Customer Reviews

Before the First Wave: A History of the 3rd Armored Amphibian Battalion

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My father was sent overseas in the 541st Replacement Battalion in early 1944, and first went to Guadalcanal. This book told a lot of different things that I had never read before. The other reviewer obviously didn't notice that the title said 3rd Armored Amphibian Battalion not 3rd Armored Div. that fought in europe.

This book is about the 3rd Provisional Armored Amphibian Battalion. If you have read enough on the Pacific War in WWII you have seen pictures of these guys in action on Peleliu and Okinawa. They drove the armored LTV(A for Armored)-2s and 3s mounting the Stuart and 75mm howitzer turrets, lending fire support to the landing Marines. What I didn't know until reading the book was they actually landed before the first wave. If you have visited sites like [...], you have seen the carcass of at least one of their derelict vehicles on Peliliu near the air field.

The book is really a collection of anecdotes collected by the author, after he was asked by the surviving veterans of the unit, at a reunion, to write a history of the unit. The anecdotes are loosely woven into a chronicle of the unit from its inception to its disbandonment after the Okinawan campaign. Much to the horror and chagrin of these combat "tank" drivers, they were reassigned to occupation duty in Japan as amphibian truck drivers, exchanging their Armored LTVs for DUKWs.

All in all I agree with the author and the vets, that they were treated pretty shabbily by the Corps after serving with distinction in two of the hardest fought campaigns that their parent unit, the 1st Marine Division, fought in.

The book is well worth adding to your library if you are interested in either campaign. Just do not expect an in depth treatment of the unit. There are no TOE tables no chronological coverage of the where, when and how. Simply a collection of personal remembrances and recollections put in the space and time that the old Warriors recalled.

My grandfather was in the 3rd Armored Amphibian Battalion in Peleliu and he felt that this book acurately reported the events of the battle. If you want to know more about this, then it is a good read.

I am WW II veteran of 3rd Armored Division and am curious to read this book because I was unaware that the Division had an amphibious battalion. The bulk of the Division landed, I believe on around June 12th, 6 days after D-Day. I will withold final judgement until I can read the book.