'LST 368 at the quayside', Tripoli, Libya, 1943
Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North Africa, 1943.
LST-368 was a LST-1 Type 2 Landing Ship Tank built in the United States by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1942. It was delivered to the Royal Navy in January 1943. It had a short life but an eventful one, taking part in the Allied landings at Sicily, Salerno and Anzio, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, and the invasion of Malaya in 1945. It was struck off the US Navy's register in 1946 and scrapped in 1948.
Tripoli had been a key port for Axis (German and Italian) forces during the North African campaign; it eventually fell to the Allies in January 1943. While 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) had fought its way to Tripoli after the Battle of El Alamein, the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), sailed into the port in June 1943. The regiment had been withdrawn to Egypt to reorganise, re-equip and train for an assault on the island of Sicily. The men of 3rd County of London Yeomanry, now part of an invasion fleet, were only in Tripoli for a week before re-embarking for Sicily, as part of Operation HUSKY.
From an album containing 241 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).
NAM Accession Number
NAM. 1975-03-63-13-63
Copyright/Ownership
National Army Museum Copyright
Location
National Army Museum, Study collection
Object URL
https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1975-03-63-13-63