Landing Craft, Assault — Operation Infatuate I, 1 November 1944 (1:35 Gecko kit)

[Jakko]

Earlier this year, or maybe late last year, Gecko released a 1:35 scale kit of the British Landing Craft, Assault, a small craft designed in the Second World War for carrying infantry onto hostile beaches. After I finish my Churchill AVRE with SBG bridge, I will move on to this one that is also of local interest to me. However, history of the craft as well as details on how it was used in my area will follow in a later post, after I cover the model

The Gecko kit comes in a pretty large box, 41 cm × 25 cm × 9 cm in size:



It has the usual lid that comes off, but it’s on so tight it doesn’t really want to — once I got it off, I tried to put it back on and take it off again, and that was still difficult. I then broke the glue in one of the corners, so the lid is on much looser now Under that lid, though, is not a tray like you would expect, but a cardboard box with a flip-up lid, of the design used to send things through the mail. I have a feeling I will be cutting that lid off, because it will only get in the way otherwise when I’m actually building the model.

The reason for the size of the box soon becomes clear:



That hull is about 34 cm long, 9 cm wide and 4.5 cm high, moulded in one piece and (by the looks of it) quite straight. I’m pretty impressed so far.

The other sprues you get are also all in light grey plastic:



This is all the sprues, including all duplicates you get. Most of the parts are for the boat itself, but in the last picture, all three G-sprues and some parts on the F-sprues are for wooden blocks that you can pose the finished model on, either on its own or you could use them for a diorama with the boat out of the water, for example undergoing maintenance.

And there’s a tiny bit of etched brass, two different thicknesses of thread, and a decal sheet:



You also get instructions, of course, but see Scalemates for those, where I uploaded a PDF of them a few months ago, soon after I bought the kit.

There are some options provided. You can build the bow ramp and armoured doors open or closed, and the same goes for the armoured flaps over the steering position. The steering position itself has two different armour layouts, with alternative parts provided, and you also get two different engine room hatches for the rear deck to go along with them, either one circular hatch in the middle or a square one either side of the centreline. Also different tie-down cleats for around the deck, and though the kit doesn’t explicitly say so, you can leave out the benches for the infantry in the hold, as those were removable on the real boat.

Unfortunately, one option that isn’t catered for is the armament: you only get a Bren gun, when the real craft were equipped at least as often with a Lewis gun instead (the aircraft version without the chimney around the barrel, as far as I can tell).

The painting and marking options are, IMHO, a bit of a missed opportunity. Five options are provided: two grey boats, one during training of US troops in the UK in early 1944 and the other used for landing American troops at Algeria in November 1942, plus three camouflaged boats used on Gold Beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944. The grey boats look OK to me, but for the camouflaged ones the wrong colours are indicated and the pattern can’t be right for all of them — it doesn’t conform to official drawings, and though individual boats often deviated from that, I doubt all three would deviate in exactly the same way … The use of black pennant numbers on D-Day is also suspect, though it could be possible.

I call it a missed opportunity because schemes and markings could easily have been provided for boats used in Commando operations in Norway, in Egypt, at Walcheren, in the Rhine crossings, in Burma, and probably in several other places. I guess Gecko figured that more Normandy options means it will sell better?

Still, if this kit assembles as well as it looks, this should be a good one.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Oh YES!

 

[Jim R]

Sounds like a build worth following.

 

[adt70hk]

Looks very good and very different!

 

[JR]

As usual a good introduction , with some history as well. Like the fact that you uploaded the instructions to Scalemates when you got the kit.
Without doubt worth following.

 

[Jakko]

Let’s crack on with some history, then Here are some pages from the US Navy publication ONI-226—Allied Landing Craft and Ships (which you can download here), dated 7 April 1944:



The LCA was originally known as the ALC, for Assault Landing Craft. When the USA joined the war, though, landing craft were standardised between the UK and the USA, but the Americans insisted on their naming system being used. Thus, the ALC became the LCA, for Landing Craft, Assault (with a comma that most people forget ) and because there was only one model, there is no Mark number to go after it.

It’s a fairly simple boat, obviously designed for infantry and not vehicles because the front ramp is too narrow for anything but a motorcycle, really. The design is interesting in that it actually provides some protection from the weather for two-thirds of its occupants, by having the benches along the sides under the deck. If you ended up on the middle bench, I guess you were out of luck twice: not only out in the weather (and spray) but also nothing to rest your back against. The benches could be removed when carrying cargo or stretchers with wounded.

