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.On the carrier the driver s cab added a foot to the overall height.Swivelmounts were installed for the.50 caliber and two.30 caliber machineguns.The hull would probably carry twenty-five or thirty men or threeto four tons.The net weight was fifteen tons. 48A Colonel in the Armored DivisionsThe engines were governed to a top speed of eighteen hundred rpmthat gave us fifteen miles an hour land speed.In water the deep double-horseshoe grousers pushed the water to the rear and threw a heavystream through chutes mounted on the stern at the rear of each track.Action equaling reaction as the water shot to the rear the vehicle movedforward. Full ahead was a scant six miles an hour.Steering was accomplished on water as on land by pulling one brakelever and stopping the track on that side.The other track then receivedall the power and the vehicle would turn sluggishly toward the brakedside.Both tank and tractor had a great deal of inertia, and when thedriver shifted to neutral they would drift on and on at six, five, fourmiles per hour in spite of his instinctive and useless hauling back on bothbrake levers, and crruunnch would ram the pier with a jolt that wouldfetch an audience from a block away to examine the damage.Since thegrousers were designed to scoop water to the rear, the vehicles were evenmore sluggishin reverse.But by using reverse at full speed we found wewould ram our objective at a more reasonable two or three miles an hour.These kindergarten driving lessons taught us to keep the engine at itsfull eighteen hundred rpm for all water work, to make decisions well inadvance, and to act on them immediately and vigorously.My first thought as a tank officer was that these craft wouldn t havea chance in combat.Their gun power was inadequate, their armorwouldn t turn anything larger than.30 caliber bullets or shell splinters,and their vulnerable target area was outrageous even a scared enemygunner couldn t miss.But they were built for seagoing operations andbeach landings, so if they were smaller, and had two-inch armor andheavy guns, they wouldn t float the M4 medium or M5 light tank surecouldn t swim.7 So we d give them a real good try.My waking, dozing, and sleeping hours were taken up with mentalarithmetic, theories of organization, training problems, and tactical usesof amphibians in combat.For instance, let s see, the tankers will remainorganized as they were with the M4s and M5s.How many tanks will weneed? Three for each battalion headquarters, four companies with threetanks per company headquarters, and three platoons of five tanks each.That s eighteen per company, seventy-two per battalion, plus the threefor battalion headquarters is seventy-five per battalion.Three battalionsis 225 plus three for group headquarters, a grand total of 228 tanks.(Turnon the light and make a note, requisition 228 tanks.)For the carriers, no, they re called tractors.There ll be five per sectionwith a sergeant in command.Three sections per platoon, a lieutenantcommanding, that s sixteen tractors per platoon.Three platoons percompany is forty-eight plus three for company headquarters is fifty-one. Eighteenth Armored Group 49Two line companies in the battalion makes 102 plus seventeen for thebattalion headquarters service company totals 119 per battalion.Threebattalions comes to 357.That s a lot of tractors.(Light and notebook, wait,I ve forgotten the headquarters service companies for the group and thethree tank battalions.They need seventeen tractors each, that ll be sixty-eight more.That makes a grand total of 425.Note: put in a requisitionfor 425 tractors and 228 tanks.)Good Lord.That s a total of 653 of those monsters plus the administra-tive motor vehicles we ll have to have.Is the tank park we staked out onthe dunes big enough? Have to check that again tomorrow.(Light andnote, check park for size of battalion areas.)And when I was exhausted by such serious calculations I was enter-tained by a series of lively dreams, trading my 37-mm.solid shot with aJapanese tank gunner who was using armor-piercing 50-mm.shell.TheJap always won, my gun would misfire, the barrel would droop like astrand of boiled macaroni, my tracers would fly wide or dart from here tothere like butterflies, but his tracer would drive straight in like a flamingfootball and burst between my eyebrows.Another favorite overtaken,broached, and capsized by a gigantic wave, trapped under the overturnedtractor.And worst, timidly shrinking inside the comparatively safe armorof the tractor while Jap bullets pattered the plating and I didn t have whatit takes to stick my head out.After three or four hours of such adventures in color and with soundeffects I certainly enjoyed hearing the rollicking notes of Reveille.Sinkings, Towings, PaintingMishaps