1963 US Army Vietnam War Armor Operations ... - Survival Books

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COMb. As is the case with amphibious operations, ployment. He must plan for the assembly ofarmor units may be employed in several types armor units and their means of waterborneof shore-to-shore movements:transportation on the near shore. The arrival(1) Attack. of armor units in the embarkation area on the(2) Withdrawal. near shore must be phased so that those units(3) Raid. participating in the assault of the far shore(4) Deceptive operation (demonstration arrive first and are loaded first. Unnecessaryor feint).massing of units in the embarkation area must(5) Reconnaissance. be avoided.c. Shore-to-shore movements may be con- e. Armored cavalry units, less their trackedducted across lakes, along coast lines, across vehicles, and mechanized infantry units, lessbays, or against offshore islands.their personnel carriers, may participate inshore-to-shore movements when landing craft385. Considerations are not available for their vehicles. In thisa. The participation of armor units with event, the shore-to-shore movement will be contheirvehicles in shore-to-shore movements will ducted as infantry in an amphibious operationbe dependent on the types and load-carrying or deliberate river crossing with vehicles eithercharacteristics of the assault craft available for shuttled across after the assault or movedthe operation.around the shore for a linkup.b. The extent of participation by armor units 387. Preliminary Planningin the assault is limited by the number of landelemntsa. An armoring craftcommander initiates planningavailable, in that the assault elementsmust be contailned, in a single aulift. for a shore-to-shore movement in response todirective from higher echelon or as an operac.The relatively heavy requirements for tional requirement in his own command.logistical support of armor units must be con- b The avalability of landing craft capablesidered in light of landing craft available forthis support on the far shore. Air vehicles maybe required to be augment required tosurface craft.ticipation; therefore, the first step in planningis to determine the numbers of landing craft386. Planning Guidance that will be available.c. During preliminary planning the armora. The general considerations in planning for command must determineemployment of armor units in a shore-to-shore ()e er nemovement are the same as those in planning an (1) ne overall concept of the operation.amphibious operation, and the near shore ac- (2) Any Navy or Air Force support in thetions in a deliberate river crossing.form of ships, landing craft, or aircraftthat may be available.b. The control of the waterborne movement (3) The objective area.in a shore-to-shore movement is an Army func- (4) The amphibious area and specific emtion;in amphibious operations, it is a Navybarkation points suitable for armorfunction. This responsibility will probably restunits on the near shore.with the Engineer Amphibious Support Com- (5) The terrain and hydrography of themand as augmented by transportation corpsobjective area.units under the direction of the overall tactical (6) The task organization for support ofcommander responsible for the operation.the assault landing and subsequentc. Critical factors such as terrain, weather, operations in the objective area.and hydrography of the far shore must be em- d. Dependent on the determinations madephasized when planning the employment of (b and c above), the armor commander recomarmorunits in the assault landing.mendsd.The armor commander must include all (1) Embarkation points on the near shoreaspects of the deliberate river-crossing opera-and landing points on the far shoretion in determining his concept of armor em-for armor units.AGO D919A 195