LCVP (full English name: Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) is an American landing craft from World War II and the post-war period. Barges of this type were built on a massive scale in 1942-1945. It is estimated that over 23,000 barges of this type were built at that time. The total length of the LCVP was 11.5 meters and a width of 3.3 meters. The empty barge weighed about 8.2 tons, and the maximum speed did not exceed 11-12 knots. Most often, the deck armament consisted of two 7.62 mm Browning machine guns. The LCVP was designed by the American entrepreneur and constructor Andrew Higgins based on units designed to operate in wetlands, swamps and swamps. Very often, from the name of the designer, it is called "Higgins's boat". The first copies of this boat, tested in the late 1930s by the US Marine Corps, did not have an unloading ramp in the bow part. However, this disadvantage was eliminated relatively quickly, and the aforementioned ramp was finally the width of the entire barge. It is worth adding that LCVPs were cheap and adapted to mass production - suffice it to say that a lot of their elements were made of plywood! They also had a slight draft, which allowed them to land directly on the shore. A single LCVP barge could carry up to 36 soldiers with full equipment. Barges of this type were used extensively by the Allies in operations such as the North Africa (1942), Sicily (1943) and Normandy beaches (1943). 1944). They were also successfully used in the Far East during the battles for Guadalcanal (1942-1943) or during the landings on the islands of Iwo-Jima and Okinawa (1945).
The LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) type barges were designed for the Operation Overlord by the American designer Andrew Higgins. They were made entirely of plywood and could accommodate 36 soldiers or a light vehicle such as a Jeep. The speed of these carriers reached 17 km / h, they had a crew of 3 sailors, they were armed with 2 machine guns of 12.7 mm caliber, and the landing was performed after leaving the front ramp. About 20,000 barges of this type were produced.
Already after the first experiences of fighting in North Africa at the turn of 1942-1943, the US Army changed the position of the American infantry division. From 1943 onwards, each infantry division had three full-time infantry regiments, in turn composed of three infantry battalions. In addition, the infantry regiment also included other units, for example: an anti-tank company, an artillery company or a staff company. In total, the US Army's infantry regiment numbered approximately 3,100 soldiers. It should also be remembered that the division also included a strong artillery component consisting of four artillery battalions - 3 light and 1 medium, most often armed with 105 and 155 mm howitzers. There was also, among others, an engineering battalion, a repair company, a reconnaissance unit and a Military Police platoon. In total, the US Infantry Division numbered approximately 14,200 people from 1943. It quite clearly dominated the artillery over the German division and had much better and - above all - fully motorized means of transport, which made it a highly mobile tactical formation. It also had much richer "individual" anti-tank weapons in the form of a large number of bazooka launchers, of which there were over 500 in the entire division.