The boat was built out of wood, but with armour plating attached to the outside for much of the length, as well as an armoured steering position forward on the starboard side and armour around the machine-gun position opposite it on the port side, and armoured doors at the front, behind the bow ramp. The Royal Navy had (has?) a very awkward system of indicating armour thickness, referring to it by weight rather than thickness for some reason — as you can see in the ONI-226 pages, the LCA has “10-lb. DIHT” armour. There is an explanation on the KBismarck forums: basically, 40 lbs. = 1 inch, but to make this even easier, 1 inch = 24.9 mm rather than the 25.4 mm you would expect… The reason is that the weight given is for a 1-by-1-foot plate of this armour, but a plate that size and 1 inch thick actually weighs slightly more than 40 pounds, so the Navy basically rounded off to neat numbers. To compensate, use slightly smaller inches when converting to real-world numbers that actually mean something to people. All this means that the LCA’s 10-lb. armour is 10 lb. ÷ 40 lb. × 24.9 mm = 6.225 mm thick — call it 6 mm. I’m not sure what DIHT stood for, but the HT part is for “Heat Treated”.

At the rear of the craft was the engine room, which held two Ford V8 petrol engines driving a three-bladed propeller each. There was rudder directly behind each propeller and cage-type protection bars over the top of it, above the water.

All in all, 2030 LCAs were built from 1940 through 1944, naturally with minor variations and improvements over the course of production. Here are some good photos of brand-new LCAs being delivered from a shipyard on the Thames in September 1944:



The LCA was finished from the factory either in a medium grey or in white with a grey-blue “wave” on the side and stern (as in the photos above), but a variety of other camouflage patterns, or variations, could be seen during the war. All carried the letters LCA and the pennant number on both sides of the bow and on the stern. On grey boats this was normally white while camouflaged boats initially had it in black. From about 1944 on, it was red instead, and photos show that some grey boats also had red numbers (making them hard to see in black-and-white pictures).

 

[stillp]

This might be helpful: https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ww2/uk/british-amphibious-ships-and-landing-crafts.php
Pete

 

[stillp]

I found a US Army research report referring to DIHT as Dynamic Impact Hardness Tested.
Pete

 

[Jakko]

This might be helpful: https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ww2/uk/british-amphibious-ships-and-landing-crafts.php

Thanks, I had found that too

I found a US Army research report referring to DIHT as Dynamic Impact Hardness Tested.

Oh, nice one — that’s probably what it is. I found “HT” for Heat Treated somewhere else, and assumed it also applied here.

On with the history of its actual use

The LCA was used in most, if not all, British landing operations during the war, some of the earliest ones being Commando raids in Norway. Here, for example, is ALC 106 during Operation Archery, the raid on Vågsøy on 27 December 1941:


(IWM N 481)

Not sure what the construction with the four legs and the tin can is, though

In Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe, the LCA was the main craft used to carry infantry ashore. Here is ALC 233 being loaded with wounded on the beach there:



It was, of course, also used in the first really large-scale landing operation of the war, Operation Torch in North Africa. These are American troops boarding LCAs:



The Americans didn’t operate LCAs themselves, though: if you see American troops in them, the boats are Royal Navy ones (as you can tell by the uniforms of the crews here). The American equivalent was the LCP(R), Landing Craft, Personnel (Ramp) — not to be confused with the LCVP, Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel that evolved from the LCV, Landing Craft, Vehicle (which was similar to the LCP(R) but with a bigger ramp), so as to create a single design capable of doing both jobs.

Also note the Americans are armed with M1903 Springfield rifles instead of M1 Garands, BTW.

Not sure of the chronology of this photo, but AFAIK it was taken in Egypt:



This must be earlier than Torch, though, as the craft has ALC on the bow and stern, rather than LCA.

After Torch, the LCA was also used for the landings in Sicily and mainland Italy, but of course, the biggest thing it was involved in, was Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. Here are some LCAs with American troops embarked, in some British port:



Not sure whether this is before the crossing to Normandy or during an exercise, though. TBH, I would assume the latter. And Canadian troops being carried to Juno Beach on 6 June 1944:


(Wikimedia Commons)

British troops landing on Gold Beach from LCA 431:


(IWM B 5246)

Note also the armoured bulldozer on the left, towing a trailer full of supplies ashore from one of the LCT (3) or (4)s (Landing Craft, Tank Mk. 3 or 4) in the background.

