The Neptune archives I've found can be incredibly tedious and sadly incomplete. Of course the one convoy I can't find a record of was the EPL4 that I'm interested in. Please let me know if I can send you the complete diary for 511, I'm happy to get that to you if you'd like it. Thanks - George
George, The only mention that I can find for Convoy EPL4 is that one of the leading LSTs hit a mine. This caused delays as escorts and the LCVPs carried by other LSTs rescued survivors. Losses were considerable and the LST sank. There are many knowledgeable people using this forum and some are experts in the field of convoys. If you post a question with a clear heading I am sure someone will respond. Records are certainly hit and miss. I use a lot of British Army war diaries. These vary from detailed daily accounts plus sometimes hundreds of pages of appendices, through the basic minimum to one which says they did not have time to keep the diary. Plus of course some are simply missing. I seldom refuse the offer of research material and would very much like a copy of the diary for 511. Thank you. Mike
Recently while looking for other information, I spotted this Report by Officer’s or the 1st Air Combat Control, USAAF. It is a report on FDT 216, which they visited to look at British operations and to ensure they could tie their operations on the USS Ancon into the British system during D Day. Attached is a copy of FDT 216 portion of their report:
That is a great find Temujin. I do like all that detailed information and the clear way in which it is presented. I am always impressed by the documents you find. Mike
Hi, new here. I'm looking for information on LCT(6)-711, on which we think my father served as a Motor Machinist's Mate 2nd Class. Based on various sources, here and elsewhere including http://ww21ct.org/history/flotillas, I believe this craft landed on Omaha Beach. I do not have a mapping from LCT number (e.g., 711, apologies if that's incorrect terminology, probably so) to serial number. They aren't sequential... My father's service record reads as follows: ... USNTSch., Detroit, Mich / PhibTraBase, Solomons, Md / LCT Flotilla 2 & 26 / USS LST 519 / USS LCT-6, Flot. 12 / USS GEN J. R. BROOKE / ... I understand the school, the training base, and Flotilla 2 (training). I have not (yet) found the muster rolls for LCT(6)-711 or LST-519, nor the war diaries. He drank himself to death at age 36. I was 2 years old. We recently visited Omaha, Juno, and nearby areas and I'm motivated to learn more. Thank you in advance for anything anyone might offer. Tim Natick, MA, USA
Hello Tim, Welcome to the forum! LCT(6) 711 was Craft Serial 144, carrying Landing Table Index Number 4024 consisting of part of Detachment "A", 3275th Quartermaster Service Company. She was part of the Division Troops Force, 1st US Infantry Division in Assault Group O-3. See extract from the Landing Table below: I do not have any period photograph of LCT 711, but she is supposed to appear on the photos here: Landing Craft Tank Photo Index On D Day LCT(6) 711 was part of US LCT Division 151, Group 79, Flotilla 26. Apparently LCT 711 carried some of the very few Negro troops to land on D Day in OMAHA Area. See Black Service Units in the Combat Zone (and search for 3275). Michel
Strike that! After searching my HDD I found (just) one photo (from the Time Life collection) with 711 on it: 711 seems to have sunk by the stern, possibly after hitting an underwater obstacle/mine. Locating this photo was easy, thanks to LCT 555 on the left. This is opposite Exit E1 on Easy Red Beach. See for example SC 192598: Checking other views of this location, 711 shows up on the famous Signal Corps photo SC193082 reportedly shot on 8 June, stranded between LCT(6) 572 on the left and LCT(HE) 2425 whose stern is partly visible on the extreme right, both broached to against the shingle bank (high resolution tiff image downloadable here): Michel
Another photo (date unknown, but not around D Day), plus some potentially useful links for sources of additional information here: HyperWar: USS LCT-711 Her CO was apparently Lieutenant Earl L. Wert. She was reported as lost during Operation NEPTUNE, which would explain the subsequent posting if your father to another ship/craft, and confirm the damage inferred by her half submerged condition on the photos: Sunk and Damaged Ships and Craft Michel
Michel, thank you very, very much for all that. Regarding the photos, while I have no reason to doubt the ships you identified are in fact #711, I am unable to make out the numbers with my current viewing setup. The location seems to be correct. Perhaps there's some other identifying feature of the ship I'm not aware of. Could you tell me how you mapped 'LCT(6)-711' to ship serial 144 in the Landing Table? I assume this is basic to those familiar, but I'm not. Loss of -711 would indeed explain the LST-519 entry in the service records. I think the next thing to look for would be the war log and muster roll for -711, if they exist, and the deck? log and muster roll for LST-519. Any idea whether the muster roll would include personnel taken aboard during deployment? Thank you very much again Tim
