.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33If I turn this around, we've got the sea, we've got sand.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36We've got dunes, a coastal road, and inland here,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39we've got Slapton Ley, which is a flooded marshy area,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43which would allow people to train in exactly the same conditions.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46The War Office had found the perfect spot.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49All they had to do now was turn it into a little bit of Normandy.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57By Christmas 1943, the last of the residents had left their homes.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02With the streets deserted,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05the American Forces who would be attacking Utah Beach
0:04:05 > 0:04:08moved in to start training for the impending invasion.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15On Slapton Sands, the training exercises were deadly serious.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18In an attempt to recreate the intense hostility of a battle field,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20live ammunition was used.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Today, a rusted Sherman tank stands as a memorial to one particular
0:04:29 > 0:04:33exercise that went disastrously wrong and cost hundreds of lives.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39One of the few survivors of the tragedy
0:04:39 > 0:04:41is Steve Sadlon.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45In 1944, he was a 19-year-old radio operator in the US Navy.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53On the 23rd April 1944, Steve was one of the 23,000 Allied Troops
0:04:53 > 0:04:56involved in the biggest practise exercise to date -
0:04:56 > 0:05:00a full-scale simulation of the D-Day landings,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02code-named Exercise Tiger.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Out in the English Channel,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Steve's assault craft was making its way towards Slapton Sands.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13This is a dry run. Exercise Tiger was just like the real thing.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16When we were going towards Slapton Sands,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20I-I-I heard a scrape underneath the ship,
0:05:20 > 0:05:26and the next thing you know I heard GQ...
0:05:26 > 0:05:31and I thought to myself, "My gosh, they're making things pretty real."
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Next thing you know, I got hit.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38I got torpedoed...
0:05:38 > 0:05:42auxiliary engine room, and that's right below me.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Suddenly, it was no longer an exercise.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Steve's ship was at war, under attack by German torpedo boats.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52The enemy boats had been spotted by the British Fleet,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54but due to a simple administrative error
0:05:54 > 0:05:57the radio warnings never made it to the convoy.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00We were on a wrong frequency.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06They knew that these E-boats were approaching us,
0:06:06 > 0:06:11and they never let us know that we were in danger.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I staggered into the wheel house,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21and here the fire was already approaching the wheel house,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and the skipper was still there.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29He says, "Well, we can't do anything, so we'd better abandon ship."
0:06:29 > 0:06:34And I jumped in there, you know, it was cold.
0:06:34 > 0:06:40And this signalman says, "Steve, I'm not going in that water!
0:06:40 > 0:06:42"It's too cold!"
0:06:42 > 0:06:46So I said to him, I says, "OK, take your choice."
0:06:46 > 0:06:49So I pointed to the water, I says,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52"Either you're going to freeze to death..." and I pointed to the fire,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55and I says, "..Or you're gonna burn to death."
0:06:55 > 0:06:59He burned to death. He took that choice.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Before I passed out...
0:07:05 > 0:07:12..I-I-I just remembered my mother cradling me in her arms,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16when I had the scare and everything else,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21and then I thought about the green grass of home.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26And I said, "If I ever get there," I says, "I'm gonna kiss that grass."
0:07:26 > 0:07:32I says, "I'm gonna hug my mother." I said, "Boy, this is, is...you know."
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And that's the last I remember.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39I passed out, you know.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45The rest of the convoy were immediately ordered back to port,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48but the captain of one of the ships disobeyed the order
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and returned to pick up 132 survivors,
0:07:51 > 0:07:56including Steve who'd been in the freezing sea for over four hours.
0:07:56 > 0:08:03When I woke up, a sailor he was shaking me and waking me up.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Then he says, "You know, you're a lucky person."
0:08:07 > 0:08:11He says, "You were piled with the dead.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15"You were frothing at the mouth." And he says, "We took you off the pile,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17"and we worked on you."
0:08:20 > 0:08:27The official death toll for the 28th of April 1944 was 749.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But despite the loss of life, the training at Slapton continued
0:08:31 > 0:08:33and the disaster was kept secret
0:08:33 > 0:08:36until after the successful D-Day invasions.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39In spite of his horrific experience,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Steve still took part in the landings on Utah beach.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Ironically, more soldiers were killed during Exercise Tiger
0:08:46 > 0:08:51than died on D-Day attacking the very beach they'd trained for.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56It was 43 years before this memorial was built on Slapton Sands
0:08:56 > 0:09:00to commemorate the US servicemen who lost their lives that night on Exercise Tiger.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Further down the beach, the Americans left their own memorial
0:09:06 > 0:09:10dedicated to the 3,000 evacuees like John Hannaford,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14who were finally allowed back home after 12 months away.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19John feels that the hardship he suffered was a small price to pay,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23especially in comparison to the tragic loss of life that took place in Exercise Tiger.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27The sad truth is that without the sacrifice of the people who lived
0:09:27 > 0:09:29and trained around Slapton Sands,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32the casualties at D-Day may have been far higher.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:09:37 > 0:09:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk