JF Ptak Science Books
I came across this image in the Illustrated London News for 8 Mar 1943–it is an extraordinary thing, both wrenching in the fantastic simplicity of the material used for training, and magnificent for these men behaving like the soldiers they were for training in a flimsy imitation landing craft for the invasion of Europe. I think it an amazing thing that so much could have been produced with so little material assistance.
The caption reads: “the Royal Marines are ready for anything; an invasion craft has been built on land so as to give them invasion practice”. I think of these men with nothing but the highest respect and admiration–they certainly know that these bits of wood on dry land won’t approximate anything, and yet they train. There was no alternative.
Patti Digh just said–while looking at this picture–“history makes me weep”.