Tanks on the beaches : a Marine tanker in the Pacific war

225 Pages·2003·11.568 MB·English

by  Robert M Neiman, Kenneth W Estes

TEXAS8A&M5UNIVERSITY
✩
✩
MILITARYHISTORY SERIES
Joseph G. Dawson III, General Editor
editorial board
Robert Doughty
Brian Linn
Craig Symonds
Robert Wooster

Tanks
on
the
Beaches
A Marine Tanker in the Pacific War
robert m. neiman
and kenneth w. estes
Texas A&M University Press College Station
Copyright © 2003 by Robert M. Neiman and Kenneth W. Estes
Manufactured in the United States of America
All rights reserved
First edition
The paper used in this book
meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48–1984.
Binding materials have been chosen for durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neiman, Robert M., 1918–
Tanks on the beaches : a Marine tanker in the Pacific war /
Robert M. Neiman and Kenneth W. Estes.—1st ed.
p. cm.— (Texas A&M University military history series ; no. 85)
isbn 1-58544-240-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Neiman, Robert M., 1918– 2. World War, 1939–1945—Personal
narratives, American. 3. United States. Marine Corps—Officers—
Biography. 4. World War, 1939–1945—Tank warfare. 5. World War,
1939–1945—Campaigns—Pacific Area. I. Estes, Kenneth W.
II. Title. III. Texas A&M University military history series ; 85.
d811.n444a3 2002
940.54'5973'092—dc21 2002014510
All photographs are courtesy U.S. Marine Corps
unless otherwise indicated.
To Robert L. Reed
(1918–81)
Major, USMCR (Retired)
Platoon Leader
Executive Officer
Company Commander
and
to all the terrific marines
of C Company, 4th Tank Battalion
May, 1943–October, 1945

C O N T E N T S
List of Illustrations viii
List of Maps x
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
1 The Early Days: 1918–39 3
2 Joining Up, but with Whom? 16
3 First Organizations: Preparing for War 23
4 Early Tests in the Southwest Pacific 38
5 Training Command 51
6 Gearing Up for the Central Pacific: Roi-Namur 64
7 Breaking the Japanese Barriers: Saipan and Tinian 89
8 Infernal Iwo 118
9 Okinawa: The Last Battle 142
10 A China Fling: 1945–46 156
Epilogue 171
Appendix 1. Tanks in Marine Corps Service, 1940–45 183
Appendix 2. Selected Documents 189
Appendix 3. Robert M. Neiman Chronology 195
Notes 197
Index 201
I L L U S T R AT I O N S
The author with his first girlfriend while a cadet at St. John’s Military
School, 1929 7
The 1st Officer Candidate Class in battalion mass formation for Presi-
dent Roosevelt’s inaugural parade, March 20, 1941 20
Newly commissioned reserve officers undergoing machine-gun training
at Quantico, Virginia 21
Marine Corps Reserve officers at their graduation ceremony 22
The author running an errand on a military WLA Harley-Davidson
motorcycle while stationed at Quantico, Virginia, in 1941 25
Marmon-Herrington CTL-3A light tank and LVT-1 amphibious
tractor 27
The author touring the Jacque’s Farm tank training area in a jeep with
a Life magazine photographer, summer, 1943 53
The author employing signal flags in a posed publicity picture 56
The original officers assigned to C Company, 4th Tank Battalion,
1943 66
M4A2 medium tank 73
C Company’s officers pose with the skipper of the USS Gunstan Hall
while en route to their first assault landing at Roi-Namur 75
C Company’s senior NCOs pose on the eve of the Roi-Namur
assault 76
Second Platoon leader Hank Bellmon and his platoon sergeant, Russ
Lippert, pose with their platoon and the Maintenance Section, led by
2d Lt. Gil Bradley 78
Third Platoon leader G. M. English and his platoon sergeant, Sgt. Joe
Bruno, pose with their platoon on the eve of the Roi-Namur opera-
tion 80
M5A1 light tank in which B Company commander Jim Denig and al-
most all of his crew were killed on Namur 82
On the beach at Namur after the fight was over 84
C Company snapshot on Roi-Namur, 1944 86
Sergeant Joe Bruno’s tank at Roi, with a captured Japanese Type 94 light
tank mounted on its back deck, is shown ready to embark for Maui
after the battle 87
Bob Reed and the author pose together aboard LST-222 en route to the
Hawaiian Islands after the Roi-Namur assaults in February, 1944 88
Sergeant Joe Bruno and his crew pose in front of their tank with Japa-
nese war trophies 90
Captured Japanese tankette 92
Joe Dever and the author pose with a group of men from C Company
in front of the selective service office on Maui in Hawaii 93
Tanks and Infantry move out on Tinian, 1944 100
The author’s M4A2 medium tank advances with infantry through a
sugarcane field on Tinian in the summer of 1944 102
Flail tank used for mine-clearing operations 114
Another view of the flail tank 114
The author enjoying a break at the Puunene Athletic Club pool on Maui
after his return from the Saipan and Tinian landings 115
The author and Bob Reed, the company executive officer, pose with the
flail tank on Maui 116
Frontal view of an M4A3 medium tank showing protective modifi-
cations 120
Flamethrower tank in action on Iwo Jima 125
Sergeant Joe Bruno’s tank destroyed by an aerial bomb used as a land
mine 128
The company dozer tank after being damaged by a land mine on Iwo
Jima 131
C Company tanks in action on Iwo Jima with marine infantry watch-
ing in the foreground 134
The author talking to his company after the fighting ended on Iwo Jima,
March, 1945 139
Officers and tanks from a Japanese tank regiment that surrendered at
Tientsin 165
The author as a major in 1946 175
The author in Thousand Oaks, California, 1978 181