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Originally Posted by Oberon
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I liked this little nugget:
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Finally, the barges were under-powered for open water operations, and required towing. The basic unit was a tug towing two barges, and travelling at 2-3 knots, in the Channel, which has tides of 5 knots. Given that the distance that the far left of the invasion had to cross, a minimum of 85 miles, the poor bloody soldiers would be wallowing for a minimum of 30 hours in an open boat, and expected to carry out an opposed amphibious landing at the end of it.
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When the Marines decided that Amphibious Warfare was the thing to do just after WWI, the Marines realized there was no type of craft specifically to land troops and heavy gear ashore. So they said screw it we will just use the steam launches from cruisers and battleships to land everything: even
tanks.
It is amazing the Marine Corps of the
20's was further along than the German Army of the 40's when it came to Anphib.