Elite 222 - WWII US Marine Infantry Regiments (2018) COMP.pdf

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World War II US Marine
Infantry Regiments
GORDON L. ROTTMAN
ILLUSTRATED BY PETER DENNIS
Elite 222
World War II
US Marine Infantry
Regiments
GORDON L. ROTTMAN
ILLUSTRATED BY PETER DENNIS
Series editor Martin Windrow
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE MARINE DIVISIONS
Organization
n
Tracking the divisions: 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th MarDivs, 1st Provisional
MarBde/6th MarDiv
n
Defense Force Samoan Group, FMF
n
Composite Army‑Marine Division
Insignia
4
5
EVOLUTION OF THE MARINE INFANTRY REGIMENT
Organization
n
Unit designation practices: regiment, battalion, company, platoon,
squad, section
n
Parachute and Raider units
Tables of Organization: 1942
n
1943
n
1944
n
1945
n
Assault platoons
Separate Marine regiments
n
Regimental combat teams
Weapons
15
REGIMENTAL TACTICS
THE REGIMENTS IN COMBAT
1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th
and 29th Marines
1st Marine Parachute Regiment
n
1st Marine Raider Regiment
n
2nd Marine Raider
Regiment (Provisional)
Other Marine regiments: Artillery, Engineer, Shore Party and Service regiments,
Training regiments
32
35
CONCLUSION
FURTHER READING
INDEX
62
63
64
WORLD WAR II
US MARINE INFANTRY
REGIMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The first “modern” US Marine regiment was formed in 1899 at Cavite Naval
Station, Philippines. Efforts to establish permanent regiments began in 1908,
but through 1913 all Marine regiments were provisional units, formed for
specific missions and disbanded when those were completed. They were
raised by consolidating Marine barracks companies – naval base guard
units – and company‑sized Marine ships’ detachments. It was during World
War I that permanent regiments proved their value, with 14 regiments raised.
Between the wars regiments were activated and deactivated as necessary,
and on the eve of the US entry into World War II there were only seven
(understrength) infantry regiments.
Throughout the war, whenever new regiments were raised, cadres of
officers, NCOs, and specialists were detached from an existing regiment as a
nucleus for the new unit. Often an existing regiment was split in two, one half
remaining with the old regiment and the rest forming the cadre for the new.
Two rosters were prepared,
and a coin was flipped to
see which commander got
which half – to prevent
the old regiment from
unloading its undesirables
on the new. The half under
the command of the existing
CO kept the number of the
original regiment.
The Marine Corps
emphasized a “Corps first”
attitude, with complete
loyalty to the Corps itself
rather than to a unit.
However, marines very much
identified with their regiment.
Recovered wounded or sick
marines would be returned
to their original regiment
if possible, and even to the
same battalion or company.
The 3d Marines landed on
Puruata Island near Cape
Gloucester on Bougainville
on November 1, 1943. This
rifleman, engaging snipers
in defense of the howitzer
positions being prepared to
support operations on the
mainland, wears camouflage
utilities. By this date the
entire Fleet Marine Force
infantry was armed with
the M1 semi‑automatic rifle.
(History Division, Marine Corps
University – HD/MCU)
4
THE MARINE DIVISIONS
The Marine Corps had first proposed a division in World War I, but it was
not until 1940 that Marine divisions were approved and organized around
the existing 1st and 2d Marine Brigades of the Fleet Marine Force. The
first two divisions were not activated until February 1941, and the Corps
experienced great difficulties in raising the formations. This was due to the
slow peacetime intake of recruits, deployments of units detached from the
divisions to Iceland and Samoa, and the constant demand on existing units
to provide cadres to newly raised units. Unit training cycles were constantly
disrupted, with half of a unit stripped of personnel for a new unit’s formation;
then it would have to be re‑manned with recruits and newly commissioned
lieutenants, and unit training restarted. At the time of the Pearl Harbor
attack on December 7, 1941 both divisions were seriously understrength
and under‑equipped.
Unfortunately, the Navy Department sought no advice from the Army,
which had long experience of organizing, training, and employing divisions.
The result was a large, unwieldy Marine divisional organization, with an
overabundance of support units which would better have been kept under
the control of higher commands to be allotted to divisions as necessary.
For example, the amphibian tractor battalion organic to an uncommitted
division was thus denied to other divisions deployed in combat. The Marines
eventually learned, and reallocated many divisional assets upwards to
Amphibious Corps and FMF (Fleet Marine Force) Troops for more judicious
and flexible employment.
The Corps envisioned raising only three divisions, but a fourth was
created in 1943 and two more in 1944. During the war’s early stages
1st Marine Division,
Guadalcanal, December 1942;
(left to right) LtGen Thomas
Holcomb, Commandant of
the Marine Corps (1936–44);
Col Merritt A. Edson, CO
of 1st Raider Bn and later
of the 5th Marines; and
MajGen Alexander A.
Vandegrift, Commanding
General of 1st MarDiv. At this
time senior officers in the
field wore khakis rather than
herringbone twill (HBTs),
with collar rank insignia. Note
Edson’s non‑standard black
belt with cartridge loops and
holstered revolver, probably
a Smith & Wesson .38 Special
Victory model, as normally
issued to aviators. (HD/MCU)
5

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