When I pulled the Boxes for the 191st Tank Bn at the NARA last month, I discovered that the Bn had prepared two different Histories for September 1943. Both documents state that the Bn (less 31 vehicles and 143 men) was loaded on six LCTs and two LSTs in Bizerte Harbor in early September, in preparation for the landings at Salerno. The numbers of the LCTs are not given. However, both narratives provide the numbers of the LSTs, 379 and 389. The longer history states that LST 389 carried B Company, HQ Company, and the Mortar Platoon. C and Service Companies were loaded aboard LST 379. In my August visit to the NARA, I scanned two photos of tanks being unloaded from LST 379 at Salerno on 9 September 1943, III-SC 181221 and III-SC 181222. I had submitted both photos to Navsource, which I checked after reading the Bn history. http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160379.htm We can now say with a high degree of probability that the tanks in these photos belong to C Company, 191st Tank Bn. These are the earliest wartime photos I have found of the 191st. Neither image was identified on the Bn's Index Cards in Still Pictures, NARA. I have, therefore, added these two photos to my list of 191st images. Dave
Dave are you interested in hunting down a few US 8th Air force after mission ops reports for me if that is possible ? sorry to use your thread here as a table. good post by the way, very interesting. NARA is fully un-tapped in my book by researchers E ~
Dave no prob and I understand, am going a different route. say as you are interested in the Navy do you have anything about the crafts lost on Exercise Tiger if it is held at NARA on the April 44 fateful day ? thank you Erich
Dave, my brother was a crewmember on LCT #221 during the invasion of Salerano, but his LCT was loaded with British light infantry and 10 British officers. It's very hard to get any history on the LCT's because they were considered a small vessel and not many records were kept, and for some reason the Navy kept the Amphibious records classified until just recently. Wish I lived close enough to access NARA facilities, what a wonderful resource. If you happen to run across a picture of LCT 221 I'd be forever indebted to you for a copy
Curiously, compared to LCIs and LSTs, I have found comparatively few photos of LCTs at the NARA. All of the photos I find and scan at the NARA are sent to Navsource. Dave
I do check Navysource from time to time-now that I know they update the pictures, thanks to guys like you, I'll check more often. The LCTs were not large enough to make much of an impression, not fast like the PT Boats, and pretty mundane in appearance to be photogenic--kinda like comparing a plug workhorse with a racehorces I guess. Thanks for the reply.
Just a point of interest to show what a small world it is sometimes, I just learned that LST 389 that carried B and HQ company of the 191st into Salerno is the same LST that carried my brother's LCT #221 from Hampton Roads to North Africa.
While at the NARA this past weekend, I checked the Index Cards of Navy photos for LCT 221. Unfortunately, no card existed for 221. There may be images, Army or Navy, of this LCT, but they would be uncataloged. Dave
Hello there. I was researching a distant relative, Harvey Monroe Lane. I found that he died on September, 13 1943, in North Africa. I also found that he served as a Technician 4th grade, with the 191st Tank Battalion. Does anyone have any reports or info on that date, that might give some possible explanation to what might have happened to Harvey? Thanks.
You can download the 191st Tank Battalion's Sep 1943 History and S-3 Journal at artsandmemories.wordpress.com/191st-tank-battalion/ I don't know that they will list him by name, but it should give you a good idea of what was going on when he was killed. You should also try to request his IDPF if you haven't already. It may give you some clues as well. The down side is that it can take a year to get. If you want it faster, you can hire a researcher.
Found his grave marker. Looks like he died in Italy, September 11, 1943. (read the page) https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=lane&GSfn=harvey&GSmn=monroe&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=8622507&df=all&
Download the Long History for September 1943 and scroll to page 5 (the 6th page of the PDF). The large paragraph in the middle has an account of the events on 11 Sep 43. Also, go to PDF pages 14-16 in the S-3 Journal for Sep 43. Page 14 is more of an introduction to the rest, and it reads in part: