LVT

[West-Front]

LVT on the cover of LIFE magazine

[General Apathy]

Hi West-front, Thanks for posting this LIFE cover featuring LVT's, and I hope you don't mind me asking a question here on your post. There have been two of these stood outside the Utah beach museum in Normandy, for the last fifty years.

 

Which has raised a friendly argument between the editors of two European military magazines as to whether LVT's actually participated in the D-Day landings.

 

Does anyone have any photographs attributable to Normandy and a date of the photograph.

 

Currently one of the LVT's is at a steel fabrication factory in Carentan being rebuilt, due to fifty years of salt corrosion.

 

Thanks ( Lewis )

[Johan Willaert]

As far as I know, the LVT was only used in Europe for the landings during the Battle of the Scheldt Pocket late October 1944 (By Canadian Troops) and the Crossing of the Rhine in 1945.

I will post a WW2 picture of an LVT being transported thru a German village in early 1945 in preparation of the Rhine Crossings.

 

Until recently the two LVTs outside the Utah Beach museum were the only ones I knew in Europe, but now we added one to the displays at a new museum which is currently under construction at the Belgian sea-side village of Knokke, liberated by the Canadian Army in October/November 1944.

 

This particular LVT is in running condition and came from Australia. It is displayed indoors as shown below.

 

 

 

This museum, scheduled to open next March, will house the Canadian uniform collection of Freddy Jones, son of a British Army WW2 veteran and Belgian mother, and the vehicle collection of Patrick Tierssoone.

Decoration of the museum is from the same guy who did the DMC Museum in Normandy. The displays are/will be awesome and more info and pictures that I took recently can be found on this Canadian Forum:

 

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11266

 

Johan

[General Apathy]

Hi Johan, I think that the dates you mention are what we all think of the the use of LVT's in Europe, however recently someone posted somewhere a photograph that they attributed to LVT's post D-Day ferrying stores ashore.

 

I was trying to see if the person who posted that photograph could be found and check out his photo and dates.

 

Cheers ( Ken )

[West-Front]

Hi West-front, Thanks for posting this LIFE cover featuring LVT's, and I hope you don't mind me asking a question here on your post. There have been two of these stood outside the Utah beach museum in Normandy, for the last fifty years.

 

Which has raised a friendly argument between the editors of two European military magazines as to whether LVT's actually participated in the D-Day landings.

 

Does anyone have any photographs attributable to Normandy and a date of the photograph.

 

Currently one of the LVT's is at a steel fabrication factory in Carentan being rebuilt, due to fifty years of salt corrosion.

 

Thanks ( Lewis )

 

Hi Lewis

 

I believe there is photographic proof of them being in the UK prior to the Invasion - the great (and sadly missed) Wheels & Tracks magazine had a centre spread photo of LVT1's in one issue. I will see if I can scan my copy.

 

Likewise I believe there is color 16mm film of (I think) Utah beaches D+, and in the background a LVT can be seen.

[Johan Willaert]

Don't have my copy handy, but isn't there something about this in Jon Gawne's Spearheading D-Day?

[Richard]

These pictures of LVT are taking somewhere in the Roermond area (The Netherlands) during the rivercrossing training on the Maas river prior to the Rhinecrossing.

[BEAST]

I know this is not definative proof one way or the other, but in the early 1950s (1954?) my uncle was part of an honor guard at a large ceremony at Normandy. There were still wrecks along the beaches and he took this photo of these two LVTs. Whether these landed here on D-Day or D+365, we may never know. But I thought I would throw it into the discussion.

 

[West-Front]

I found this

 

http://www.strijdbewijs.nl/landing/landeng3.htm

 

Near the Utah Beach Museum were two wrecks of LVT's (see the picture above). The most coroded wreck has been removed in 2004, and there is only one left (which is being restored in 2007 and not on site). According to a text nearby they were testvehicles and they were used for a shuttleservice between ships and shore and for operating in the flooded aera behind Utah Beach.

[Richard]

As far as I know, the LVT was only used in Europe for the landings during the Battle of the Scheldt Pocket late October 1944 (By Canadian Troops) and the Crossing of the Rhine in 1945.

I will post a WW2 picture of an LVT being transported thru a German village in early 1945 in preparation of the Rhine Crossings.

 

The LVT was also used by the British during Operation Mallard on November 14th 1944 in the Southeast of Holland (Crossing the canals Noordervaart and Kanaal van Wessem naar Nederweert)

 

Until recently the two LVTs outside the Utah Beach museum were the only ones I knew in Europe, but now we added one to the displays at a new museum which is currently under construction at the Belgian sea-side village of Knokke, liberated by the Canadian Army in October/November 1944.

 

In the Belgian village of Kotem (near Maasmechelen on the Belgium/Dutch border) there is also a LVT on Display. It was sunk during the British exercise on the Maas river prior to the Rhinecrossing.

 

[Johan Willaert]

Thanks Richard, just learned something...

 

Just checked SDD from Jon Gawne and there are indeed two color pictures (from color footage) in there showing at least one LVT in Normandy in June 1944.

 

Here's a WW2 Signal Corps picture from my collection.

Caption on the back says:

 

SC203762

Alligators, to be used by the US Ninth Army for assault on the east side of the Rhine, move through Rheinberg, Germany, on trailers. 464th Ord. Evac. Co., 3/20/45.

 

 

[General Apathy]

Hi, and thanks to west-front, Johan, Richard for adding to the post, thanks beast for the 1954 photo of the two abandoned LVT's at Utah beach, this could well be the two that the museum have had on display for years, very interesting.

 

Thanks again all, become an interesting read and photographs

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[bummer]

In the book Long Walk Through War by Klaus Huebner (Texas A&M 1987) he posted a picture of U.S. troops crossing the Po River in a gator

[jgawne]

Shame on you General Apathy, sir, for not reading my book with more care.

[General Apathy]

Shame on you General Apathy, sir, for not reading my book with more care.

 

 

jon, I do apologise mon ami, I am so overworked being a roving Normandy reporter for the forum and all the other jobs I have to perform I have so little time to sit and read. Tomorrow evening I have to prepare and cook dinner for twelve guests, and on the 25th I have forum member Sabrejet & Mrs Sabrejet visiting so there is much much preparations for it all.

 

That's my excuse anyway, also have a go at Lars for starting this topic and Johan for adding to it. Also which book is it in, being as you have written so many. ( good excuse for a book plug there ) :thumbsup:

 

Apathetic Apathy

[Proud Kraut]

jon, I do apologise mon ami, I am so overworked being a roving Normandy reporter for the forum and all the other jobs I have to perform I have so little time to sit and read. Tomorrow evening I have to prepare and cook dinner for twelve guests, and on the 25th I have forum member Sabrejet & Mrs Sabrejet visiting so there is much much preparations for it all.

 

That's my excuse anyway, also have a go at Lars for starting this topic and Johan for adding to it. Also which book is it in, being as you have written so many. ( good excuse for a book plug there ) :thumbsup:

 

Apathetic Apathy

 

 

Thank you very much for your help, really lots of things to do...Lewis, what are you cooking for Mr. and Mrs. Sabrejet, or is that secret?