Torcross

Normally, the four-mile stretch of sand and shingle beach near Torcross is too extensive to ever become crowded, but back in 1943 things were very different. The beach had been selected by the Allied Commanders for a ‘dress rehearsal’ of the impending D-Day invasion of Normandy. The area was swarming with troops, and because live ammunition was being used in the training exercise, all the local people were evacuated, more than 3000 of them from seven coastal villages.

Those D-Day preparations are recalled at Torcross where a Sherman tank recovered from the sea in 1984 is on display in the car park. While the exercises were in progress, an enemy E-boat attacked the landing forces and more than 600 Allied servicemen lost their lives. Beside the tank are memorial tablets to the men who died during this little-publicised military tragedy, and to the many who later perished on the Normandy beaches.