Tim, Sorry, I forgot that large images get reduced when posted. Here is the part of the Time Life photo showing the hull number: Same for SC 193082: As for LCT(6) 711 = Craft Serial 144, I also omitted to include the relevant page of the Final Ships Assignment Force "O" dated 16 May 1944, which is the "mapping from LCT number to serial number" you mentioned. Luckily this exists for Force O, whereas nothing of the sort has been found (nor probably existed) for Force S or G. In the table "1 Div No" is the Craft Serial (sometimes called "Army Number" because it was the only code number troops needed to know to find out the vessel on which they should embark) and the "Navy No" is the hull number: Muster Rolls and Deck Logs must be somewhere at NARA, and/or maybe on fold3.com too, although the latter recently changed their browsing process and search engine for a much worse version which makes it difficult to find out whether what one looks for exists there or not, plus you need a full access subscription to view the actual docs. If you do find the LST 519's Deck Log for June 1944 I'd be very interested to see it! Michel
Oh, and one small point regarding the designation of LCT, LST etc. There should be no hyphen between the type and the hull number, ie LCT 711, LST 519 and not LCT-711 or LST-519. Although the hyphen now appears almost everywhere, this is a modern invention, not representative of what was used then. There seems to have been some sort of postwar hyper-hypenation fever, particularly in the US . In the same vein, there was no "Omaha Beach" (nor Sword Beach, Gold Beach etc.) but OMAHA Area (or Area OMAHA, or OMAHA Assault Area, with OMAHA in capital letters because it is a code word), although a very few contemporary US documents do (erroneously) use the term "Omaha Beach" and were possibly the initial source of the present faulty usage. The term Beach was used for subdivisions of Sectors, eg Easy Red Beach = Red section of Easy Sector (in OMAHA Area). (you will realise in time that I am somewhat fussy, even pedantic, when it comes to D Day matters). Michel
Mike, Great information, haven’t read it all but, I think I saw one slight error. HMS Glasgow had 12x6 inch guns, not 12x8 inch guns. In the area were you list the ammunition to be fired on what target you have HMS Glasgow firing 6 inch projectiles which is correct. Eventually HMS Glasgow lost a rear 6 inch turret to add more AA guns but I don’t know when that happened. Thanks for all your hard work! Mike
Michel Do you have the other 6 pages of the Ship Assignments. Looks like Royal Roads digital collection, but didn't find anything online. Did I miss something? Thanks
Gentlemen, I am embarrassed to ask this question, and fully expect you to heap scorn on me for it. But I am at a loss. For years I've been using the two Omaha Beach landing diagrams, but now I need to cite them properly for a publication. And that's the problem. Both diagrams are marked 'Annex E', and one if further marked 'Sheet 1". But Annex E to what plan/order? The 1st Division Field Order 35 has numbered, not lettered annexes. And its landing table (to be issued separately) would have been Annex 3, Appendix 4. Similarly First US Army OPLAN NEPTUNE also had numbered annexes. The only plan/order I can find with lettered annexes is the Western Naval Task Force OPLAN 2-44. But its Annex E has nothing to do with landing diagrams, and I can't find a reference to them anywhere in that document. All I can think is that those two landing diagrams came from the V Corps order, but I have no copy of it. Anybody have a bead on this question. I'd sure appreciate any help. Feel free to heap scorn, but . . . please be gentle. Abashedly, Chuck
Well I cannot help you Chuck, but all I can say is that there are no stupid questions, only daft answers! We've all been there one way or another asking what might seem silly or embarrassing questions but I know you're in safe hands here; I can guarantee that some forum members will be along soon to help . Lesley
The V Corps order is on CARL here: World War II Operational Documents The danger is it might be an annex to an appendix of an annex, but good luck...
Chuck, I believe the Landing Diagrams may come from Operation Order No. BB-44 dated 20 May 44, whose Annex D is the Attack Landing Plan. I have only the few pages as uploaded on the great (if somewhat messy to navigate) ww2lct.org website, but the original doc, archived by the Office of Naval Records and Library, as per this cover page: should be at NARA: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866288 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866289 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866290 Below is the detailed path to reach the above cover page and the other few from OO BB-44 as posted on ww2lct.org: LCT History Action Reports and documents Untitled Normal Page The equivalent for Force U seems to be OO 3-44 (a few pages also on ww2lct.org): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866291 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866292 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866293 https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6866294 Michel
