"LVT armament" Topic

I was wondering, after I noticed a picture of a USMC LVT with a 37mm gun taken from a P-39, taking out bunkers on some island, if the US or British ever mounted a 20mm gun on the LVT? I have seen .30 cals, .50 cals & flame throwers, but have not run across any 20mm's. I look forward to your help.

The British and Canadians mounted 20mm guns firing forward for the operations in the Rhineland and Holland.

KAM

If i recall correctly it was a Polsten cannon. The old Airfix model had one.

There were several models of the LVT. The tank versions carried either a 37 or a 75 howitzer, plus machineguns. The standard armament on the ones used for infantry landing was a .50 and one to three .30s. Anything else on the US side would have been a field modification.

The 20mm Polsten cannon was the standard fit for British Buffalo IVs, along with two MGs (.30 or .50) mounted on side pintle mounts (which were often with gun shields or boxed-in sponsons).

The Buffalo II did not have the 20mm fit. It normally had a forward-mounted .50 and a couple of .30s.

In 1945 the British also fitted a pair of Wasp flamehrowers to the Buffalo IV to create the LVT-4(F) Sea Serpent. At least half a dozen of these were used in the Rhine Crossing before being sent to the Far East. These were mounted in open-backed box turrets on the front. There was also a .50 AAMG, mounted in a scarfe ring (probably salvaged from a halftrack or Priest) at the rear of the vehicle.

In the Far East the Sea Serpents were also joined by around half a dozen LVT-4(A) fitted with American M8 75mm GMC turrets, plus another half a dozen LVT-4(R), which were fitted with 76.2mm multiple rocket launchers (presumably the Land Mattress system). However, these variants never saw action, as the Japanese surrender came just before Operation 'Zipper' (14th Army's invasion of Malaya) could take place.

Additional:

While the 20mm was certainly the standard fit for Buffalo IVs in 79th Armoured Division (NW Europe), that might not be true for Buffalo IVs in Italy.

R Mark, thanks so much for your post. I have a 15mm XIV army collection and a few LVT(A)4s. I was fighting an urge to raise a USMC army to go with the LVTs, but now I can use thm (albeit hypothetically) with my Brits :)

Any ideas on colur schemes for XIV Army LVTs? British colours (i.e. greemn overall) or did they retain their US schemes?

I don't even know if they ever got their vehicles! ;o)

34th Amphibious Support Regiment, Royal Marines was the unit I referred to, but most of its personnel were still in transit to the Far East when the war ended. 34th ASRRM was formed from the former personnel of the RMASG that had fought in Normandy (after Normandy they had been reformed into an RM infantry battalion).

Hypothetcally speaking, I would opt for a plain Jungle Green paint scheme, like British/Indian tanks in XIV Army, with LARGE Allied stars on the sides (which were de rigeur for XIV Army tanks by 1945). I would then mark them in the same manner as the RMASG Centaurs in Normandy, with the RM AoS flash (a royal blue square with narrow horizontal stripes of yellow, green and red) superimposed with the Troop number in white (Sea Serpents – 1, LVT(A) – 2 & LVT(R) – 3). I'd also give the LVT(A)s compass markings around the turrets, like RMASG Centaurs.

I'm not aware of any troop-carrying LVT units being formed in the theatre, but I would expect the 50th Indian Tank Brigade to have been partially re-roled. Their formation sign was a yellow equilateral triangle (point up), with what appears to be train tracks receding into the distance (in black). AoS flashes were the standard armoured brigade scheme of 50, 51, 52 & 53 on a red square. Squadron signs were as standard – often with the troop number painted in white in the centre of the squadron sign.

Speaking of hypothetical scenarios: The 34th ASRRM would undoubtedly have been used in Operation 'Coronet': the invasion of mainland Japan in March 1945. The plans for that operation were discussed here at some length a couple of months ago.

There is also the LVT(A)-1 with the M-24 turret too. Robert

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