After the Normandy landing, the LCA’s wasn’t that useful anymore in Europe until November, when they were used in Operation Infatuate to invade Walcheren:



Interestingly, there is a fellow in an American helmet in the craft here, talking to the coxswain. He appears in several photos, and it appears that he was a war correspondent, either an American or a Canadian, and probably writing for an American newspaper. The town on the horizon is Vlissingen, but more on this landing in the next message

The LCA was probably also used for the Rhine river crossing in March 1945, Operation Plunder, but it’s hard to find photos of it. The only pictures I could find just now showed American LCVPs.

But that’s not the end: in January of 1945, LCAs were also being used in the Burma campaign in South-East Asia:


(source: The Campaign in Burma, published by HMSO for South East Asia Command, undated but probably in 1945)

This is a very little-known part of the war, but the British-Indian Army performed amphibious operations here as part of the general offensive through Burma, to drive the Japanese back to Thailand. Some were apparently also even used in the Pacific towards the end of the war there.

Oh, and this photo may also be of interest here:


(IWM A 14350)

That’s a wooden replica of an LCA at the Combined Operations School at Dundonald Camp, for practicing how to exit a landing craft.


(With thanks to Arjan Wiskerke for supplying several of the photos above, as well as general information on the craft.)

 

[Ian M]

Mine should have landed today - no pun intended but got delayed on the way.
Some very good info you have posted up here.

 

[Jim R]

Most interesting Jakko. I would never have noticed or recognised the armoured bulldozer. Another example of your abilities
Mind you I did notice that in the photo of the delivery on the Thames LCA1555 was being driven by Isambard Kingdom Brunel

 

[Jakko]

Hehehe I think it’s probably the chap with the pipe on the left in this photo:



But he put on a lab coat, like the fellow next to him. (The driver coxswain in the other photo doesn’t look like it’s the one wearing the lab coat here, though perhaps he is and just put on a hat.)

Those photos, BTW, came from here.

 

[Jakko]

Now the local (to me) history part of this. As mentioned, LCAs took part in Operation Infatuate, the attack on Walcheren island as part of the Battle of the Scheldt that was fought in the autumn of 1944 to clear the approach to Antwerp. That city had the second-largest port in Europe at the time — in fact, it still does — and had been captured with its harbour facilities pretty much intact due to the efforts of the local Resistance. Being able to use it would massively ease the Allied logistical burden of having to carry everything from the Normandy landing beaches up to the front line that by September ran across Belgium and northeastern France. However, Montgomery, in whose area of responsibility Antwerp lay, was preoccupied with his attempt to capture Arnhem in order to knock out the Germans by means of a left hook. Only when that had obviously failed, did Eisenhower force him to focus on making Antwerp usable to the Allies.



By the end of October 1944, most of Zealandic Flanders (the part of the Netherlands south of the West Scheldt) had been cleared, except for some remaining German resistance in the extreme western part and across the border in Belgium, in the Knokke area. All of South Beveland had by then also been cleared of German resistance, by means of an attack from the east followed by an amphibious landing in the south at Baarland. The latter didn’t involve LCAs, but was performed by carrying infantry across in LVT (Buffalo) and Terrapin amphibious vehicles as well as a small number of Sherman DD swimming tanks that crossed the entire river under their own power. All of this is shown on the map above.

Walcheren, though, the roughly diamond-shaped island in the west, was still entirely in German hands, and the coastal batteries on it could sink any ship trying to sail to Antwerp on the lower right of the map. See another thread on this forum for an impression of what you see from Walcheren’s coast looking across the West Scheldt (the ship there is sailing to the west, so away from the major present-day port complexes at Antwerp, Vlissingen, Terneuzen and Ghent). In addition to coastal batteries, landward defences had also been erected and German troops on the island numbered over 10,000. True, most of those were third-rate, a “stomach-complaint division” only suitable for holding quiet sectors, but the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe gunners manning the coastal and anti-aircraft batteries were notably better quality.

The Allies took the decision to flood Walcheren, which could be accomplished because most of its interior is below sea level — as the map shows with the brown-coloured areas — in order to massively hinder the German defence and reduce the amount of land that would need to be captured. Between 3 and 17 October, sea defences were bombed in four places by the RAF: at Westkapelle in the west; west of Vlissingen (“Flushing” on the map, which is the older English name for it) in the south; near Ritthem in the southeast; and just north of Veere in the northeast. Notably, this was done without consulting the Netherlands government-in-exile, because planners felt they would likely object strongly enough that it would not be allowed … By late October, most of the island’s interior was underwater and life had become almost impossible for the surviving civilian population.

