Exercise Fabius

Exercise Fabius, or Operation Fabius, was a formal exercise for the Allied Operation Neptune in World War II.^[1] The other was Exercise Tiger, which had occurred a week earlier.^[2]

Sherman tanks of 50th Division driving ashore from landing craft during Exercise 'Fabius', Hayling Island, 6 May 1944.(IWM H38270)

The exercise was planned to start on 2 May 1944, but bad weather delayed it to the next day.^[1] It consisted of six separate exercises:^[1]

• Fabius 1: elements of the 1st Infantry Division and 29th Infantry Division (United States) practised amphibious landing at Slapton Sands.^[1]
• Fabius 2: elements of the 50th Infantry Division practised landings at Hayling Island.^[1]
• Fabius 3: elements of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division practised landings at Bracklesham Bay.^[1]
• Fabius 4: elements of the 3rd Infantry Division and associated units practised landing at Littlehampton.^[1]
• Fabius 5 and 6: practice for American and British forces working on buildup of forces and supplies on Allied beaches.^[1]

They formed the largest amphibious training exercise of the war.^[1] As the final exercise before Operation Neptune, it resembled closely the final operation and no major changes could be made to Operation Neptune.^[1][3]