don't know where else to post this!

[organix]

Hi guys,

Was watching a documentary about ww2 and wondered if the Kreigsmarine had any land based infantry units similar to Marines? I know some coastal gun batteries were operated by men in the service of the kreigsmarine, but did they have any units with a wider fighting capability?

If so does anybody here have any pics of any of these units in the field?

cheers

Andy

[W Petz]

Andy,

You would post this in the Order of Battle & Individual research forum for a better reponse to your inquiry. Bill

Hi guys,

Was watching a documentary about ww2 and wondered if the Kreigsmarine had any land based infantry units similar to Marines? I know some coastal gun batteries were operated by men in the service of the kreigsmarine, but did they have any units with a wider fighting capability?

If so does anybody here have any pics of any of these units in the field?

cheers

Andy

[101combatvet]

To answer your question... no they did not.

Hi guys,

Was watching a documentary about ww2 and wondered if the Kreigsmarine had any land based infantry units similar to Marines? I know some coastal gun batteries were operated by men in the service of the kreigsmarine, but did they have any units with a wider fighting capability?

If so does anybody here have any pics of any of these units in the field?

cheers

Andy

[organix]

thanks guys

[milcollector]

at the end of the war many Kriegsmarine men were fighting as infantry, still in Kriegsmarine uniform etc.

[101combatvet]

at the end of the war many Kriegsmarine men were fighting as infantry, still in Kriegsmarine uniform etc.

Very true.... but nothing was remotely similar to the US Marines then or now.

[Simon O.]

Did they have an organisation like the US marines? No, not really.

Did they have land based 'infantry' units? Yes, absolutely. and not just at the end of the war.

The KM made use of Naval landing parties, these carried out the kinds of tasks ships royal marine detachments might carry out. For larger amphibious operations they tended to go for regular Heer units, an example of which was the raid against Spitzbergen in Sept.43 where they used regular infantry carried on destroyers.

The most 'marine like' of the formally established KM land units, though closer to the British Commandos in concept were the MEK units, Marine Einsatz Kommandos. They carried out raiding activities along coastal areas.

The late war (mid 44 onwards) gorund combat units have been mentioned but they can't really be equated with the marines. Apart from that there are various cases where KM personnel were pressed into service as ground troops. The most famous example of that being at Narvik where roughly 3000 men formed Marine Regiment Berger from the crews of the sunken destroyers. They formed a vital part of Dietl's fighting force.


Also, the Heer had their version of the British Commandos too. The 'Küstenjäger' which operated in the Adriatic and Agean. It was about a battalion in strength and was part of the larger Brandenburg organisation.

[organix]

Does this thread depict some pictures of them?

http://www.nexusboard.net/showthread...****pid3267638

I don't speak German so am unable to translate, there seems to be quite a lot of pics of landing craft etc in the thread!

[Simon O.]

Yep, that's the Küstenjäger. They were the equivalent of our British army commandos.

[Fallschirmjaeger]

German WW2 marines

Well they did have them as we see,infantry,artillery etc...,like what this info says,"German naval ground units also provided a critical service during WWII, manning massive guns along the Atlantic Wall in the west and naval flak and artillery units all across Western and Eastern Europe. There were also countless naval infantry, engineer and communications units as well. In the last months of WWII most all of the naval ground units were involved directly in fighting of some form or another, some naval units even took part in the Battle for Berlin in 1945".

http://www.feldgrau.com/main1.php?ID=4
Main page.

http://www.feldgrau.com/kmsdiv.html
Marine-Divisionen.

http://www.feldgrau.com/kmsground.html
Kriegsmarine ground units.

[ChrisA]

Hello

As mentioned already above each ship was able to form landing parties with soldiers also trained in infantry combat. Here are photos of my collection from such a landing party.




Then there was the so called Marinestosskompanie which was a special unit formed to conduct landing operations which it did for example at the Westerplatte and in Norway.
http://chrito.users1.50megs.com/1939...sskompanie.htm

Here a photo of Kriegsmarine ground party in Poland 1939. Interesting the different type of Feldbluse already in 1939.