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RE: Japanese Involvement in the K.W.
The
Japanese in WW2 had a specific name for them .. The Koreans named a car after it
as well.
I
forgot the name..if anyone knows please reveal. I will be looking
too.
They
were essentially flat barges. The Japanese were renouned for moving thousands of
soldiers throughout
New
Guinea between islands at night. Some carried as manay as 1000
men.
Dan
Fahey
In a message dated 1/30/2002 11:02:43 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Jhk789@aol.com writes:
You mean they traveled on LST from Incheon to Wonsan?
Isn't
LST usually used for landing purpose only?
How about from Japan to
Incheon?
How many Japanese crew members were on each LST?
How many
marines boarded each LST?
*LST's are shallow draft ocean going ships (about 350'
long) that are capable of beaching themselves and getting back off the beach
as well as crossing oceans.
*LSTs used in landings are all loaded
differently because they carry different kinds of men and equipment. The LST I
was on had about 6 Amtracs and a number of trucks and other equipment in the
tank deck with a large number of trucks, jeeps, etc. on the main deck. Other
LSTs had tanks, artillery, etc. and some LSTs were LSTRs that were huge
launching pads for rockets The Amtracks were loaded last on the LST so they
were the first off. The Marines boarded the Amtracs in the tank deck and about
a mile offshore the Amtracs would disembark the LSTs over a ramp that was
lowered into the water through two horizontally opening doors that made up the
LST's' bow. When all the Amtracs (carrying troops) were in the water they
would form up into waves and head for ashore. The LSTs with tanks,
artillery, etc. would go ashore shortly after the troops landed. Other
equipment such as trucks, jeeps, etc on board LSTs would be brought ashore as
needed. I don't remember how many Marines a ! LVCP or an Amtrac carried, but
it couldn't have been much more than a squad.
I think you may have confused LSTs
with LCVPs which are small landing craft that has a flat bow that opened as a
ramp when the boat runs up on the beach. LVCPs are carried on APAs (assault
troop ships) and are loaded with troop that climb down a cargo net into the
LCVPs when they come along side of the APAs. LCVPs also go ashore in waves.
At Inchon most of the Amtracs were
used by the 5th Marine Regiment when they went ashore on Wolmi-do Island
(Green Beach) and Red Beach on the western side of Inchon in the morning. The
1st Marine Regiment went ashore (Blue Beach) on LVCPs in the late afternoon on
the mainland on the southeastern side of Inchon. The 7th Marine Regiment
didn't arrive in Korea until 5 or 6 days later and did not participate with
the rest of the 1st Division in the Inchon Landing. Since the LVCPs landed
against seawalls, the landing ramps could not be used so we had to climb
wooden ladders from the LCVPs on to the
seawall.
I landed at Inchon on a LCVP via an
APA and at Wonsan on an Amtrac via a LST. There were other kinds of
landing craft boats use in amphibious landings, i.e., LSUs, LSMs
etc.
*After the
Second World War the US gave the Japanese a lot of LSTs to be used as merchant
ships.
* I don't have the slightest idea how big of a crew a Japanese LST
or even an American LST had (under 50 ??).
* The number of Marines
(riflemen) on any given LST depended on how many Amtacs were on the LST and
how many sleeping compartments it had. I don't think my whole company was on
the LST, probably two platoons, and I don't remember any un-used bunks
(canvass spread across a metal frame), But you have to remember there were a
lot of truck drivers, Amtrac crews, etc.
D Gill