Archive film of WWII Americans D-Day Training here
During the Second World War, much of the North Devon coast was used for military training in preparation for the D-Day landings as its similarity to the coast of Normandy made it an ideal location. The entire coastal area from Braunton Burrows to Morte Point was assigned to the U.S. Army as Assault Training Centre (A.T.C.) Croyde.
The A.T.C. moved its headquarters from Grosvenor Square to Woolacombe and many thousands of troops with invasion barges and tanks moved into the area. At the north end of Woolacombe Beach was the demolition training area, with the billeting area of tents stretching up towards Mortehoe Junction. Morte Point was used as a target by anti-tank guns and seaborne artillery, and as a demonstration area of air-to-ground support firepower.
Croyde Bay was used for loading and unloading troops with amphibious vehicles, while assaults were practised at Baggy Point and full-scale assaults on Woolacombe Beach. Baggy Point was Area F. There were occasional casualties, but the vigorous training which the troops underwent prepared them to spearhead the landings on the Normandy beaches and so to achieve the historic victory of 6 June 1944.
The exercises which took place on the plateau fields of Baggy Point were intended to simulate assaults on enemy beaches. Dummy pillboxes were built to represent enemy gun emplacements and some show evidence of having been subjected to heavy fire and repair.
There was also an observation house at the western end of the promontory and temporary roads which are still visible as earthworks.
The 146th Engineer Combat Battalion of the U.S. Army (see link below), which trained on Baggy, was among the first troops to land on Omaha Beach. The name of A. A. Augustine is scratched and set in the concrete of one of the pillboxes. The same name is listed among those killed on D-Day. The structures which survive on Baggy are not only unique as some of the most complete examples of D-Day training installations but they are also evocative monuments to those who trained here.
Instow: The U.S. Navy took over the entire foreshore to beach and dry out their landing craft after use in the Assault Training Center's amphibious exercises at Woolacombe and Saunton.
Assault Training Center. U.S. Army WWII Training Areas Units at the Assault Training Center A sixteen square mile corner of south west England, including ten miles of Atlantic coastline, beaches, cliffs, headlands and sand dunes. Forgotten for over fifty years, research has built up a definitive and detailed history of this establishment vital to the success of D-Day. The only training site where American troops destined for Normandy on D-Day learned and practised new tactics of amphibious assault.
Richard T. Bass has been researching the U.S. Assault Training Centre in North Devon for several years and first published "Spirits of the sand" in 1992 to coincide with the dedication of the ATC memorial at Woolacombe. Since then research and excavations of the training aids and buildings has progressed, the findings are published in the "Field edition". This is a very comprehensive study of all areas and liberally illustrated with contemporary and archive photographs, maps and diagrams. Richard is also a battlefield guide specialising in the American beaches in Normandy.
www.limelighthd.tv/WorldWarII These clips of TOP SECRET activity on the Torridge and the Torridge Estuary during D-Day preparations by combined US and British troops have been recently discovered after remaining unseen for 65 years. Approximately 10,000 US troops passed through the Assault Training Centre on Braunton Burrows prior to the D-Day landings.
