World War 2

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. Baggy Point was Area F. 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. 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 beachesbeachesbeaches. 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, 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.

During the Second World War infantry and artillery training turned Exmoor into a battleground. The Royal Observer Corps, British and American troops, searchlight positions, anti-aircraft batteries, artillery ranges, gunnery ranges and tank training all occupied open ground on Exmoor. The noise of gunfire, shells and mortars must have been a constant background to life on the moor. In addition there were detachments of home guard at Dulverton and elsewhere including cavalry units.

Contributed by: John Allinson