9 relatives dead jesus fucking christ, what happened.
Turns out that military vehicles from the late 40s weren't really designed with passenger safety in mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW
Im still amazed that the Higgins boat was considered good to use by the US military.
Any vehicle that opens from the front is a bad idea. I get the idea - get as many soldiers out of the vehicle as fast as possible, but even back in the day, someone should have popped up and went Wait, what about cover?
Considering the higgins boat was made of plywood, the only real "cover" would be the soldiers closest to the ramp.
Yeah, and when it opens, theyre fucked. It needed to open from the sides.
That... wouldn't have worked well. The intent is to ram the boat onto shore, pop the ramp, unload, then leave to go get more troops. A side ramp would actually take longer to unload - especially so if it's got a truck or small tank inside.
Like I said, I get the intent. The cost of safety - longer wait times. ---