The Allied operation to capture Walcheren via amphibious landings was known as Infatuate, split into Infatuate I at Vlissingen and Infatuate II at Westkapelle. Together with these, Canadian forces on South Beveland attacked from the east to try and force a third breach in the German defences. All of this began on 1 November 1944.

In the harbour of the village of Breskens, on the left (south) bank opposite Vlissingen, a fleet of LCAs had been assembled:



These are not all, you can just see some more on the other side of the jetty and further photos show more LCAs to the right of the area shown here.

The sunken fishing boat in the foreground is because the whole village had been reduced to a large heap of rubble following an aerial bombardment on 11 September (in which, incidentally, the father and a brother of future football legend Willem van Hanegem were killed).

Here are some more photos of part of this fleet:



The devastation is clear in the second-to-last photo there, while in the last photograph, the men are carrying part of a QF 3.7-inch mountain howitzer. This was a gun that could be disassembled into pieces that could be manhandled (or carried on donkeys), making it suitable to bring to Vlissingen in landing craft whose ramp was too small to carry a normal howitzer.

The third photo has large structures in the background. These are ramps for loading and unloading vehicles and passengers on the ferry to Vlissingen.

The LCAs themselves all seem to have been of the type with a round engine room access hatch and a narrow forward flap over the coxswain’s position (others boats had two square hatches and a full-width flap; I think that is an earlier variation and the round hatch/narrow flap are later, but I’m not sure). Many are painted all-over grey, most with white pennant numbers but some had red ones. The light-coloured boats seem to come in a number of different patterns: some have the full “Western Approaches” scheme of white with a blue “wave” on the sides and a blue triangle on the stern, while others seem to be similar but without the stern camouflage. yet others also look like they’re white but have no camouflage at all. All of these would have had red markings.


(With more thanks to Arjan Wiskerke for his research that turned up most of these photos.)

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Fascinating stuff Jakko

 

[Waspie]

After Torch, the LCA was also used for the landings in Sicily and mainland Italy, but of course, the biggest thing it was involved in, was Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. Here are some LCAs with American troops embarked, in some British port:

View attachment 484365

Not sure whether this is before the crossing to Normandy or during an exercise, though. TBH, I would assume the latter. And Canadian troops being carried to Juno Beach on 6 June 1944:


(With thanks to Arjan Wiskerke for supplying several of the photos above, as well as general information on the craft.)

The colour image I'm 99% certain is Weymouth harbour. I'm pretty sure that image was in an article (Dorset Echo), a wee while ago featuring the US forces preparing for the Normandy Landings.
To the left of image is Nothe Fort, a defensive structure for the protection of the harbour including Portland Harbour.

Great info Jakko.

Edited bit. Now 100% certain it's Weymouth.

 

[stillp]

Found on Wikipedia: 'The sides were plated with "10lb. DIHT" armour, a heat treated steel based on D1 steel, in this case Hadfield's Resista 1⁄4"'
Pete

 

[JR]

As expected a really in-depth history Jakko , thanks .

 

[Jakko]

The colour image I'm 99% certain is Weymouth harbour. I'm pretty sure that image was in an article (Dorset Echo), a wee while ago featuring the US forces preparing for the Normandy Landings.

Good find, thanks Not an area I’m familiar with at all, and though I could probably have found out with more research into the photo, I had enough to figure out already

Found on Wikipedia: 'The sides were plated with "10lb. DIHT" armour, a heat treated steel based on D1 steel, in this case Hadfield's Resista 1⁄4"'

I suspect that means that it’s not actually DIHT but D1HT, and this got mangled somewhere so an I was substituted for the 1. ONI-226 is set in a typeface with a clear difference between those two, though, so it’s not a simple misreading by me in that book. The 1/4″ fits with the 10-lb. value that the Navy called it, though.

As expected a really in-depth history Jakko , thanks .

And I haven’t even gotten to the actual landing yet

 

[Waspie]

I suspect that means that it’s not actually DIHT but D1HT, and this got mangled somewhere so an I was substituted for the 1. ONI-226 is set in a typeface with a clear difference between those two, though, so it’s not a simple misreading by me in that book. The 1/4″ fits with the 10-lb. value that the Navy called it, though.


And I haven’t even gotten to the actual landing yet

If the media of the day got hold of the details it may explain the ‘error/misprint’.

 

[Andy the Sheep]

Very interesting historical research, Jakko.
I'm following with interest.