amphibians

amphibians, vehicles for amphibious warfare, produced mostly by the USA. The most successful were the Alligator, an amphibious tractor officially designated a Land Vehicle, Tracked (LVT); and a six-wheeled, boat-shaped truck called from its factory serial numbers the DUKW (D = model year, U = amphibian, K = all-wheel drive, W = dual rear axles). The LVT developed from vehicles used for rescue purposes in the Florida swamp, was used in the Pacific war to lift personnel across coral, mud, or swamp, while armoured, gun-carrying LVTs gave covering fire. The British, who called them ‘buffaloes’, used them during the Scheldt Estuary battle. DUKWs, of which more than 20,000 were built, were used first in the Sicilian campaign. The British, who had their own, unsuccessful, amphibious truck called the ‘terrapin’, acquired 2,000 of them through Lend-Lease. The Germans manufactured an amphibious Volkswagen car and an amphibious tractor, but the former was used only for reconnoitring Soviet lakes and rivers during the German–Soviet war, and few of the latter were constructed.

Japan, the UK, the US, and the USSR also converted tanks for amphibious use. British and American ones with propellers and detachable flotation screens were known as DD (duplex drive) tanks, and were widely employed during, and after, the Normandy landings in June 1944 (see OVERLORD).