Ian Haskins wrote:
>
> The USMC in the South Pacific used a mixture of "higgins" boats (wooden
> landing craft in effect) that drafted only 3 feet of water and some form of
> floating tank (called a xxxxxx tractor I think) that was originally designed
> in the 1930's for taking people on tours of the Florida Swamps
>
> The main problem in the South Pacific was the coral reefs surroding the
> atolls, even at high tide you rarely got more than 3 feet of clearance so
> the landing craft had to dump their men in water up to their chest and watch
> as they wading up to 3/4 of a mile under withering enemy fire. The tractors
> could get over the reefs but were so badly shot up that going back and
> picking up more troops was quite often impossible. This explains why the
> casulty figures were so high. (over 1,000 men were killed on the beach at
> Guadacanal, and the landing area was only 800 yards long)
>
Ah, I think you have the wrong invasion in mind for the 1,000 men killed
"on the beach."
Guadacanal was the first invasion, before the IJA got good at defending
beaches. IIRC the actual landing of the first wave was unaposes. The
taking of the airstrip, on the other hand (Henderson Field, named after
the USMC commander of the Midway air detachment, who died at the Battle
of Midway, BTW) was a rather bloody fight.
I think you are thinking of Tarawa.
--
Silliness is the last refused of the doomed. P. Opus
http://www.spellbooksoftware.com
Received on Fri Sep 25 1998 - 15:20:42 UTC