Some good stuff hidden away in these clips from newsreels and documentaries made at the time of the French Indochina War. Look out for the Bearcats doing insanely low strafing passes and the various amphibious landing scenes with LVT's and Crabes doing their thing. I have to get some M24 Chaffees now too, as they are whizzing about all over the place, no doubt for propaganda effect!
I really enjoyed that third clip, good stuff. I always love seeing the B-26 in action, and I was surprised by the crabs, didn’t realize how small they are, basically just an amphibious Jeep!
ReplyDeleteAnd I’m not sure why, but I was surprised seeing M-4 Shermans. I was familiar with Chaffees and M-8 GMCs being used, and of course the Sherman is one of the most ‘populous’ tanks of all time, but for some reason I didn’t know they were used in Indochina.
And I think that was a Helldiver swooping in (almost perpendicular to the ground) to fire a pair of rockets.
V/R,
Jack
Yes, you're right Jack...it is a Helldiver (d'oh!). The Shermans are interesting but I don't think they were widely used. And I agree about the B-26...what a plane!
ReplyDeleteOoh Indo-China; yet anther wargaming era if-only for me. Fantastic footage, glad I discovered your blog and this footage in particular.
ReplyDeleteJim Bob