(details) LCA
LCA plans
(Landing Craft Assault)
(details)
Arrangement of the "Assault Boat Team" and the "Support Boat Team" in their LCVP (Landing Craft Vehic. or Pers.) or their LCA (Landing Craft Assault). The LCA (British-built) were specifically reserved for troops destined for Dog Green (Cies A/116 and B/116 and Rangers)
2430
Organization of an assault barge
The men of the 1st wave of assault barges (LCA or LCVP) were organized into teams.
The first to land was the section chief and 5 Garand automatic rifle shooters with 96 rounds each.
Then came a team of 4 barbed wire cutters armed with rifles, 2 being equipped with large pliers, the other two with small pliers.
Behind these, always distributed to disembark in order, were:
2 teams of BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) rifles, of two men each, with 900 cartridges per BAR;
2 Bazooka teams, totaling 4 men, including two armed with rifles;
1 mortar team of 4 men, with a 60 mm mortar and 15 to 20 shells;
1 team of flame-throwers of 2 men.
5 men for demolitions, equipped with long "Bangalores" poles loaded with explosives.
One nurse and the assistant to the section head were in the back.
In addition to his weapons and special equipment, each man had a gas mask, 5 grenades (snipers and barbed wire cutters also had 4 smoke grenades), a 250g block of TNT with detonator, detonating rope and slow wick, and 6 packs of rations (3 type K and 3 type D).
All clothes were impregnated with gas.
They also wore a man-made lifebuoy (US Navy type), which proved to be insufficient, and equipment and weapons were apparently not attached to buoys so that they could be taken to shore by floating, except for specific initiatives.
The infantry companies of the last waves of assault of 116° Reg. were organized differently from those of the first landings. Two sections of each company were referred to as the "Assault Boat Team" and carried the special weapons and equipment characteristic of the first wave. The other four sections of vessels had the ordinary equipment of the rifle units ("Support Boat Team").
LCVP Plans
(Landing Craft Vehicle and Personal)
11m long, 4t payload
