Army
Stationed at Camp Edwards, the United States Army used Martha's Vineyard to train and practice beach landings and beach assaults. The U.S. Army took part in missions where they loaded up boats with the soldiers, supplies and ammunitions on the Cape, and would then sail across the channel, around the Vineyard and then land on the beaches. Once landed, the troops would have to safely exit the landing crafts and remove the supplies as well. While doing so, another group of troops was positioned in the woods and on the Gay Head Cliffs of Martha's Vineyard in order to simulate live gunfire and bombing rounds. The soldiers who landed on the beach would then have to move up and clear the woods and take control of the beach. These missions were created to simulate the planned landings on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day. If the troops were unable to complete these missions they would not be allowed to ship out and take part in the storming of the beaches in Normandy.
Another practice mission that the U.S. Army did to prepare for storming the beaches was practicing climbing the Gay Head Cliffs. The United States Military had knowledge of the cliffs that Normandy had on some of their beaches, specifically Pointe Du Hoc. Again the soldiers would boat over from Camp Edwards and then land on the beach before the cliff. They then had to move up towards the cliffs while under simulated gunfire. The soldiers then had to successfully climb up the cliff. Once at the top they were tasked with taking out fake enemy outposts to seize control of the cliff and allow the rest of the troops onto the beach. This mission prepared the soldiers for capturing Pointe Du Hoc and has been credited with being what led the soldiers to so much success in the actual taking of Pointe Du Hoc.
A small island off the southern coast of Martha's Vineyard known as "Nomans Land" also played a vital role in World War II training. Noman's Land was purchased by the United States military to use as a bombing target. The soldiers were sent to Martha's Vineyard and were told to go to specific locations on the island, primarily on the beaches. Once in position, the soldiers were tasked with setting up mortars and dialing the mortars on to No Man's Land. After the mortars were dialed in, the soldiers used Noman's Land as a practice target area to gain essential experience. These missions took place at all different times of the day and in all different weather conditions. This was so the soldiers would be prepared for any weather condition they would face when landing in Normandy.
Navy
For the Navy, their training in Martha's Vineyard consisted mostly of assisting the Army in their maneuvers. Martha's Vineyard has many beaches, some of which have very calm waters and other that are known for waves of up to five feet. With the varying water conditions, these beaches gave the Navy plenty of practice for driving the boats in rough and uncontrollable water conditions. This practice allowed for the captains of the boats to test their limits and be able to safely land their boats on the beaches. Once on shore, the naval units joined in with the Army and participated in the capture of the beaches.
The Navy also took advantage of Nomans Land. They would practice launching mortars from their small launching boats as well as from their bigger gunboats, carriers and destroyers. This bombing practice continued for more than 40 years and has lasting effects until today. Although Noman's Land is considered a wildlife refuge now there are still live munitions littered on the island, some of which regularly wash up on shore at the beaches of Martha's Vineyard.
Collaboration with Air Force
One of the bigger missions the Navy took part in was submarine destruction. Together with the Air Force, the Navy partook in locating and destroying submarines that were found off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Cape Cod. The Air Force was responsible for flying and trying to locate submarines through the air while the Navy tried locating them while sailing around the waters. Once located, the Naval ships had to track down and destroy or deter the submarines from the waters around Massachusetts.
Operation Dragoon was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence on 15 August 1944. The operation was initially planned to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, the Allied landing in Normandy, but the lack of available resources led to a cancellation of the second landing. By July 1944 the landing was reconsidered, as the clogged-up ports in Normandy did not have the capacity to adequately supply the Allied forces. Concurrently, the French High Command pushed for a revival of the operation that would include large numbers of French troops. As a result, the operation was finally approved in July to be executed in August.
No. 4 Commando was a battalion-sized British Army commando unit, formed in 1940 early in the Second World War. Although it was raised to conduct small-scale raids and harass garrisons along the coast of German occupied France, it was mainly employed as a highly trained infantry assault unit.