were frequent throughout our training period since we werein the position of a ship s pilot approaching an uncharted coast on a foggynight.We had to learn from our mistakes.Sinkings in deep water werefew we lost only one tank and two tractors offshore and by employinga professional salvage firm we recovered the tank.All of our othermachines were lost near the beach within recovery distance.The sinking of a tank or tractor was a serious matter.Only one did I findmordantly amusing.We were practicing launching by platoons in calmwater.A tractor platoon hammered down the beach in single column.On the flag signal of the platoon commander every tractor spun full rightand plunged into the ripples.As they dashed out to full flotation depththe lieutenant s tractor started spouting water from the pump outlets oneach side.Odd.There shouldn t be any water in the bilges.In spite of thethree hundred gallons a minute being pumped the tractor was graduallysitting lower and lower in the water.Two hundred yards out the crewbecame aware that something was wrong and confusion reigned.The 50 A Colonel in the Armored Divisionsdriver did a U-turn and the double-strengthcrew began bailing withthebucket and helmets.They almost made it.The drowned engine sputteredand quit just as the tracks touched bottom in four feet of water and thecrew waded ashore in deep disgust. Why did you come back, lieutenant? I asked the platoon leader. Forgot to put the drain plug back in, he confessed, blushing withembarrassment.Other sinkings ranged from routine to downright horrifying.A water-flooded engine would conk out, the pump that was grafted to the driveshaft and normally emptied the bilges withdispatchwould stop withit,and each successive wave would drive the derelict nearer the beach andthe bottom.Since it had no superstructure a tractor would normally sinkupright due to the weight of the tracks.A tank would capsize and restwithits turret or side on the sand.The salvage team consisted of two tractors, each with two or moresteel towing cables.When a vehicle was swamped, two or three hardysouls of the salvage crew would wade out and hook a cable to the wreck.The salvage tractors, cable-connected in tandem, would then drag thederelict ashore.A machine that was capsized or deadfalled would beapproached from one side, the cable hauled over and attached to thetrack on the other side [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.On the carrier the driver s cab added a foot to the overall height.Swivelmounts were installed for the.50 caliber and two.30 caliber machineguns.The hull would probably carry twenty-five or thirty men or threeto four tons.The net weight was fifteen tons. 48A Colonel in the Armored DivisionsThe engines were governed to a top speed of eighteen hundred rpmthat gave us fifteen miles an hour land speed.In water the deep double-horseshoe grousers pushed the water to the rear and threw a heavystream through chutes mounted on the stern at the rear of each track.Action equaling reaction as the water shot to the rear the vehicle movedforward. Full ahead was a scant six miles an hour.Steering was accomplished on water as on land by pulling one brakelever and stopping the track on that side.The other track then receivedall the power and the vehicle would turn sluggishly toward the brakedside.Both tank and tractor had a great deal of inertia, and when thedriver shifted to neutral they would drift on and on at six, five, fourmiles per hour in spite of his instinctive and useless hauling back on bothbrake levers, and crruunnch would ram the pier with a jolt that wouldfetch an audience from a block away to examine the damage.Since thegrousers were designed to scoop water to the rear, the vehicles were evenmore sluggishin reverse.But by using reverse at full speed we found wewould ram our objective at a more reasonable two or three miles an hour.These kindergarten driving lessons taught us to keep the engine at itsfull eighteen hundred rpm for all water work, to make decisions well inadvance, and to act on them immediately and vigorously.My first thought as a tank officer was that these craft wouldn t havea chance in combat.Their gun power was inadequate, their armorwouldn t turn anything larger than.30 caliber bullets or shell splinters,and their vulnerable target area was outrageous even a scared enemygunner couldn t miss.But they were built for seagoing operations andbeach landings, so if they were smaller, and had two-inch armor andheavy guns, they wouldn t float the M4 medium or M5 light tank surecouldn t swim.7 So we d give them a real good try.My waking, dozing, and sleeping hours were taken up with mentalarithmetic, theories of organization, training problems, and tactical usesof amphibians in combat.For instance, let s see, the tankers will remainorganized as they were with the M4s and M5s.How many tanks will weneed? Three for each battalion headquarters, four companies with threetanks per company headquarters, and three platoons of five tanks each.That s eighteen per company, seventy-two per battalion, plus the threefor battalion headquarters is seventy-five per battalion.Three battalionsis 225 plus three for group headquarters, a grand total of 228 tanks.