Long before D-Day, the “Saltwater Cowboys” of the Army’s 18th Amphibious Armored Group were training hard to prepare soldiers at Fort Ord for seaborne operations during World War II. Montereyans became accustomed to seeing battalions of amphibious tanks and tractors maneuvering offshore along fronts 1,500 meters wide stacked in multiple assault waves.
Technically known as the Landing Vehicle, Tracked, the LVT was developed by inventor Donald Roebling in 1935 for swamp use. That gave rise to a nickname—the Alligator, the first of many names the vehicle would collect. Trials of Roebling’s armored military troop transports, as well as fire support versions, began on the Central Coast in 1942. The Army eventually deployed 23 LVT battalions; the Marines 11 more.
Realism was a hallmark of Fort Ord’s amphibious training program. It had to be. When operated at sea, the vehicles could easily sink, enemy fire not required. The fact that these vehicles swamped, flipped or sank in routine training concentrated the attention of trainees, some of whom called the vehicle a “wet coffin.” Others likened the experience to a rodeo from which came the enduring name of Water Bronco. Soldiers also gave their assigned Broncos personal names — such as Shark or Great Mogul.
Colorfully nicknamed himself, the Group’s founding commander, Col. William “Terry Bull” Triplet, worked out early tactical doctrine adopted by the wider force. The 18th lacked a naval landing ship from which to deploy, so LTVs practiced forming up at sea before launching mock beach assaults.
As the Broncos came closer to shore, effects crews on the beach ignited TNT charges to represent naval gunfire, phosphorus grenades obscured landings, wire and tank obstacles impeded movement and occasionally a previously wrecked Bronco would be towed in with an assault wave and remotely set ablaze to simulate an enemy’s direct hit.
With such training, injuries were frequent. In early exercise renditions, shockwaves from explosives detonated at Fort Ord also smashed windows in not-so-distant Monterey while smoke could jam up roadways. Civilian damage claims and complaints tempered Triplet’s training scenarios, but the course remained as challenging as any in the Army.
Men trained in the 18th saw amphibious action across the Pacific Theater. The Broncos they road participated in nearly every major campaign of WWII from Guadalcanal to Normandy and beyond.
The finest compliment to the training of the 18th was perhaps paid by Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George C. Marshall. With no fanfare, he visited Fort Ord in early May of 1944. He came to talk to the men of the 18th and to observe them storming the beaches of Monterey. One imagines it soothed his worries ahead of the impending D-Day landings in France.
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