British LCM 3s/ LCVPs Antwerp 1945

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by reinaart, Nov 26, 2019.

  1. reinaart

    reinaart Active Member

    There are lots of images showing British landing craft arriving at the Antwerp docks and continuing their journey to the Rhine area . Some images show LST 302 which apparently arrived with a cargo of LCVPs, not sure if it also had LCM 3s on board. There is also an image of a Landing Ship Dock which may have transported the latter ? Apparently the LCMs were loaded onto trailers to continue their journey by road whereas the LCVPs appear to have sailed along the Albert Canal. I wonder if someone can tell me more about the transport route followed by both types of landing craft.

    I managed to find the location of these particular images, they were taken at the Zuider Dokken which were filled in somewhere in the sixties. At present these former docks are a vast parking lot

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    A pic from the 1920s I think (or even earlier) :

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    1960s:

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    One of the few remaining buildings :

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    Arjan
     
  2. reinaart

    reinaart Active Member

    On second thought I don't think LST 302 carried LCVPs, these were probably carried by a Landing Ship Dock . The Royal Navy had four of these supplied under the Lend Lease program :

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    The LCVPs are seen here at the entrance to the Zuiderdok Sluis (lock), I marked the location in red on the map :

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    Another pic of the Zuiderdok Sluis :

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    Arjan
     
  3. reinaart

    reinaart Active Member

    In the mean time I have found the following info about the landing craft in question :


    Naval Force “U”, under Captain P. H. G. James, R.N., was organized in three squadrons, each consisting of one flotilla of Landing Craft, Mechanized, and one flotilla of Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel. These craft, some of which were 50 feet long, were brought overland from Antwerp to Nijmegen with the intention of using them to ferry troops and vehicles across the Rhine. Twenty-four L.C.V.(P.) and 24 L.C.M. were allotted to Second British Army, while 12 of each came under the control of First Canadian Army for the use of the 2nd Corps during “PLUNDER”.

    Source :

    Operation Plunder | Canadian Battlefield Tours

    Apparently the landingcraft used by the U.S. navy for the Rhine Crossing had been shipped from Dartmouth to Le Havre, some of these at least were carried by Landing Ship Dock HMS Oceanway. Unfortunately, there seems to be very little info about the service history of the four RN LSDs so it's not clear which of these carried the RN landing craft to Antwerp. These pics clearly show an LSD having unloaded LCVPs and LCM3s on the Scheldt near Antwerp :

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    Arjan
     

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