Armoured Vehicles in HBO's The Pacific

In my humble opinion, The Pacific portrays the sheer terror of war like no other film I've ever seen. Two scenes that spring to mind are the recreation of the Battle of Alligator Creek on Guadalcanal, and the brutal beach landing at Peleliu. Both of those demonstrate the amount of sheer determination and will that the average foot soldier needed to survive and prevail. In many ways, The Pacific surpasses Band Of Brothers in its graphic realism. I've watched the entire series multiple times and it still gives me chills to think about what it was like to defend a fighting hole in total darkness from a full frontal assault or to run across an open area while being shelled and shot at.

Regarding the amtrac, in reality the one Eugene Sledge was in did not have a tailgate. As he wrote in his book: "My knees got weak when I saw that it wasn't the newer model with the tailgate ramp for troop exit in which we had practiced. This meant that once on the beach, we'd have to jump over the high sides, exposed much more to enemy fire."

I love the attention to detail that WW2 movies adopted in the 90s. I grew up on a diet of 60s and 70s movies where they really didn't try. Slap a cross on a Pershing and it's a Tiger.

In "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" Sledge wrote that he climbed into his Amtrak over the side, indicating that he was in an LVT II, so the scene with the ramp seems to be creative licence.

The Australians in the South Pacific used British Matilda IIs as their main armour against the Japanese, right to the very end of the war in the Pacific. Though these tanks were outdated by this point, especially in European theater, their design made them suitable for thick jungle fighting of the South Pacific. Matilda's had thick armour, thick enough to protect against most Japanese anti-tank weapons. And though their main armaments were the early war standard of a 40 mm 2pdr anti-tank gun, it was enough against lightly armoured Japanese tanks, though some were fitted with 3 inch howitzers for better ability to eliminate enemy positions.

Most of the Sherman DDs did make it ashore on D-day, and made a valuable contribution. The problem at Omaha Beach was the weather conditions there and the fact that the Shermans for that beach were deployed too far out to sea. Most there sank.

I got to see one of those LVTS in person and they are huge

My local library has a book featuring interviews with Iowa WWII veterans and one of them was a Marine tanker who fought in a Stuart tank. According to this tanker the Marines really liked them and recounted clearing bunkers on Iwo Jima. I guess he saw what happened to the Japanese officer trying to surrender in his kimono while gripping a samurai sword. It wasn't very nice.

Nice vid Johnny. My favorite WW2 series, appreciated it even more now

One minor correction. The DC-3 wasn't imported for the series. Its based in Melbourne where much of the series non beach scenes were filmed.

The tracks make the Sherman look like the Canadian grizzly version

We still have rusting LVTs on the side of the road at Peleliu. I used to pass them everyday when I lived there. The roads also still have track marks in them but I don't know if it was from the war or the Navy's heavy construction equipment.

My grandfather was a WWII Marine and an LVT driver. He was everywhere, but if you asked him, he denied it. He was at Tarawa, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima, and had three vehicles knocked up from under him during his time in the Pacific. He was pulled out of the infantry when the discovered he was a heavy machinery operator (bulldozers, etc.) and they put him in tracks. I have a couple of pictures he had of training they did down my Camp Pendleton. I think he must have felt a lot of survivors guilt and must have seen a lot of men he put ashore die. Thank you, Grandpa! Semper Fi.

as a filipino i personally like the pacific more than BoB because it hits closer to home, even though they didn’t have any scenes in the Philippines.

My dad was a WW2 Marine, 43 when I was born. he landed from an LVT on Okinawa in 45. Lost him to covid last year 😑 I met Eugene Sledge at a marine Corp function with my dad. Both were in China same division,1st Tientsin

Alternative title:why this series is soo expensive

The main reason LVTs were not a common thing at D-day were due to production cost and the speed of being able to embark troops. The LVTs are slower compared to the LCVP and LCA boats. Plus they take longer to produce. Another thing to keep in mind was that the LVTs had a strength of being able to support infantry against a lightly armed opponent. Which the Germans at the west wall weren’t. Plus the allies knew of all the obstacles on the beaches which would in turn make the LVTs effectiveness terrible.

You can still see the civilness in war in Band of Brothers, in The Pacific it’s really just pure savagery. The scene that Snuff threw rocks into a dead Japanese soldier’s opened skull filled with blood and mud water gave me the most chills from any war movies. It really gave me a feeling that I just don’t know how to describe.

I also assumed that the "over the side" LVT dismount was to mimic the actual dismount from an LVT-2. The ramped LVTs didn't get into heavy use until later in the Pacific campaign. By the way there are excellent LVT scenes in "The Sand Of Iwo Jima" showing them at Tarawa (the actual first use of the LVT in the initial assault) and at Iwo Jima. "Sands Of Iwo Jima" also shows Marines getting support from flamethrower Shermans, both in newsreel film and by actual USMC M4A3, CWS POAH5 flametanks (a very late WW2 version that also served in Korea). The older movie "Battle Cry" also shows LVTs and features the LVT(A)4 supporting the freshly landed Marines. By the way, "Battle Cry" also used USMC M4A3 tanks for Japanese armor. Some good LVT landing scenes are also seen in "The Halls Of Montezuma" along with USMC M4A3 75mm medium tanks.

2:09 why they dont exit using the ramp? CUS GOING ON THE SIDE IS WAY COOLER just like D-Day