Latest / Across the Reef- The Marine Assault of Tarawa / 007 - Sidebars LVT-2 and LVTA2 Amphibian Tractors The Singapore Guns and Sherman Medium Tanks at Tarawa

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007 - Sidebars LVT-2 and LVTA2 Amphibian Tractors The Singapore Guns and Sherman Medium Tanks at Tarawa · Across the Reef- The Marine Assault of Tarawa

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four sidebars of Across the Reef The Marine Assault
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  Speaker 1: of Tarawa by Joseph H. Alexander. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. LVT two and LVTA two Amphibian tractors.
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  Speaker 1: The LVT two, popularly known as the water Buffalo, was
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  Speaker 1: built to improve upon shortcomings in the design of the
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  Speaker 1: Marine corps initial amphibian vehicle, the LVT one. The new
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  Speaker 1: vehicle featured a redesigned suspension system with rubber tired road
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  Speaker 1: wheels and torsion springs for improved stability and a smoother ride.
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  Speaker 1: The powertrain was standardized with that of an M three
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  Speaker 1: A one Stuart light tank. This gave the LVT two
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  Speaker 1: greater power and reliability than its predecessor, and combined with
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  Speaker 1: the new W shaped treads, gave it greater propulsion on
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  Speaker 1: land and in the water. The new vehicle could also
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  Speaker 1: carry one thousand, five hundred pounds more cargo than the
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  Speaker 1: original LVT one. The LVT two entered production in June
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, but did not see combat until Tarawa
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  Speaker 1: in November nineteen forty three. The Marines used a combination
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  Speaker 1: of LVT ones and LVT twos in the assault on Batio.
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  Speaker 1: The fifty LVT twos used at Tarawa were modified in
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  Speaker 1: Samoa just before the battle with three eights inch boiler
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  Speaker 1: plates installed around the cab for greater protection from small
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  Speaker 1: arms fire and shelf fragments. Despite the loss of thirty
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  Speaker 1: of these vehicles to enemy fire at Tarawa, the improvised
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  Speaker 1: armour was considered promising and led to a call for
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  Speaker 1: truly armored LVTs. The LVTA two, a for armored requested
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  Speaker 1: by the U. S Army, was a version which saw
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  Speaker 1: limited use with the Marine Corps. The LVTA two had
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  Speaker 1: factory installed armour plating one the hull and cab to
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  Speaker 1: resist heavy machine gun fire. The new version appeared identical
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  Speaker 1: to the LVT two with the exception of armoured drivers hatches.
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  Speaker 1: With legitimate armour protection, the LVTA two could function as
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  Speaker 1: an assault vehicle in the lead waves of a landing.
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  Speaker 1: The armored Amphibian vehicle provided excellent service when it was
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  Speaker 1: introduced to marine operations on New Britain. More than three
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  Speaker 1: thousand LVT twos and LVTA twos were manufactured during World
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  Speaker 1: War II. These combat vehicles proved to be valuable assets
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  Speaker 1: to Marine Corps assault teams throughout the Pacific campaign, transporting
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  Speaker 1: thousands of troops and tons of equipment. The overall design, however,
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  Speaker 1: left some operational deficiencies. For one thing, the vehicles lacked
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  Speaker 1: a ramp. All troops and equipment had to be loaded
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  Speaker 1: and unloaded over the gunwales. This caused problems in normal
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  Speaker 1: field use and was particularly hazardous during an opposed landing.
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  Speaker 1: This factor would lead to the further development of Amphibian
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  Speaker 1: tractors in the LVT family during the war. Compiled by
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  Speaker 1: Second Lieutenant Wesley L. Freight, USMC, the Singapore Guns, the
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  Speaker 1: firing on Beat show had barely subsided before apocryphal claims
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  Speaker 1: began to appear in print that the four eight inch
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  Speaker 1: naval rifles used as coastal defense guns by the Japanese
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  Speaker 1: were the same ones captured from the British at the
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  Speaker 1: Fall of Singapore. Many prominent historians unwittingly perpetuated this story,
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  Speaker 1: among them the highly respected Samuel Elliott Morrison. In nineteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy seven, however, British writer William H. Barsch published the
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  Speaker 1: results of a recent visit to Tarawa in the Quarterly magazine.
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  Speaker 1: After the battle, BArch personally examined each of the four
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  Speaker 1: guns and discovered markings indicating manufacture by vicer the British
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  Speaker 1: Ordnance Company. The Vickers Companies subsequently provided Barch's records indicating
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  Speaker 1: the four guns were part of a consignment of twelve
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  Speaker 1: eight inch quick firing guns which were sold in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: oh five to the Japanese during their war with Russia.
