The Hawker Tempest Vs shown are 501 Sqn, Jul 44-Apr 45.
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
The Hawker Tempest Vs shown are 501 Sqn, Jul 44-Apr 45.
Joe, That is a classic picture of Marine tankers at Guadalcanal with a Stuart light tank - The first big battle in the island hopping campaign. One of my favorite pictures of tankers in WWII.
"With the destroyer USS Buchanan firing in support, the 3rd Battalion Marines, commanded by LtCol Robert Hunt, hit the beach late in the morning on Gavutu and the tanks landed shortly thereafter. After securing the island, the assault force prepared to take the neighboring island of Tanambogo. Naval gunfire preparatory fires began at 1600 and the Item Company, 3/2, landed twenty minutes later preceded by Lt Sweeney's light tank section. Sweeney's wingman tank was commanded by Sgt Leon C. Richardt. What happened next was described in Follow Me, The Story of the Second Marine Division in World War II:
'As Sweeney, the tank commander, drove his two eggshell monsters inland, screaming Japs ran at the tanks with pipes and crowbars to jam the treads. Sweeney's guns were all going, and so were the guns of his companion tank, but there was a painful lack of room to maneuver. Rising from the turret to reconnoiter, Sweeney took a bullet through the head. The tank stalled and the crewmen fought their way out of it against Japs who were swinging knives and even a pitchfork. Meanwhile, the other tank had stuck between two coconut palms. Its trapped crew was confronted by an equally horrifying attack, with gruesome trimmings. The Japs fired the tank with gasoline and set upon the desperate Marines with knives and bayonets. Two Marines died and two others survived severe burns and multiple knife wounds. But the next day the bodies of forty-two Japs were counted within the sweep of the burned tank's guns.'"
Really, a brutal war....
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/2ndmardiv_history_part_2.htm
-Steve
"With the destroyer USS Buchanan firing in support, the 3rd Battalion Marines, commanded by LtCol Robert Hunt, hit the beach late in the morning on Gavutu and the tanks landed shortly thereafter. After securing the island, the assault force prepared to take the neighboring island of Tanambogo. Naval gunfire preparatory fires began at 1600 and the Item Company, 3/2, landed twenty minutes later preceded by Lt Sweeney's light tank section. Sweeney's wingman tank was commanded by Sgt Leon C. Richardt. What happened next was described in Follow Me, The Story of the Second Marine Division in World War II:
'As Sweeney, the tank commander, drove his two eggshell monsters inland, screaming Japs ran at the tanks with pipes and crowbars to jam the treads. Sweeney's guns were all going, and so were the guns of his companion tank, but there was a painful lack of room to maneuver. Rising from the turret to reconnoiter, Sweeney took a bullet through the head. The tank stalled and the crewmen fought their way out of it against Japs who were swinging knives and even a pitchfork. Meanwhile, the other tank had stuck between two coconut palms. Its trapped crew was confronted by an equally horrifying attack, with gruesome trimmings. The Japs fired the tank with gasoline and set upon the desperate Marines with knives and bayonets. Two Marines died and two others survived severe burns and multiple knife wounds. But the next day the bodies of forty-two Japs were counted within the sweep of the burned tank's guns.'"
Really, a brutal war....
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/2ndmardiv_history_part_2.htm
-Steve
ipscgraz
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
New day New pictureNow this is how you fix a jeep in the field
Cheers
Joe
This is kind of historical.
A lot of WW II jeeps wound up on their sides and upside down (often because of the farm boys driving them.) If you got two or three guys you could roll it back on their wheels, let the oil settle back into the sump, fire it up and drive away.
One of the things that did cause a problem was the electrolyte leaking out of the battery through the vent caps, especially if the jeep was upside down for a few minutes.
Besides being corrosive as hell the battery would lose power and die from being charged with low electrolyte levels. (kills that cell and therefore the battery)
Somebody thought of adding Kieselguhr (an infusorial earth) into each cell and this would form a paste that would not leak out.
This later evolved into what we refer to as gel cells.
They were well suited for combat in the Pacific. The biggest opposition offered by Japanese armour were the Type 95 and Type 97 tanks, neither afv being anywhere close to the quality of classes being used in Europe. The M3s 37mm gun was quite adequate and useful against light fortifications as well.
US Shermans were generally outclassed in Europe by German designs but were greatly superior to Japanese tanks once M4s began to trickle into the PTO.
- Location
- Beaverlodge, Alberta
Is it a wire cutter of some kind?
- Location
- SW Manitoba
Good morning fellow Gunnutz New day new picture
Cheers
Joe
It's a relief that there are women in the Marines now... somebody needs to clean up.
