The picturesque English town that played a 'top secret' role in D-Day

06 June 2024 , 12:20

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Tetbury is well known for being peaceful and picturesque

A picturesque little town played a little-known "top-secret" role in the D-Day landings.

Tetbury is a Cotswolds community known for its sleepy atmosphere and historic market, and being the home of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla.

As D-Day celebrations reach a fever pitch today on its 80th anniversary, residents are remembering the town's role in the landings. Tetbury famously played a vital part in the battle the night before, but its wartime residents were none the wiser to its pivotal role.

On June 5, 1944, the town hosted Dwight Eisenhower, the then supreme allied commander. Eisenhower, who would later go on to become US president, used Chavenage House as a base for 600 American soldiers as officials planned the battle that would eventually liberate France and western Europe.

Tetbury is home to roughly 6,000 modern residents

The Tetbury gathering's primary purpose was designing maps used for the landing. Caroline Lowsley-Williams, a modern resident and one of the home's owners, said no one knew about the upcoming D-Day plans outside its walls.

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She told the BBC : "No one outside the walls of this house knew anything about it at all. Life went on as normal, except for the excitement of having the Americans around. To have things like chewing gum was so exciting. The women folk enjoyed seeing quite a lot of young men. It was all top secret."

Chavenage House was used to host soldiers planning the pivotal landing

Caroline's brother, George Lowsley-Williams, said all of D-Day's operational planning was "based on maps", without which they wouldn't have been able to "do anything". He said: "These people were specialists - every bit of detail that they knew, the German defences, the topographical conditions, the weight the sand could take for military vehicles were added to the maps so they could do their planning."

Chavenage House, a Grade I listed building, has a long history of hosting soldiers, having done so centuries earlier. Parliamentarian Nathaniel Stephens had raised troops there as England fought the English Civil War in the 17th century.

Liam Doyle