LVT-4 Buffalo

Type: Armoured Personnel Carrier/Special Purpose Vehicle
Nation: USA
Period: World War 2
Location: Bevrijdingsmuseum Zeeland, Nieuwdorp, Netherlands

Floating tractor

“Landing Vehicle, Tracked” was the designation of a family of amphibious vehicles that came in a wide variety of versions. The LVT-1 and LVT-2 had originally been designed as unarmoured and unarmed supply carriers, but they would sometimes be used as improvised assault vehicles. Their tracks were equipped with large paddle cleats that provided propulsion and steering in the water so that no additional systems (such as propellers like on the Sherman DD) were required. LVTs were popularly called “Amtracs” – amphibious tractors.

Rearrangements

The LVT-4 was first built in August 1943. It was basically an LVT-2 with a rear ramp that allowed for easier access, especially when under fire. The 250 hp seven-cylinder radial engine was relocated to the front so that the new LVT was now spacious enough to transport thirty infantrymen or even small vehicles such as a Jeep or an M29 Weasel. The US Marine Corps used the LVT-4 for the first time in mid-1944 during the landing on Saipan. Approximately 8,300 were built, of which about 6,000 would be assigned to the US Army. The British Army received ca. 500 LVT-4s via Lend-Lease and called them „Buffalos“.

Bull’s head

This particular vehicle at the Bevrijdingsmuseum Zeeland is painted in the markings of the British 79th Armoured Division who famously comprised the numerous specialised vehicles known as “Hobart’s Funnies”. This division had trained together in Britain, but on the continent their elements usually fought separated from each other whilst being attached to other units. During the Battle of the Scheldt in October and November 1944 the 79th and their Buffalos supported the Canadian-led liberation of the Dutch peninsulas Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland, which was crucial in the much-needed opening of the port of Antwerp to Allied shipping.