(Turnon the light and make a note, requisition 228 tanks.)For the carriers, no, they re called tractors.There ll be five per sectionwith a sergeant in command.Three sections per platoon, a lieutenantcommanding, that s sixteen tractors per platoon.Three platoons percompany is forty-eight plus three for company headquarters is fifty-one. Eighteenth Armored Group 49Two line companies in the battalion makes 102 plus seventeen for thebattalion headquarters service company totals 119 per battalion.Threebattalions comes to 357.That s a lot of tractors.(Light and notebook, wait,I ve forgotten the headquarters service companies for the group and thethree tank battalions.They need seventeen tractors each, that ll be sixty-eight more.That makes a grand total of 425.Note: put in a requisitionfor 425 tractors and 228 tanks.)Good Lord.That s a total of 653 of those monsters plus the administra-tive motor vehicles we ll have to have.Is the tank park we staked out onthe dunes big enough? Have to check that again tomorrow.(Light andnote, check park for size of battalion areas.)And when I was exhausted by such serious calculations I was enter-tained by a series of lively dreams, trading my 37-mm.solid shot with aJapanese tank gunner who was using armor-piercing 50-mm.shell.TheJap always won, my gun would misfire, the barrel would droop like astrand of boiled macaroni, my tracers would fly wide or dart from here tothere like butterflies, but his tracer would drive straight in like a flamingfootball and burst between my eyebrows.Another favorite overtaken,broached, and capsized by a gigantic wave, trapped under the overturnedtractor.And worst, timidly shrinking inside the comparatively safe armorof the tractor while Jap bullets pattered the plating and I didn t have whatit takes to stick my head out.After three or four hours of such adventures in color and with soundeffects I certainly enjoyed hearing the rollicking notes of Reveille.Sinkings, Towings, PaintingMishaps were frequent throughout our training period since we werein the position of a ship s pilot approaching an uncharted coast on a foggynight.We had to learn from our mistakes.Sinkings in deep water werefew we lost only one tank and two tractors offshore and by employinga professional salvage firm we recovered the tank.All of our othermachines were lost near the beach within recovery distance.The sinking of a tank or tractor was a serious matter.Only one did I findmordantly amusing.We were practicing launching by platoons in calmwater.A tractor platoon hammered down the beach in single column.On the flag signal of the platoon commander every tractor spun full rightand plunged into the ripples.As they dashed out to full flotation depththe lieutenant s tractor started spouting water from the pump outlets oneach side.Odd.There shouldn t be any water in the bilges.In spite of thethree hundred gallons a minute being pumped the tractor was graduallysitting lower and lower in the water.Two hundred yards out the crewbecame aware that something was wrong and confusion reigned.The 50 A Colonel in the Armored Divisionsdriver did a U-turn and the double-strengthcrew began bailing withthebucket and helmets.They almost made it.The drowned engine sputteredand quit just as the tracks touched bottom in four feet of water and thecrew waded ashore in deep disgust. Why did you come back, lieutenant? I asked the platoon leader. Forgot to put the drain plug back in, he confessed, blushing withembarrassment.Other sinkings ranged from routine to downright horrifying.A water-flooded engine would conk out, the pump that was grafted to the driveshaft and normally emptied the bilges withdispatchwould stop withit,and each successive wave would drive the derelict nearer the beach andthe bottom.Since it had no superstructure a tractor would normally sinkupright due to the weight of the tracks.A tank would capsize and restwithits turret or side on the sand.The salvage team consisted of two tractors, each with two or moresteel towing cables.When a vehicle was swamped, two or three hardysouls of the salvage crew would wade out and hook a cable to the wreck.The salvage tractors, cable-connected in tandem, would then drag thederelict ashore.A machine that was capsized or deadfalled would beapproached from one side, the cable hauled over and attached to thetrack on the other side [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]