Customer Reviews

"Landing Ship, Tank (LST) 1942-2002" (New Vanguard)

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The Landing Ship, Tank was a war-winning weapon. Nazi Germany didn't have anything like it and had to seize a port or make do with a barge. Against light resistance, this worked. It wouldn't work against prepared defenses such as the German Atlantic Wall or the determined Imperial Japanese fortified islands from 1943 on.

This Osprey New Vanguard book continues a tradition of excellence. The LST was a British invention, but American industry made it a practical reality. The LST was designed to land heavy equipment over the beach--especially the tank. Prior to the development of specialty landing boats, amphibious assault was conducted with ships' boats, a method that permitted only light weapons deployment. When outside the range of naval gunfire (more importantly, when outside the limited range of communications with the mother vessels) the amphibious soldier was little more than an irritation. Specialty landing craft, both boats and amphibious tractors, permitted landing infantry combat teams with heavy equipment en mass, as coherent units of battalion size or larger. By contrast, parachute infantry had little more than man-portable weaponry and no significant motorized transport (a few air-dropped motorcycles, perhaps), which forced the use of gliders. Even gliders had severe weight restrictions--light airborne "tanks" had virtually no combat utility. Airborne assaults were dependant upon linking up with more heavily-equipped ground troops. An exception was the near disaster of Crete by the German Luftwaffe. The Dieppe Raid proved the need for masses of heavy gear if an independant amphibious assault was to succeed. There was a problem with the little landing craft--they lacked seaworthyness and had to be launched near the objective and loaded up from the mother transport. What the LST accomplished was direct transfer from a friendly port thousands of miles from the objective to the hostile beachhead of the heaviest equipment. Without the LST or something like it, neither Normandy nor the Pacific Islands campaign would have been practical.

The first part of this book covers the history and development quite well. The color plates provide a cross-sectional view as well as paintings of varients such as the mini "aircraft carrier." The latter was capable of launching and recovering modified Army liaison aircraft--in the pre-helicopter days, quite a feat! This was the first I've heard of the Brodie carriers.

Operational history and varients during the 60-year service life of this class of vessels is detailed in the rest of this thin volume. I was surprised to find out that this class of ship is no longer part of the US Navy--I'll have to check because the mission, delivering large quantities of equipment over an unimproved beach, still exists. Today, the improved LSD, LPD, and LHA all feature an internal, floodable dock that can handle large hovercraft or the big LCM, load them safely under all sea conditions, and launch them--so perhaps the LST's day is over. I don't know, but I'm going to find out! The US Marines still can put more combat power ashore than the Army Airborne in the same time (the Airborne can get there quicker, but can't muster much staying power until reinforced by the inadequate air transport fleet), but Marine Corps doctrine has changed from the World War Two frontal assault on a fortified beach to a more subtle "hit them where they ain't" maneuver warfare doctrine proven in Grenada and in the phantom "amphibious assault" on Kuwait during the First Gulf War. Take a look at the complex amphibious operations during the Second Gulf War--too intricate to more than hint at in this format.

The LST was never a perfect solution, merely a workable one. These sturdy work horses were converted to other tasks, and some soldier on in foreign navies. In September, 1979, I made an amphibious assault with Company F, 29th Marines (a reserve unit) from a Norwegian LST somehwere north of the Artic Circle. Now thanks to Osprey, I have pictures of this sea-going workhorse.

The book splains every type of LST's used between 1942 and 2002 with colour arts and full schemes, a good reference for modelers and historians.

To read this book is an important reminder that battles are won by logistics as well as front line troops. The use of LST's allowed the Allies to get ashore tanks, troops and supplies quickly without the need of a port. They also were used to take wounded back to safer havens for better treatment.

Winston Churchill actually proposed the concept which saw modifications and improvement as time and experience with amphibious assualts grew. Over 1,050 were built. Each one could carry 20 Sherman tanks (which weigh 33 tons each). They were made in ship yeards all over the US. The book describes the hull, engines, decks, armament, operations. Plenty of data and statistics, 7 color plates to show paint schemes. These slow cargo vessels would beach themselves, off load cargo and repeat the process as needed.

It would be fair to call these ships and those who served on them 'unsung heros'. This is a fitting book to both, recommended reading for anyone interested in amphibious warfare, logistics and yet another example of how the US became the Arsenal of Democracy in WW2.