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The events of 1943-4 in the Tarbat peninsula live on in local memory simply as "the evacuation". On 11 November 1943, orders from the Admiralty announced that an area of about 15 square miles, was to be "requisitioned" for military purposes. Between 800 and 900 people, including the entire village of Inver, were given a month to empty their homes. More than 40 farms had the same amount of time to move or sell their livestock, equipment and crops. The operation was carried out with such a degree of secrecy that even those living a few miles away did not know what was happening. No-one, not even the evacuees, knew the reason for it: that the land was to be used for secret training for the D-Day landings, the long-prepared invasion to win back Europe from Hitler. The Admiralty searched the country to find a variety of suitable training areas. As military officials arrived in cars to assess the land, rumour was rife in the village of Inver, little more than a dirt track and a row of thatched cottages looking out across the Dornoch Firth. |
The
Secret Rehearsals |
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 Amphibious Tanks |
On 12 December, 1943, the military moved in. In that long, hard winter, around 15,000 troops were based around Inverness and Invergordon. They were the men of Assault Force ‘S’, the combined army and navy force due to take part in the D-Day invasion at Sword Beach. The Tarbat peninsula was used as a live firing range for infantry of the Third Division, and support vessels firing from the sea. Tarbat was a key training area for armoured units, including the secret new "swimming tanks" which it was hoped would play a key part in a D-Day victory. Stories of the evacuation period have now passed into legend: the collie dog which found its own way back to Inver from Tain and lived there alone until its master returned, befriended and fed by the soldiers; the old lady living 200 yards beyond the exclusion zone who survived a shell coming through her roof while she was having her tea. In April 1944, the troops moved south and by May residents
were returning. For the next 20 years, farmers would find live unexploded
shells in their fields. |
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 Sword Beach  Zoom
In 
Fisheries Division letter Zoom
In |
Some also believe the exercises in Scotland helped dupe the Germans into believing the D-Day strike would come further north, perhaps even in Norway, where they retained six divisions, weakening their force in Normandy. The Navy also took over fishing boats. Most were used for routine patrol or escort work. Others had different uses. The Fisheries Division of the Scottish Home Department sent this letter (left) to the Fishery Officer at Montrose. It told him that the Admiralty would soon need a number of motor fishing vessels. Two of those boats might come from the Montrose district. The boats were 'Ben Venuto' and 'Annie Smith'. The Officer was asked if these boats were still available. He also had to say how much fish they had caught in the last year. The boats might have been required for the D-day landings. |
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