Moving Into Action

Moving into Action

Moving a heavy equipment battalion is a major operation. Four, six thousand ton Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs), were normally the means by which the battalion was moved from island to island. Maximum speed was about eight knots. LSTs are motor driven, flat bottomed and roll alarmingly in a moderate sea. They were armed with 40mm and 20mm cannon. A LST hit the beach, bow on, with anchors trailing the stern for pulling off. There were two decks with a retractable ramp to load the upper deck from the lower. Lighter vehicles and equipment were carried on the upper deck. The decks contained cleats for tying down the equipment with chains.

On an invasion, the first piece of equipment ashore from an LST was a bulldozer that had been waterproofed to run under water for a minute or two. This D-8 would drive off the LST bow ramp as soon as lowered and make it to shore even in seven or eight feet of water. Once ashore the bulldozer pushed sand and coral to form a causeway to the lowered bow ramp of the LST. This ensured that subsequent vehicles did not drop into deep water, shell holes or bomb craters.

All four companies had enough two and a half ton 6x6 trucks for moving personnel, food, fuel and supplies. Moving the larger equipment required low-bed trailers towed by a heavy truck. With careful planning all the trucks and equipment were located in the LSTs so that the battalion could be moving to the job site within minutes after landing.

Comments

[Jim]

Good reading Pop. Just finished reading Ghost Soldiers, so it was picking up some background info out of the same context. Once in the text you used the word "internet" near the word colored picture. What did the word mean back then?

[Pete]

I had no pictures of the native houses so I took a picture from the internet. This is a recent piture but the houses have not changed in 60 years.