The Forgotten Dead: The true story of Exercise Tiger, the disastrous rehearsal for D-Day by Ken Small & Mark Rogerson

Author:Ken Small & Mark Rogerson [Small, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

8

The Recovery Begins

‘There were two boats, the diving vessel and the fishing vessel, bringing my tank ashore.’

In November 1974, even if I did not know all the details of Exercise Tiger that I have related, I knew that there had been a great loss of life. It was only over the next ten years, as I worked to salvage the tank from the seabed, and then have it properly dedicated, that the full story was to unfold. When I look back now, it seems that the more I found out about Exercise Tiger, the more I knew that what I was doing was right, and that it had to be done. The image of those men in the dark waters of the English Channel was enough to spur me on.

But enthusiastic as I was, I realised that I could not just start pulling the tank out of the sea straight away. I had not yet thought through in detail what would be involved in a task of that size and complexity.

Obviously, I had not tackled anything like this before, and when I think back to those early days everything seems so insecure and uncertain. Indeed a couple of years later, just when I thought the nightmare of red tape surrounding the purchase of the tank was well and truly over, a man phoned me and said that the tank was not in fact mine but properly belonged to him. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Surely all the troubles with the Receiver of Wrecks were not about to start again. I asked him to explain himself. He said he had bought the recovery rights to all military equipment in the South Hams area from the US Government. It seemed a cast iron case. My instant reaction was panic, but I did have the good sense to refer back to my agreement. I asked him when he had obtained his rights. He replied that he had concluded his negotiations with the American authorities in that year, 1976. With great relief I realised that my agreement easily pre-dated that by two years. I was safe. When I pointed this out, his only comment was, ‘That’s rather naughty of them,’ referring to the Americans.

Having got that shock out of the way, I was free to pursue my dream, for it seemed not much more than a dream at the time. There was not a great deal of money in the guesthouse. True, we were making a reasonable profit, but all the money we had was tied up in the guesthouse. I knew a salvage operation was going to be expensive, but all I could do was hope for help. During those early years, I had to plan the whole project in my own mind. Like it or not, I had to work on the basis that in the final analysis it would probably all be down to me and me alone.

The first real step along the road had been the thought

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