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  Speaker 1: Further investigation by BArch at the Imperial War Museum produced
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  Speaker 1: the fact that there were no eight inch guns captured
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  Speaker 1: by the Japanese at Singapore. In short, the guns at
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  Speaker 1: Tarawa came from a far more legitimate and older transaction
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  Speaker 1: with the British. The eight inch guns fired the opening
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  Speaker 1: rounds in the Battle of Tarawa, but were not by
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  Speaker 1: themselves a factor in the contest. Earlier bombing raids may
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  Speaker 1: have damaged their fire control systems. Rapid counter battery fire
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  Speaker 1: from American battleships took out the big guns in short order,
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  Speaker 1: although one of them maintained an intermittent, if inaccurate fire
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  Speaker 1: throughout D plus one. Colonel Shuop stated emphatically that the
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  Speaker 1: Second Marine n was fully aware of the presence of
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  Speaker 1: eight inch guns on base show as early as mid
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  Speaker 1: August nineteen forty three. By contrast, the Division Intelligence annex
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  Speaker 1: to Shuop's Operation Order, updated nine days before the landing,
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  Speaker 1: discounts external reports that the main guns were likely to
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  Speaker 1: be as large as eight inch, insisting instead that they
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  Speaker 1: are probably not more than six inch prior knowledge. Notwithstanding,
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  Speaker 1: the fact remains that many American officers were unpleasantly surprised
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  Speaker 1: to experience major caliber near misses bracketing the Amphibious Task
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  Speaker 1: Force early on D Day Sherman Medium tanks at Tarawa.
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  Speaker 1: One company of M four A two Sherman Medium tanks
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  Speaker 1: was assigned to the second Marine Division for Operation Galvanic.
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  Speaker 1: From the one Marine Amphibious Corps. The fourteen tanks deployed
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  Speaker 1: from Numea and early November nineteen forty three on board
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  Speaker 1: the new dock landing ship Ashlan LSD one, joining Task
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  Speaker 1: Force fifty three en route to the Gilberts. Each thirty
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  Speaker 1: four ton diesel powered Sherman was operated by a crew
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  Speaker 1: of five and featured a gyro stabilized seventy five millimeter
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  Speaker 1: gun and three machine guns. Regrettably, the Marines had no
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to operate with their new offensive assets until the
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  Speaker 1: chaos of D Day at Batio, the Shermans joined way
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  Speaker 1: five of the ship to shore assault. The tanks negotiated
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  Speaker 1: the gauntlet of Japanese fire without incident, but five were
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  Speaker 1: lost when they plunged into unseen shell craters in the
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  Speaker 1: turbid water ashore. The marine's lack of operating experience with
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  Speaker 1: medium tanks proved costly to the survivors. Local commanders simply
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  Speaker 1: ordered the vehicle's inland to attack targets of opportunity unsupported.
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  Speaker 1: All but two were soon knocked out of action. Enterprising
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  Speaker 1: salvage crews worked throughout each night to cannibalize severely damaged
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  Speaker 1: vehicles in order to keep other tanks operational. Meanwhile, the
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  Speaker 1: Marines learned to employ the tanks within an integrated team
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  Speaker 1: of covering infantry and engineers. The Shermans then proved invaluable
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  Speaker 1: in Major Ryan's seizure of Green Beach on D plus one,
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  Speaker 1: the attacks of Major Jones and Major Crow on D
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  Speaker 1: plus two, and the final assault by Lieutenant Colonel MacLeod
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  Speaker 1: on D plus three. Early in the battle, Japanese seventy
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  Speaker 1: five millimeters anti tank guns were deadly against the Shermans,
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  Speaker 1: but once these weapons were destroyed, the defenders could do
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  Speaker 1: little more than shoot out the periscopes with sniper fire.
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Shup's opinion of the medium tanks was ambivalent. His
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  Speaker 1: disappointment in the squandered deployment and heavy losses among the
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  Speaker 1: Shermans on D Day was tempered by a subsequent admiration
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  Speaker 1: for their tactical role ashore. Again, Japanese emplacements of reinforced concrete, steel,
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  Speaker 1: and sand were reduced by direct fire from the tank's
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  Speaker 1: main guns despite a prohibitive ammunition expenditure. Shupe also reported
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  Speaker 1: that the so called crushing effect of medium tanks as
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  Speaker 1: a tactical measure was practically negligible in this operation, and
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  Speaker 1: I believe no one should place any faith in eliminating
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  Speaker 1: fortifications by running over them with a tank. The Marines
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  Speaker 1: agreed that the advent of the Shermans rendered their light
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  Speaker 1: tanks obsolete. Medium tanks are just as easy to get ashore,
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  Speaker 1: and they packed greater armour and firepower, concluded one battalion commander.
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  Speaker 1: By the war's end, the American Ordnance industry had manufactured
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  Speaker 1: forty eight thousand, sixty four Sherman tanks for employment by
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  Speaker 1: the U. S Army and Marine Corps, and all theaters
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  Speaker 1: of combat. End of Chapter four, sidebars read by Aaron Bennett,