When I pulled the Boxes for the 191st Tank Bn
at the NARA last month, I discovered that the
Bn had prepared two different Histories for
September 1943.

Both documents state that the Bn (less 31 vehicles
and 143 men) was loaded on six LCTs and two LSTs
in Bizerte Harbor in early September, in preparation
for the landings at Salerno.

The numbers of the LCTs are not given.
However, both narratives provide the numbers
of the LSTs, 379 and 389. The longer history states
that LST 389 carried B Company, HQ Company, and the
Mortar Platoon. C and Service Companies were loaded
aboard LST 379.

In my August visit to the NARA, I scanned two photos
of tanks being unloaded from LST 379 at Salerno
on 9 September 1943, III-SC 181221 and III-SC 181222.

I had submitted both photos to Navsource, which
I checked after reading the Bn history.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160379.htm

We can now say with a high degree of probability that
the tanks in these photos belong to C Company, 191st
Tank Bn. These are the earliest wartime photos I have
found of the 191st. Neither image was identified on
the Bn's Index Cards in Still Pictures, NARA. I have,
therefore, added these two photos to my list of 191st images.


Dave

Dave

are you interested in hunting down a few US 8th Air force after mission ops reports for me if that is possible ? sorry to use your thread here as a table.

good post by the way, very interesting. NARA is fully un-tapped in my book by researchers

E ~

__________________
Rip it up !

Erich,

My research is limited to the Infantry, Armor, and Navy.

Sorry.


Dave

Dave no prob and I understand, am going a different route.

say as you are interested in the Navy do you have anything about the crafts lost on Exercise Tiger if it is held at NARA on the April 44 fateful day ?

thank you

Erich

__________________
Rip it up !

Dave, my brother was a crewmember on LCT #221 during the invasion of Salerano, but his LCT was loaded with British light infantry and 10 British officers. It's very hard to get any history on the LCT's because they were considered a small vessel and not many records were kept, and for some reason the Navy kept the Amphibious records classified until just recently. Wish I lived close enough to access NARA facilities, what a wonderful resource. If you happen to run across a picture of LCT 221 I'd be forever indebted to you for a copy :-)

Curiously, compared to LCIs and LSTs, I have found comparatively few photos of LCTs at the NARA.

All of the photos I find and scan at the NARA are sent to Navsource.


Dave

I do check Navysource from time to time-now that I know they update the pictures, thanks to guys like you, I'll check more often. The LCTs were not large enough to make much of an impression, not fast like the PT Boats, and pretty mundane in appearance to be photogenic--kinda like comparing a plug workhorse with a racehorces I guess. Thanks for the reply.