American
Landing Vehicles Tracked
in Europe I had 5 medium tanks in my platoon
at Fort Ord I had 15 Buffaloes and two platoon sergeants
the Army estimated only one-third of us would make it up the beaches
President Harry Truman was a wonderful man
he dropped the A-Bomb to avoid a carnage
| Nickname | Water Buffalo |
|
| Type | Amphibian Tractor |
Amphibian Tank |
| Model | LVT(4) |
LVT(A)4 |
| Weight (pounds) | 32,000 |
40,000 |
| Crew | 6 |
6 |
| Length (feet-inches) | 26-1 |
26-1 |
| Width (feet-inches) | 10-8 |
10-8 |
| Height (feet-inches) | 10-5 |
10-5 |
| Cannon (mm) | none |
75 |
| Rounds (number) | none |
100 |
| Penetration (inches) | none |
howitzer |
| Hull Front (inches) | 0.50 |
0.50 |
| Hull Side (inches) | 0.50 |
0.50 |
| Turret Front (inches) | none |
1.5 |
| Turret Side (inches) | none |
1.0 |
| Machine Guns | two .50 caliber three .30 caliber |
one .50 caliber three.30 caliber |
| Engine (HP) | 250 |
250 |
| Gearbox (forward) | 3 |
3 |
| Gearbox (reverse) | 1 |
1 |
| Road Speed (MPH) | 25 |
20 |
| Water Speed (MPH) | 7.5 |
7 |
| Gasoline (gallons) | unknown | unknown |
| Road Range (miles) | 150 |
125 |
| Water Range (miles) | 75 |
50 |
| Troops (number) or | 35 |
0 |
| Cargo (pounds) | 8000 |
none |
memoirs
Did you know these vehicles were built from leftovers? LVT’s inherited the Continental Wright "Whirlwind" engine discarded by the Air Force, and surplus General Grant tank transmissions, with the fourth and fifth gears blocked out. They were a piece of you-know-what that created a fortune for a well-known California company.
We sweated it out in those tight rubber suits with only three grommet holes under each armpit! They kept you dry, on the outside only. I had visions of throwing mine over the side, and writing it off as a combat loss, like we discarded our gas masks and overshoes in Europe.
Would you like to drive one of these steel coffins up a heavily mined beach at 7 miles per hour? I doubt it. In fact the infantry could run that fast and present a lot smaller target for the enemy. Japs would be waiting with 47mm antitank guns to knock you off. Our armor plate (0.5 inches) stopped only machine gun bullets. A mine could give you a permanent tenor voice. And you could sing with the Angels.
LVT’s were not exactly safe in peacetime. The bilge pumps were too small. If several large waves broke over you, it was blub, blub, blub – down to the bottom of the Continental Shelf off the coast of California. Several months after my discharge, when I went home to Fort Smith AR, I read in a Tulsa newspaper that two men in my platoon drowned in a capsized Amphibian Tank. A sad event.
