80th anniversary of deadly D-Day rehearsal marked

Poppy petals were dropped from a Wasp helicopter as part of the event

A service to mark the 80th anniversary of a D-Day rehearsal exercise that killed more than 700 American servicemen has taken place.

Exercise Tiger went ahead just two months before the Normandy landings, in Lyme Bay on the Devon coast in April 1944.

The exercise's failures remained secret for decades due to the secrecy surrounding plans for D-Day.

The memorial service in Portland involved the laying of wreaths in memory of two American ships sunk by German E-Boats off Portland Bill.

During the event, poppy petals were dropped from a Wasp helicopter and a ship gave its horn salute ahead of the service at the US D-Day Memorial at Victoria Gardens.

Slapton Sands was used for various D-Day rehearsals because of its geographical similarities to Utah Beach in Normandy

A total of 749 American servicemen were killed during Exercise Tiger, with most of the casualties coming on the US amphibious craft LST-507 and LST-531.

Slapton Sands in Devon was used for the rehearsal because of its similar geography to Utah Beach, where the Americans would land for D-Day on 6 June 1944.

A group of E-boats from the Kriegsmarine were alerted to heavy radio traffic and intercepted the slow-moving convoy.

It was considered by US top brass to be such a disaster that they ordered a complete information blackout for decades.

It was believed survivors who revealed the truth about what happened would be threatened with a court-martial.

The convoy involved in the rehearsal suffered a loss of life greater than the actual invasion of Normandy two months later.