LANDING CRAFT, VEHICLE, PERSONNEL LCVP
Often referred to as a Higgins Boat after its designer, Higgins Industries of New Orleans, the LCVP was the standard American assault craft on D-Day. The three crew were a coxswain (steering), an engineer and a deck hand. Over 800 LCVPs were used at Normandy, about half of them in fact by British forces, not in the assault but for unloading follow-up troops. The British equivalent was the LCA (Landing Craft, Assault).
Both types had pros and cons but each nation tended to prefer the homedesigned craft. The largest US transport ships (designated APA: Auxiliary Personnel, Attack) could carry 25-30 LCVPs, though that was only enough to land a proportion of the 1,200 or more troops on board. US-crewed LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) each carried up to six LCVPs, and those from LSTs arriving earlier on D-Day were an important addition to the available assault craft.
Landing craft had a crucial role in the Normandy Landings, beginning on 6 June 1944 (D-Day). Although today they tend to be overlooked, that was certainly not the case at the time. Allied political and military leaders frequently debated how best to build or source sufficient landing craft for this vital operation.
An amphibious landing on an enemy-defended beach required specialist landing craft. These types were generally designed to be driven ashore, and then withdrawn after unloading troops or vehicles. Some types had other functions such as control or fire support.
Bu hikaye History of War dergisinin Issue 133 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye History of War dergisinin Issue 133 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES
In their quest for evermore novel and bloody entertainment, the Romans staged enormous naval fights on artificial lakes
OPERATION MANNA
In late April 1945, millions of Dutch civilians were starving as Nazi retribution for the failed Operation Market Garden cut off supplies. eet as In response, Allied bombers launched a risky mission to air-drop food
GASSING HITLER
Just a month before the end of WWI, the future Fuhrer was blinded by a British shell and invalided away from the frontline. Over a century later, has the artillery brigade that launched the fateful attack finally been identified?
SALAMANCA
After years of largely defensive campaigning, Lieutenant General Arthur Wellesley went on the offensive against a French invasion of Andalusia
HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE
Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive
LEYTE 1944 SINKING THE RISING SUN
One of the more difficult island campaigns in WWII's Pacific Theatre saw a brutal months-long fight that exhausted Japan’s military strength
MAD DAWN
How technology transformed strategic thinking and military doctrine from the Cold War to the current day
BRUSHES WITH ARMAGEDDON
Humanity came close to self-annihilation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Broken Arrows’ and other nuclear near misses
THE DEADLY RACE
How the road to peace led to an arms contest between the USA and USSR, with prototypes, proliferation and the world’s biggest bomb
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Einstein, Oppenheimer and the race to beat Hitler to the bomb. How a science project in the desert helped win a war
