I just keep finding out more things I don't know about World War II. I'd never heard of a "water buffalo" before I saw the picture in the calendar that I wrote about earlier today. So...I had to look it up.
Here is what I found. The "Water Buffalo" was an amphibious tank classified as a LVT, Landing Vehicle Tracked. There were five classes of it during World War II and 18,621 were delivered. Marines serving aboard them were known as "Alligator Marines" and there is a museum dedicated to these vehicles in Camp Pendleton, California.
They were originally intended to be cargo carriers, but evolved into carrying assault troops and fire support vehicles. They could carry as many as 18 troops.
The LVT-1s were 7.95 meters long and 3.25 meters wide and carried 4 Browning machine guns. Their descendants are still in use by the armed forces today.
The WW II/Korea LVT Museum is at Camp Del Mar at the USMC base in Pendleton, California and houses exhibits along with 6 LVTs with examples from all five World War II classes. The LVT-4 was the largest of them. The museum is open seven days a week.
Ooo-Rah!! --Cooter
Showing posts with label LVTs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LVTs. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2009
July in World War II
Flipping my Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor 2009 calendar over to the month of July yesterday, I see that the poster is a "Buy War Bonds" one featuring soldiers charging with affixed bayonets and Uncle Sam in the clouds waving an American flag and pointing to victory with bombers filling the air.
The picture features a "Water Buffalo" loaded with US Marines churning through the sea bound for the beaches of Tinian Island near Guam, July 1944. There is a machine gun in the front and what appears to be a small turret mounting two more in the back.
DATES IN JULY
July 5, 1945-- Liberation of the Philippines declared
July 10, 1945-- 1,000 bombing raids against Japan begin
July 16, 1945-- first atomic bomb tested in the US
July 19, 1944-- US Marines invade Guam
July 28, 1945-- Japanese submarine sinks the cruiser USS Indianapolis
The Greatest Generation. --Cooter
The picture features a "Water Buffalo" loaded with US Marines churning through the sea bound for the beaches of Tinian Island near Guam, July 1944. There is a machine gun in the front and what appears to be a small turret mounting two more in the back.
DATES IN JULY
July 5, 1945-- Liberation of the Philippines declared
July 10, 1945-- 1,000 bombing raids against Japan begin
July 16, 1945-- first atomic bomb tested in the US
July 19, 1944-- US Marines invade Guam
July 28, 1945-- Japanese submarine sinks the cruiser USS Indianapolis
The Greatest Generation. --Cooter
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