The photos of Marblehead are correct and at the same time, prophetic as they show just how hopelessly outclassed the allies were at the start of the campaign. Marblehead's crew were proud, but the weird gun layout made her fighting pretty ineffective. Easy to see how Homma's campaign so easily took over. Also amazing how Marblehead escaped!

The tanks in the LST are more than likely from Torch or somewhere else in North Africa. The plain white star with the white bars on either side were a recognition feature of that campaign. The Shermans loaded in the rear clearly show those. I don't believe U.S. Army armor carried invasion markings in any other campaign. The stripes were to clearly bring Vichy gunner attention to the fact that they were looking at Americans but at the same time, it drew German gunner attention quite clearly.

Plus, although the Stuart was more than a match for anything Japan had, PTO armor requirements by the time of Lingayen had morphed into infantry support: ie; bunker busting. Hence the Priest 105mm sp gun and more than likely a senior officer screaming for more Shermans.

Cheers,


Don