No one could stand erect without getting shot, so all “transactions” had to take place via the escape hatch in the bottom of the tank’s hull. Personnel exchanges once atop the hill were another matter. By removing two crewmen, the tankers could stuff six replacement riflemen inside each vehicle. The next several days marked the finest achievements of the 1st Tank Battalion, even at the loss of 21 of its Shermans to enemy fire. Only the Sherman medium tank had the bulk and mobility to provide relief. “The Marines on Kunishi critically needed reinforcements and resupplies their growing number of wounded needed evacuation. The heaviest casualties were during the fighting for Kunishi Ridge in mid-June, with a single day’s loss of 21 tanks. During the course of the fighting, operational strength plummeted from 47 to 28 tanks by June 22nd. The 1st Battalion started the campaign with 47 M4A2 tanks in May. The two Marine units on Okinawa were the veteran 1st Btn., who were equipped with the M4A2 and the newer 6th Battalion using the M4A3. Our research tells us (so far) that this Marine could be sitting on a Sherman M4A2 of the 1st Marine Tank Regiment. The images are produced by using the colourised technique and are by the ‘Colourise History Group’ and you can follow the guys via their Facebook group WW2 Colourised Photos US Marine Tanker, Private Bruce Rutherford from Bristol, Tennessee is seen cleaning his Thompson submachine gun while playing with rescued puppies ‘Nanci’, ‘Shoto’, ‘Sake’, ‘Zero’, ‘Banzai’, and ‘Okinawa’ on the Pacific Island of Okinawa.
So when you get to see colourised images it brings the war to us with a different dimension.
We are used to viewing the war in black and white.
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