US Marine Corps Tanks of World War II (New Vanguard)

US Marine Corps Tanks of World War II (New Vanguard)

Language: English

Pages: 48

ISBN: 1849085609

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


The US Marine Corps formed six tank battalions in World War II which saw combat in some of the most varied and extreme conditions of the Pacific theater. The Marine tank battalions fought on small coral atolls such as Tarawa, in the fetid jungles of the south west Pacific including Guadalcanal, in the lush central Pacific islands of the Marianas such as Saipan and Guam, and on the volcanic deserts of the Bonin islands such as Iwo Jima. The tank equipment of the Marine Corps was essentially the same as that used by the US Army: the M3 and M5A1 light tanks, and the M4 Sherman medium tanks. But the conditions and the opponent forced the Marine Corps to adapt both in terms of technical and tactical innovations. The numerous island landings forced the development of novel landing equipment, especially deep wading equipment to get the tanks safely ashore. Japanese defensive tactics in 1943-44 put a premium on American use of flamethrowers and the development of a variety of flamethrower tanks on the M3 light tank chassis. Deadly Japanese close-infantry tactics forced the development of novel methods of tank protection including the use of wooden armor to defeat the use of magnetic anti-tank devices. This book will examine the Marine use of tanks in World War II and the tactics and technology that made their experiences so unique in the annals of tank warfare.

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100-yard range and a much larger 200-gallon tank. Although these flamethrower amtracs proved useful, they were very lightly armored and not durable enough. The Marines concluded that a tank-mounted equivalent was still needed because of the better armor protection it offered. There was still much fighting on Peleliu, as the Japanese infantry resisted with their usual steadfastness in spite of the hopeless odds. Of the 1st Tank Battalion’s 31 officers, nine were killed and 13 wounded during the

(US) 20 M3 light tanks (US) 7–8; ‘hightop’ 10, 11 Bellmon, Lt Hank 32 M3A1 light tank (US) A8–9, 10, 11, 12, ‘birdcages’ 34, 35, 44 12, 14, 14, 15, 16, 17, 35; Satan flame Bodish, Sgt Robert L. 25 tanks 19, 19, 20, 20–2, 24, 26, 30–1 Bourgainville 12 M4A2 Medium Tank (US) B12–13, 14, BT-5 Soviet tanks 23 14–16, 15, 17, 17, 18, 18, 20, C20–1, Butler, Gen Smedley 5 22, 23, 24, 25, 25, 26, 27, E32–3, 35, 38, 40, 43, 43, 47; dozer tank 25, 38; ‘Calliope’, T34 rocket launchers 16 with E4-5

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Company C and 3 M5A1 light tanks of Company A, 4th Marine Tank Battalion landed in support of the 23rd Marines at Roi, taking their objective in two hours. The 24th Marines landing at Namur were supported by ten M5A1 light tanks of Company B which were soon attacked By the time of the Kwajalein fighting, the older M3A1 tanks were being replaced by the newer M5A1 light tank. This is Hunter, the tank of the B Company, 4th Tank Battalion commander, Capt. Jim Denig. This tank was knocked out during

such as the sponson fuel tanks. At least three tanks had magnetic mines detonated over their sponson fuel tanks which sprayed fuel over the hot engines. To the relief of the crew, the diesel fuel did not ignite. The Marines soon learned that there had to be close This illustration from a Japanese antitank tactics manual captured on Saipan shows the wide variety of explosive devices available to Japanese infantry, as well as their intended use. Absent from the illustration is the explosive

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