ENGLAND
WATERPROOFED TANK RECOVERY VEHICLE M31 being loaded on an LCT during training along the English coast (top). For camouflage purposes, the normal appearance of the tank was retained as far as possible. A simulated turret without cupola was used and dummy 75-mm. and 37-mm. guns were mounted in place of the real guns. Actual armament was limited to two .30-caliber machine guns. A half-track 81-mm. mortar carrier M21 maneuvering on a road in England (bottom). The mortar could be used on the vehicle or separate from it.
ENGLAND
BOAT-LANDING DRILL during a training exercise, Slapton Sands near Weymouth, Devon, England, May 1944. The infantrymen shown here have their equipment as complete as it will be during the actual invasion landings. They are descending ladders into an LCVP. Standing with his back to the camera at the top of the ladder is an officer, identified by the broad white vertical stripe painted on the back of his helmet. Noncommissioned officers had a similar horizontal stripe painted on their helmets.
ENGLAND
MEN AND TRUCKS ON THE UPPER DECK OF AN LST near Slapton Sands in May 1944. As D Day drew nearer loading exercises and amphibious operations were practiced by the invasion troops. The greatest advantage the United States was to have in equipment over the Germans was the multiple-drive motor equipment, principally the ¼-ton truck and the 2½-ton truck. Shown in the picture are: ¼-ton 4×4 truck, ¾-ton 4×4 weapons carrier truck, 1½-ton 6 × 6 personnel and cargo truck and 2½-ton 6×6 truck.