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Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted using ship's boats as the primary method of delivering troops to shore. Since the Gallipoli Campaign, specialised watercraft were increasingly designed for landing troops, material and vehicles, including by landing craft and for insertion of commandos, by fast patrol boats, zodiacs and from mini-submersibles.
Joint Expeditionary Base–Little Creek (JEB–LC), formerly known as Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and commonly called simply Little Creek, is the major operating base for the Amphibious Forces in the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet. The base comprises four locations in three states, including almost 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) of real estate. Its Little Creek location in Virginia Beach, Virginia totals 2,120 acres (860 ha) of land. Outlying facilities include 350 acres (140 ha) located just north of Training Support Center Hampton Roads in Virginia Beach, and 21 acres (8.5 ha) known as Radio Island at Morehead City, North Carolina, used for U.S. Coast Guard ships and personnel as well as serves as an amphibious embarkation/debarkation area for U.S. Marine Corps units at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It is also home to the Naval School of Music.
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USS Shubrick (DD-639), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral William B. Shubrick.
Landing Craft Assault (LCA) was a landing craft used extensively in World War II. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by John I. Thornycroft Ltd. of Woolston, Hampshire, UK. During the war it was manufactured throughout the United Kingdom in places as various as small boatyards and furniture manufacturers.
The military history of the United States in World War II covers the victorious Allied war against the Axis Powers, starting with the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. During the first two years of World War II, the United States had maintained formal neutrality as made official in the Quarantine Speech delivered by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937, while supplying Britain, the Soviet Union, and China with war materiel through the Lend-Lease Act which was signed into law on 11 March 1941, as well as deploying the US military to replace the British forces stationed in Iceland. Following the "Greer incident" Roosevelt publicly confirmed the "shoot on sight" order on 11 September 1941, effectively declaring naval war on Germany and Italy in the Battle of the Atlantic. In the Pacific Theater, there was unofficial early US combat activity such as the Flying Tigers.
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The United States Marine Corps's Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, formerly Company, was a specialized team of Marines and Navy Corpsmen that performed clandestine preliminary pre–D-Day amphibious reconnaissance of planned beachheads and their littoral area within uncharted enemy territory for the joint-Navy/Marine force commanders of the Pacific Fleet during World War II. Often accompanied by Navy Underwater Demolition Teams and the early division recon companies, these amphib recon platoons performed more reconnaissance missions than any other single recon unit during the Pacific campaigns.
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The Fleet Landing Exercises, or FLEX were amphibious landing exercises conducted by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps between 1935 and 1941. The purpose of these exercises was to formulate a workable amphibious warfare doctrine. The development of the necessary craft and other equipment, and the proper tactical deployment of them were also results. Finally, the exercises demonstrated the usefulness of a standing body of Marines, the Fleet Marine Force, specially prepared for amphibious expeditions.
Leonard Treherne "Max" Schroeder Jr. was a colonel in the United States Army, who served on active duty from 1941 to 1971. As a captain during World War II, he commanded Company F of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division in the Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944, landing on Utah beach in France. Leading the men of his company, Schroeder was the first American soldier to come ashore from a landing craft in the D-Day invasion.
Naval Auxiliary Air Station Martha's Vineyard was a United States Navy facility located in Edgartown and West Tisbury, Massachusetts operational from 1943 to 1946. It existed as an auxiliary air facility of Naval Air Station Quonset Point.
Tinian Naval Base and Naval Air Facility Tinian was a major United States Navy sea and airbase base on Tinian Island, part of the Northern Mariana Islands on the east side of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The Base was built during World War II to support the many bombers and aircraft fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of war as part of the Pacific War. A number of naval facilities were built on the entire island of 101.22 km. The main port was built at the city and port of San Jose, also called Tinian Harbor. All construction was done by the Navy's Seabees Sixth Construction Brigade with minor help from the 64th Army Engineers, including the main two airports: West Field and North Field. United States Army Air Forces operated long-range bombers out of the air base built and maintained by the Seabees.
