US Beach Landing Operations, 1943-45
General Robert H. Barrow
This photo album is a continuation of last month's Photo Album: US Beach Landing Operations, 1943-45 (Part 1). As a whole, the album forms an illustrated review of the different stages of a World War II amphibious landing operation. In the first part, we covered naval activities from the embarkment of the forces in a friendly harbour to the assault on the beach. By doing this we have covered but a half of the story. Like a tadpole, any succesful amphibious operation must make a transition from sea to land and, in so doing, undergoes a transformation from naval power to land power. It is then that the attacking force is most vulnerable, as has been painfully proven by the British at Dieppe or the Germans in Crete. The Allies realized that the quick build up of ground combat power was essential for success, and towards the end of the conflict, excelled in naval vessels, land vehicles and logistics especially designed for the purpose. All this is the subject of the gallery's second part.
craft litter the beaches as beach parties moved further inland. Smaller craft of the assault
wave like the LCVPs shown here were left to their own devices as
soon as the troops went ashore. In bad weather, many of the abandoned craft would
be thrown around, swamped or jammed together, blocking the access to
the beach. Sicily, July 1943.
With the beach
secured, unloading troops and equipment continues at the calmer
pace. Carrying a full equipment, American assault troops move onto
Omaha Beach. Note how landing craft in the background jam the
access to the beach. June 6th, 1944.
Nothing helped the
Allied naval landing operations better than the entire fleet of
purpose-designed landing craft - something that Germany was
painfully short of during the summer months of 1940 when they
could have invaded Britain. Smaller craft like this were designed to
unload directly at the beach at the same time being large enough to
to carry vehicles. USS LST-1 is
in the background at left.
Unloading troops and
supplies on the Gela invasion beaches on 10 July 1943 shows a
variety of employed craft. Broached LCVP
at right is from USS Barnett (APA-5). Next LCVP to the left is from
USS Monrovia (APA-31). In the background are USS LST-338 (right) and
USS LST-344 (left).
of loose sand and dunes need to be paved to enable movement of
vehicles. Here, US Army Engineers haul a roll of steel wire mesh
into position to make a beach roadway. Salerno, September 1943. USS
LST-1 is in the center background.
Beachhead is now
secured. Merchant ships can now approach the shore safely to unload
men, equipment and supplies. The abandoned landing craft and
destroyed vehicles will continue to litter the beach for the months
and years to come.
Early in the war, this
is how the resupply of landed forces looked like. The date is
December 1942 at Guadalcanal. Supplies are unloaded from merchant
ships at sea and carried ashore using landing craft and barges. Then
they would be reloaded again to be transported inland. The LCP in
the center, just beyond the barge full of piled boxes, is from USS
American Legion (AP-35). One of the LCVs in the background is from
USS Hunter Liggett (AP-27).
One piece of
military equipment which made a decisive contribution to the Allies'
impressive effectiveness at the beachheads was of course the DUKW,
an amphibious 2.5-ton 6x6 truck. Its primary use was to ferry
ammunition, supplies, and equipment directly from supply ships in
transport areas offshore to supply dumps and fighting units at the
beach. DUKWs were employed (albeit in limited quantities) as early
as the invasion of Sicily, as shown in this photograph taken at
Scoglitti area, July 11th, 1943.
Although this photo
has been taken at the training facility rather than during real
field operation, it is interesting as it shows the DUKW's best
feature: driving up directly from the water on the unprepared shore.
Landing reinforcements to the beachhead would initially be performed through prefabricated causeways. Here, troops, army trucks
and field guns are unloaded from USS LST-1 on an Italian beach near
Salerno, September 1943.
This picture gives an
idea of how massive was the force engaged in support of Normandy beachhead after the D-Day
LST (Landing Ship, Tank) naval ship was specially designed to
transport and deploy troops, vehicles, and supplies onto foreign
shores. LSTs were designed during World War II to disembark military
forces without the use of dock facilities or the various cranes and
lifts necessary to unload merchant ships. The design is said to have
its roots in the fertile imagination of Winston Churchill. Initially
designed in Britain and mainly built in the US, the Allied invasions
from late 1942 relied heavily on them.
photo illustrating that in service, the diversity of equimpent,
defensive weapons etc. made no two LSTs alike. Here, USS LST-646 and
USS LST-662 are entering the floating dry dock in Apra Harbor,
Guam, May 1945
The outsanding usefulness of the LST design was visibly proven in France, where the high Atlantic tide was used to ease the unloading of supplies. The flat-bottomed LSTs would simply approach the shore at high tide, anchor and wait to get stranded as the tide lowered. Then the cargo could be unloaded directly to the ground and the ship returned at the next high tide.
the LST-325 is shown stranded at low tide during resupply operations in Normandy, June
12th, 1944. Note the
sand ramp constructed to permit unloading through her bow doors.
Amazingly, the ship's forward hull is supported only by the lowered
USS LST-1 and LST-292 "high and dry" on a Brittany beach,
Return home. Ambulances advance on a "Whale" floating pier of the Mulberry artificial harbour near Arromanches, Gold Beach, carrying wounded to be transported back to England.
With its massive
scale, the invasion in Europe was in immediate need of harbours for
supply logistics. With the risk of Germans destroying the Channel
ports as they withdrew, the Allies opted for the unprecedented
solution - the erection of artificial harbours. The Allies built two
Mulberries and five Gooseberries as substitute ports, using
prefabricated pier segments and rows of deliberately sunken ships as