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| Marine Otter Supports Members of 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, May 1968 "Otter: A Marine Otter moves up to support Leathernecks of the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines [2/4] during the fighting around Dai Do Village east of Dong Ha. Allied forces accounted for over 1,000 confirmed NVA dead in the week-long battle that was part of Operation Napoleon/Saline (official USMC photo by Lance Corporal Teacher)." From the Jonathan F. Abel Collection (COLL/3611), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections |
Bonus coverage. Below are additional pics released from Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections via their Flickr account. If you're not subscribed you're missing out.
Wow... I saw pic with that vehicle years ago and always wonder what the hell was that. Truly forgotten one. Thx Sol' for that, totally worth to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteFrom the other forgotten, check this one, also very rare pic: http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/Photos%20Three/Republic-P-43-Lancers.jpg
M76 was a replacement for the WWII/Korea vintage M29 Weasel. Unarmored low ground pressure vehicles with inland amphibious capability. M76 was replaced in late 1960s by the M116 series which included some versions with light armor (only the Marines ever employed a few with the armor); after Vietnam this capability was lost.
ReplyDeleteUpon reflection; the M973 SUSV (in very small numbers, and all unarmored so far as I know) took up the low ground pressure role in the U.S. military. It's based on a Swedish design (Bv 206); a larger version is armored and used by the Royal Marines.
DeleteAny future Marine wheeled Amhpib carrier will have to go over the same muddy, snowy terrain like this if the fighting spreads more inland from the first chain of Islands. The Japanese surely should have selected a tracked 105mm gun carrier over the wheeled one they have selected considering the mother nature factor.
ReplyDeleteThe M76 Otter was built from thin aluminum like an aircraft fuselage. Its banded track had thin aluminum U-channels for cleats, with smooth-tread, inflated tires on its road wheels. I rode in one going from 1/1 HQ to Charlie Company during the winter monsoon of 1965. It easily went through and over up to three foot of slop that used to be the road. It could swim, too, like a DUKW.
ReplyDeleteFrom a few yards away, it looked armored and fooled many. Once inside you realized you could almost poke a pencil through its walls. Eventually everyone, both Marines and VC, realized its vulnerabilities and it was pretty much restricted to "safe" rear areas. Its forward area function was replaced by LVTs, which had its own issues.