Exercise 'Jantzen'

(July 22 to August 5, 1943)

In recent weeks the media has devoted much attention to the 60th anniversary of 'D' Day, commemorating the invasion of Europe by Allied Forces in June 1944. That successful invasion - the largest in history - had been meticulously planned for over a year and Tenby and the Carmarthen Bay area played a significant part in this planning.

Tenby Museum and Art Gallery is currently displaying a specially prepared account of the exercise held in this area during the summer of 1943 - an exercise which helped considerably in the eventual planning of the final invasion. The display contains photographs, maps and interpretation of the events which took place, with a background of sound effects from the war years.

Codenamed 'Jantzen', the exercise on Carmarthen Bay was of enormous size and effort, planned with the utmost security. This was the first serious large-scale preparation to plan support for an army invasion of the German-held continent of Europe. Ultimately, the lessons learned in Tenby and elsewhere in 1943 enabled the allies to successfully plan the invasion itself, codenamed 'Overlord', the greatest combined complex military operation the world had ever seen.

Exercise 'Jantzen' was not involved with practising for the actual military invasion, but concentrated on the logistics of supporting such an operation.

The main objectives of 'Jantzen' were to plan the loading and unloading of essential supplies on short sea voyages. The maintenance of landing beaches was also a significant part of this exercise, as was the organisation of beaches for the efficient distribution of supplies. Important, too, was the construction of airstrips. The major overall objective was to support an army of invasion for approximately 40 days.

Beaches and ports along Carmarthen Bay involved in the exercise included Llanstephan, Pendine, Tenby, Saundersfoot and Amroth.

Exercise 'Jantzen' did not involve large numbers of ground troops on the Pembrokeshire beaches. The personnel involved were administrative staff, engineers, observers, signallers and salvage units. As part of the exercise, simulated 'enemy' attacks were made by the Home Guard and the Polish Air Squadron No. 307 simulated the enemy air-force.

The craft involved included 20 or 30 coastal steamers of between 800 and 1,500 tons, landing craft for both vehicles and personnel, 10 concrete barges for transporting fuel and 10 amphibious craft known as 'Alligators'. During the exercise period the weather ranged from calm to a force eight gale, giving experience of a varied climate which might well be encountered in an actual invasion.

Many of the routines were conducted successfully, but, overall, 'Jantzen' was regarded as a failure, primarily because the concrete barges leaked, losing valuable petroleum, vital to the success of the 'invasion'. One of these barges, later abandoned, served for many years as the landing stage at Caldey Island.

If the exercise failed, it did, nevertheless, provide much experience, and many lessons were learned which helped in the final planning for the actual invasion the following year.

During the planning and execution of the exercise around the Carmarthen Bay area, strict security was in force throughout the beach and port areas and the surrounding countryside. A dawn to dusk curfew was imposed in Tenby from July 12 to August 9 and security checks were made on everyone travelling by railway and road into and out of the area.

Many Tenby people recall those days and remark on the intense feeling of speculation in the air, as no one really knew what was happening. A popular view was that the invasion of Europe was about to take place and that Pembrokeshire ports and beaches were being prepared to receive thousands of fighting allied troops.

The museum would like to hear from anyone in the local area with memories of the time when Exercise 'Jantzen' was being held - particularly reminiscences of every day life in the summer of 1943.

The Exercise 'Jantzen' display continues daily until August 6.

A further illustrated account of Exercise 'Jantzen' will appear in the next edition of the Tenby Times.

The story of

'Operation Overlord'

Many veterans of the D-Day landings made an emotional return to Normandy last weekend to mark the 60th anniversary of the campaign

For those born after D-Day, the continuing scale of the commemorations and the tremendous support they received may seem surprising - especially since the veterans were all over 77 years old.

But when you consider the number of servicemen and women and indeed civilians who took part, either in supporting activities or as active troops, it begins to take on a special meaning.

By any standards, the Allied cross-Channel operation, which was known as 'Overlord', was ambitious. The invasion was meticulously planned and succeeded in maintaining a large element of surprise.

Operation Overlord was first proposed in August, 1943, and was to be the primary attack by the Allies on the occupying forces in France, with General Eisenhower as Supreme Commander and General Montgomery as Commander-in-Chief. They aimed to achieve a landing in Northern France, which would lead to further operations, designed to 'strike at the heart of Germany'.

Vast Allied forces were assembled for the invasion: 1,200 fighting ships, 10,000 aircraft, 4,126 landing craft and 864 transport ships. During March and April 1944, practice landings were held on various beaches in Southern England, and over three-million troops were gathered in preparation.

On June 1, 1944, the date of the Normandy landings were fixed for June 5, but bad weather seemed to make a postponement inevitable. The German commanders, who suspected an Allied invasion, assessed that four consecutive days of good weather were needed to complete a cross-Channel assault. On June 5, knowing both that the Germans would not expect an Allied assault in view of the bad weather and that the tides would not be favourable for another month, Eisenhower gave the signal for the Allied invasion to go ahead.

That night, more than 3,000 ships carrying troops began crossing the Channel as part of Operation Neptune - the greatest amphibious operation in the history of warfare. As the vast armada neared the French coast, a series of deceptive raids began on the French mainland.

Operation Overlord itself officially began at 2355 hours on June 5, when 180 British paratroopers, members of the 6th Airborne Division, landed by gliders close to Caen. By dawn, 18,000 British and American parachutists were on the ground in Normandy.

In the following 48 hours, 200,000 troops landed on the Normandy beaches - two-thirds of them British - and 14,000 air sorties were flown. The first British troops landed at 0725 hours on the beaches codenamed 'Gold' and 'Sword' and were followed at 'Juno' beach by 2,400 Canadians. By midnight, 155,000 Allied troops were already ashore, but with 10,000 killed or wounded.

The three separate beach-heads were linked up within three days. As the campaign continued, Allied Forces continued to pour onto the beaches of Normandy, so that by June 20, more than 500,000 soldiers had come ashore. By September, Allied casualties were to rise to 210,000 with 37,000 dead, but by then Operation Overlord was well on its way towards restoring peace in Europe.

Even as spectators of the D-Day commemorations, we have all been fortunate to enjoy the legacy of this gruelling operation, helping as it did to hasten the end of the Second World War. Sadly its cost, measured in the loss of human life, was counted by those veterans who made the journey last week.

Europe owes its freedom to the men and women who took part in this memorable campaign. Let's all stop to consider what life would have been like without the efforts of these veterans and remember what they did with gratitude.