"Last week some 2,000 or 3,000 United States Marines, most of them now dead or wounded, gave the nation a name to stand beside those of Concord Bridge, the Bon Homme Richard, the Alamo, Little Big Horn, and Belleau Wood. The name was Tarawa."
- Robert Sherrod, Time Magazine War Correspondent embedded with the US Marines, December 6th, 1943

The Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) was a class of amphibious vehicles introduced by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Army during World War II. Originally intended solely as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they rapidly evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles as well. The types were all widely known as amphtrack, amtrak, amtrac etc., a portmanteau of amphibious tractor.

After much deliberation, it was determined that amphibious tracked vehicles were the only solution to this problem. Both the amtrac and the amtank were developed, designed to be able to climb onto a reef from the sea then advance across the rough coral to the beach without exposing the troops inside to small arms fire. The amtracs were responsible for transporting troops ashore where they could continue the assault. The amtanks, on the hand, led the way, firing at the enemy positions the moment naval gunfire and air strikes lifted.

Based on the LVT-2, the LVT(A)-1 fire support version had an armored (6 to 12 mm) hull. It was fitted with a turret nearly identical to that of the Light Tank M3, with a 37 mm Gun M6 in an M44 mount, and also carried two rear-mounted machine guns. 510 units produced.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a USMC LVT(A)-2 Amtank Amphibious Vehicle that was attached to the 3rd Amphibian Tractor (Amtrac) Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, then invading "Beach Green 1," on Iwo Jima, during February 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 4-1/4-inches
Width: 1-3/4-inches

Release Date: June 2016

Historical Account: "Fidelity, Valor, Honor" - The 3rd Marine Division was officially activated on September 16th, 1942, at Camp Elliott, San Diego, California. Most of the original members of the division were drawn from the cadre staff of the 2nd Marine Division. The division was initially built around the 9th Marine Regiment, commanded by Colonel Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. who later became the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Major General Charles D. Barrett was the first commanding general of the division.

The division echeloned into Auckland, New Zealand between January and March 1943. In June of that year they moved onto Guadalcanal for additional training. September 27th, 1943, saw the division land as part of the Battle of Bougainville and fight on the island until their last unit to arrive, the 21st Marine Regiment, embarked on January 9th, 1944. During the course of the battle the division had approximately 400 Marines killed.

They returned to Guadalcanal in January 1944 to rest, refit and train. The next operation the division took part in was the Battle of Guam. From July 21st, 1944, until the last day of organized fighting on August 10th, the division fought through the jungles on the island of Guam. During these 21 days of fighting, the division captured over 60 square miles (160 km2) of territory and killed over 5,000 enemy soldiers. The next two months saw continuous mopping up operations in which the Marines continued to engage left over Japanese forces. At the end of the battle the division had sustained 677 Marines killed, 3,626 wounded and 9 missing.

The division remained on the island of Guam for training purposes until they embarked as part of the landing force for the Battle of Iwo Jima. The 3rd Marine Division was initially in reserve for the battle however they were committed one regiment at a time as the initial regiments that landed needed to be relieved. The 21st Marines came ashore on February 20th followed by the 9th Marines and were reinforced by a battalion from the 3rd Marines on February 25th. The Marines of these two infantry regiments, supported by the artillery of the 12th Marine Regiment and tanks of the 3rd Tank Battalion, fought on Iwo Jima until the end of organized resistance on March 16th and the subsequent mopping up operations for the next month. All elements of the Division were back on Guam by April 17th, 1945. The fighting on Iwo Jima would cost the 3rd Marine Division 1,131 killed in action and another 4,438 wounded.

After the return to Guam, the Division began preparing for the invasion of Japan. This, however, never took place as Japan surrendered in August 1945. The division was inactivated on December 28th, 1945.