Every Marine can probably name the Marine Divisions from WW2. Identify the Marine Raiders. The legendary figures from that time.
But how many Marines know that during WW2, the Marines had a Parachute Battalion? I didn't. This is its history.
Silk Chutes and Hard Fighting US Marine Corps Parachute Units in WWII
I read a story that the Marine Raiders were open to the idea of Marine Special Operations linking to its history.
Of course Force Recon, can also make the claim of being Marine Special Ops fore fathers.
My question is this. If Marine Raiders and Force Recon can both claim to be forerunners of Marine Special Ops then why can't Marine Parachute Units?
Heard of these guys (but I was never in the Marines). I think why the USMC's Para units from WWII are unknown are because they were in the Southern Pacific and that was the Army (MacArthur's) show and not the Navy's. Its also considered a peripheral theater- the Mediterranean of the Pacific, and in many ways an unnecessary theater- after the victory in the Solomon islands some consider the continued operations there and in New Guinea and the Bismarks to have been totally unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it was unnecessary at all. For the main reason that it wore the Japanese down. How many ships and troops were tied down there and eventually destroyed? I've also read that while Midway hurt the Japanese carrier fleet the Solomons almost ruined it. There they lost the cream of the experienced pilots and never fully recovered. It also gave the US time to build up its forces as well.
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a movie about them?
ReplyDelete@me: I said after the Solomons it became unnecessary. MacArthur's operations to neutralize Rabaul, secure New Guinna and capture the Bismarks were totally unnecessary since it did nothing to accomplish what you just said: destroy the Japanese Carrier Fleet.
ReplyDeleteThe Solomons actions brought the Japanese navy out in to 1:1 battles where they lost their advantage in numbers while we rebuilt the fleet. After the fleet was rebuilt and the SLOC to Australia secured further operations in the South Pacific were not needed. Basically a year's worth (2?) of fighting could have been bypassed by heading right for the Marianas then Formosa.