By Sea and by Land - The Story of Our Amphibious Forces

BY SEA and BY LAND The Story of Our Amphibious Forces by LIEUT. EARL BURTON. Foreword: ’ Tanks land on Many times since December 7, 1941, headlines similar to this have appeared in our daily papers, but comparatively few persons, in or out of the military and naval services, realize the backstage activities that made these announce ments possible. Most of us absorb only the thrill attending the reading, similar to that feeling one experiences in wit nessing a gigantic stage spectacle ; and we wonder how it was done. If the public had been permitted to see the detailed planning and the time and effort the cast applied to make the landing possible, the astonishment would be all the greater. Amphibious operations are dramas of life and death and the members of the cast are our soldiers and sailors. Their backstage life cannot be fully revealed at this time, but suffice it to say it is hard and exacting and requires courage of the highest order. The rehearsals preliminary train ing are shrouded in secrecy. It must be that way, and not until the very minute of attack against the enemy-held beach do many, beyond the members of the task force, know anything about the operation. I have lived with these men and have seen them train on land and sea, under both ideal and miserable conditions. At best it is a life of hard work. We know that, unlike any other form of warfare, an amphibious operation cannot strike, fail, retreat, and try again. It must succeed the first time. This requires teamwork and the coalescing of the Army and Navy components into a hard-hitting and fast-moving force. That teamwork exists. This war has brought the Army and Navy closer together than ever before in our history, and Amphibious Forces are the epitome of everything that is sought in military efficiency. Without the success of the initial thrust over the enemy held beaches, our final effort could never materialize. It is the Amphibious Forces who are carrying the vanguard of victory of American arms to Japan and Germany, and nothing either enemy has to offer can stop them. It is to the men of the Amphibious Forces that this book has been dedicated. Their accomplishments have been great ; they will be even greater. They have won and earned our thanks and gratitude. BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANK A. KEATING, U. S. Army. Contents include: Foreword 7 CHAPTER 1. Pattern for Invasion 13 2. This Most Difficult Warfare 26 3. Building 138 37 4. The Ships That Land Them 50 5. Landing Craft Group 64 6. Spit-kits and Tank Ships 81 7. It Doesn’t Grow on Trees 101 8. The Boys with the Stereopticon Eyes 116 9. The Very Model of a Modern Battlefield 131 10. Artillery Sailors the NGLO’s 143 11. We Call It a Party 158 12. The Attack Transports 167 13. The Amphibious Infantry 181 14. Small-Boat Men 192 15. D-day for Lollipop 203 16. Logistics for Lollipop 211 And They Will Land Again 217. BY SEA AND BY LAND. CHAPTER ONE. Pattern for Invasion. THE little bar at 116 Piccadilly was almost empty. The radio was turned low. A BBC orchestra was playing its jitterbug version of a current song. An RAF pilot and an officer in the uniform of the Fleet Air Arm sat in two of the modernistic maple chairs. They were talking quietly. The RAF pilot dug deep in his blue pocket for a package of Players and offered one to his companion. 116 Piccadilly was the Athenaeum Court, a steel and concrete apartment hotel that had somehow escaped the blitz bombs in that area. It had its brick blast-wall pro tecting the front door, sand bags were stacked high against the basement windows, and in the lobby a red plush carpet made a path to the desk where two aged attendants in green uniform alternated in the duties of doorman and clerk. Several officers, British and American, lived here. Nightcap time usually found a few of them in the piano-sized bar, getting their one for the road drink and ta