quick question!

[organix]

Hi folks, wondering if you can help answer a question I have

I've been told this is the forum to post this question in:

I was wanting to know whether the kreigsmarine had any land based infantry units similar to the marines, or indeed any land based troops at all?

I think there were KM coastal artillery soldiers but were these the only ones?

thanx in advance

Andy

[tenoriodj]

HI Andy

In addition to the Küstenartillerie units you mention, Artillerie arsenals etc, several "Marineinfanteriedivisionen" were formed in 1945, with numbers 1, 2, 3, 11, 16 and 8.

For example, the 2. Marineinfanteriedivision was formed in Feb 1945 arounf Bremen, Cuxhaven etc, commanded by Admiral Scheurlen and made up of 3 Marinegrenadierregimenter, 1 Marinefüsillierbataillon, one mainrartillerieregiment, 1 Marine panzerjagerabteilung, one Marinepionierbatalillon, 1 marinenachrichtenabteilung (commanded by a Heer officer) etc

There is a full description of these in Lohmann & Hildebrand´s Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939-1945

See also the wonderful online reference Lexicon der Wehrmacht http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...liederungM.htm

See under landgestützte Verbände, where they list:

Marine-Infanterie

Marine-Brigaden

Flak-Einheiten

Sanitätseinheiten

Ersatztruppenteile und Schulen (Land und See)

Einrichtungen und Dienststellen

[Simon O.]

See my reply in your thread on the docs forum.

[organix]

thanks for all your help guys, very interesting

[Lon]

I wouldn't think there would be any German troops designated specially for water borne landings. When Hitler was considering invading England he was having trouble coming up with suitable landing craft and decided against it. Along the same line of thought, I served in the U.S. Marines and am familiar with the Japanese Marine counterpart. I believe they were called Sendi or something similar, they had an anchor incorporated into their helmet emblem instead of a star, an especially tough bunch. Does anyone know of Italian landing forces?

[Larry deZeng]

Rikusentai: Naval Landing Force.
Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai: Naval Special Landing Force.

The Japanese SNLF (Special Naval Landing Force) as they are most often called, were not comparable to the wartime U.S. Marine divisions. If any comparison might be made, it would be to the early war Marine defense battalions. They were naval personnel led by naval officers, but they were all trained by the Japanese Army. Each SNLF was the equivalent of a heavily reinforced battalion that ranged in TO&E strength from 1,069 to 1,820. From 1942 to the end of the war, they performed a defensive role as an island garrison force and were armed with coast defense guns, AA guns and even searchlights. Most of them fought well, but no better than their Army counterparts. There are so many myths still circulation about the SNLF that it would be hard to list them all. One, for example, claims that only Japanese 6' or over could become one. Another that they were all hand-picked volunteers from 18 and 19-year-old recruits. In fact, they were of all ages, sizes and flavors. They received no special training other than how to disembark onto a landing boat and how to get out of it once ashore.

--Larry

[Lon]

Larry,

Thank you for the clarification and additional information. Participating in these forums is certainly a learning experience!

Lon

[Simon O.]

I wouldn't think there would be any German troops designated specially for water borne landings

Well, there were. The Küstenjäger, part of the Brandenburger organisation and about a battalion in strength.

The Germans did it differently though, most amphibious landings involved regular Heer troops or naval landing parties.

also, both the KM and Heer had landing craft or assault boat units.