The US Marine Corps's initial tank battalions were equipped with M3 light tanks, but in 1942 plans were laid to add two medium tank battalions at corps level while the light lank battalions served for divisional support. The Marines were far down on the priority list for new equipment, after the US Army and Lend-Lease for Britain and the Soviet Union. They finally received the diesel-powered M4A2 in part because it was the only type available to them in the foreseeable future and in part due to the desire to adopt diesel tanks for commonality of fuel with Navy landing craft. When forces were selected for the assault on the Tarawa atoll in November 1943, Company C of the 1 Marine Amphibious Corps (IMAC) Medium Tank Battalion was assigned to provide tank support for the initial landing. The tanks were not provided with any form of deep-wading trunks, which had not yet been developed in the Pacific theatre. This would later prove to be the Achilles heel of the tank landing and far more tanks drowned in shell craters and deep water than were knocked out in combat. They were delivered to Tarawa aboard the LSD-1 USS Ashland, and landed using LCM-3.
No comments:
Post a Comment