"LVT (variants)" Topic

Hi, I know that LVT's were used by the British in Rhine crossing and else where but did they use any of the variants ie. flamethrower, 75mm or 37mm?

similarly did Commonwealth troops have access to these in the Pacific, I believe that the sea serpent did make its way to the Pacific, did any of the others?

hope that is clear
cheers
jon

the britsh use of lvt's was quite widespread
in nwe they used the lvt 4 and lvt2, a lot were armed with a 20mm cannon.
also used a lot in Italy later in the war and lvt4's were also used in a landing in Burma in early 45.
apart from the 20mm polsten and the .50 mg's I do not recall any other armed variants.
they also tested a 17pdr carrier but that was supposed to be used in a river assault but apparently not used, like the sea serpent, I can't find any recorded uses of it in any of my books ect.
the britsh were supposed to have been issued some of the lvta4 75mm, but again no one can verify it's use.

The majority type was the Buffalo IV (LVT-4). Most of those had a 20mm Polsten on the front and a pair of MGs (usually .50s – some with .30s) on the sides, plus a .30 hull MG in the nose. Some of the side-mounted guns had gun-shields or open-backed box 'turrets'.

About a quarter of the force were Buffalo II (LVT-2). These were usually armed with a .50 on the front and up to two side-mounted .30s. Again, gun-shields were sometimes fitted.

A single small troop of LVT-4(F) Sea-Serpents MAY have seen action on the Rhine Crossing, though the evidence is scant.

No other types were used.

LVT-2 & LVT-4 were also used in Italy, circa 1945, where they were called 'Fantails'. IIRC, they were operated by 9th Armoured Brigade, which had a fair bit of 'Funny' armour (either them or 25th Armoured Engineer Brigade).

The British Army didn't fight in the Pacific after the fall of Java in 1942, so the Buffalo didn't make it out that far east in British service. I don't know if the Australians or Kiwis did anything with LVTs?

In Burma however, the British and Indian Armies had received LVT-1s (known there as 'Alligators') in about 1943, but they weren't used in action until 1945.

34th Armoured Support Sqn RM was sent out east at the end of the war. This unit was formed mainly from the men of the old RM Armoured Support Group, who had then been converted to in infantry and then back to armour in the form of LVTs. I can't remember the details, but they had a troop each of Sea Serpents, LVT-4(R) equipped with Land Mattress rockets and a gun troop with, I think, LVT(A)-4 (75mm turreted version). These never saw action and most of them never received the vehicles.

I have pictures in a book of royal marines landing with lvt4's in Burma and the britsh also had about 100 lvt1's for training in the uk in 43-44.

Yes, there's a photo in Tenby Museum of some LVT-1s in Exercise Jantzen, the big D-Day rehearsal of 1943. A pile of them were used for resupply purposes in Normandy as well.

Australia certainly used the LVT4 (there's a survivor in the Darwin War Museum) but they may have been US rather than Australian vehicles. Postwar, but amtracs and an amtank link