In the 1930s, the US Marine Corps and Navy, anticipating the need for amphibious assaults, experimented with small landing boats. Private firms were contracted to develop boats based on criteria outlined by the Navy. In Fleet Exercise 5, conducted in 1939, the 36-foot "Eureka" boat, manufactured by Andrew Higgins, a New Orleans boat builder, proved superior to all others. While this boat met or exceeded the Navy's criteria, it did not have a bow ramp, which was deemed critical for disembarking troops and war materiel. In 1941, a Marine Corps officer showed Higgins a picture of a Japanese landing craft with a ramp in the bow, and Higgins was asked to incorporate this design into his "Eureka" boat. He did so, producing the basic design for the Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP), often simply called the Higgins boat. The LCVP could carry 36 combat-equipped infantrymen or 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms) of cargo from ship to shore. During World War II the United States produced 23,398 of these craft while a British version of the LCVP called the Landing Craft, Assault, or LCA, were also built.

In addition to the basic infantry assault craft, the US Army needed a vessel to transport and land its medium battle tank, and in May 1941 Higgins was asked to produce a tank-landing craft. One year later the Navy accepted the 50-foot (15.25-metre) Higgins design, the prototype for the Landing Craft, Mechanized (LCM). During the war, 11,392 LCMs were produced by the United States with 486 used during Operation Overlord.

This particular 1:72 scale pre-assembled replica of a Landing Craft Mechanized(3) comes with several soldiers. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 8-1/4-inches
Width: 2-inches

Release Date: August 2008

Historical Account: "Blue and Grey" - The US 29th Division was reactivated on February 3rd, 1941 and departed for the United Kingdom on October 5th, 1942 where it continued training in Scotland and England from October up to June 1944 in preparation for the invasion of France.

Teamed with the US 1st Infantry Division, the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division was in the first assault wave to hit the beaches at Normandy on D-Day, June 6th, 1944.

The division itself landed on Omaha Beach on the same day in the face of intense enemy fire but soon secured the bluff tops and went on to occupy Isigny on June 9th. The division cut across the Elle River and advanced slowly toward St. Lo, fighting bitterly in the Normandy bocage (hedge rows).

After taking St. Lo on July 18th, the division joined in the battle for Vire, capturing that strongly held city on August 7th. Turning west, the 29th took part in the assault on Brest from August 25th to September 18th.