I Was There in the War of the Landing Craft (ePub)

Paul Lund was transferred from the Arctic Convoys to Tank Landing Craft - LCTs. This book is written from his own experience, and those of other Officers and men of the Tin Can Navy. This is the story of that Tin Can Navy and the men who didn't want to be there. They fought their way around North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Normandy. A lot of the time it was a living nightmare.It started in 1940 when a small number of flat-bottomed "e;assault craft"e; were slung aboard merchant ships to land Commando raids on enemy beaches. From these early, daring operations grew the vast fleet that took the Allies back into Hitler's fortress Europe.The men had to work with wayward, flat-bottomed boats open to fighters and all sorts of attack. They called them "e;bloody kipper boxes"e; and all agreed that this was no way to travel!"e;The first invading craft to enter Salerno bay came under heavy fire and the troops had to work hard to secure the beaches. The shelling and bombing persisted through the whole day. One of the Canadians with an arm blown off clambered aboard and calmly lit himself a cigarette. I marvelled at the courage."e;"e;On the beach, shells were thumping fountains of sand around us. An LCT smashed her way through the beach obstacles to get our tanks ashore. Beach control was practically non-existent. Bad accidents, more troops landing, grenades everywhere and the flying scrap iron made getting out even worse than getting in."e;