The Marine Raider Battalion
There is a reluctance amongst military formations which consider themselves elite to form subunits which feel themselves even further set apart. Despite it size, the Marine Corps rightly considered itself a select body. Yet for a short while there existed within the Corps a body of troops who regarded themselves as that little bit different. These were the Marine Raiders.
The Raiders endured an odd relationship with the rest of the Corps. The intention was clear enough; to provide a swift, highly mobile force which could hit Japanese interests and be gone before the enemy could react. The feeling it seems was that any Marine unit should be capable of doing so, so why the need for such a 'specialist' outfit? The same problem had faced the British Commandos. The Royal Marines had four Battalions of men perfectly capable of undertaking assaults from the sea, so why did the Army want the same? In Britain the argument was quelled by the intervention of Winston Churchill. He wanted the Commandos and, thankfully, he got them. The Royal Marines converted to the same structure and were rewarded for their patience when the Army Commandos were demobilised at the end of the war, not the Marines.
The Marine Raiders had no such benefactor though, and at the beginning of 1944 the existing units were either deactivated or re-designated as 'normal' Marine Battalions.
The Marine Raider Battalion, circa 1942
Headquarters Company (11 Officers, 139 men)
Battalion Headquarters (9 Officers, 82 men)
Motor Platoon (1 Officer, 35 men)
Communication Platoon (1 Officer, 22 men)
Weapons Company (7 Officers, 204 men)
Company Headquarters (2 Officers, 31 men)
Mortar Platoon (1 Officer, 35 men)
Two Machine Gun Platoons, each (1 Officer, 32 men)
Demolition Platoon (2 Officers, 74 men)
Four Rifle Companies (5 Officers, 130 men) each comprised of;
Company Headquarters (1 Officer, 17 men)
Weapons Platoon comprised of;
Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 4 men)
Antitank Rifle Section (7 men)
Mortar Section (9 men)
Machine Gun Section (9 men)
Three Rifle Platoons, each comprised of;
Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 4 men)
Three Rifle Squads, each comprised of 8 men
Total Strength of 901 all ranks (38 Officers and 863 men)
Points of note
Akin to the British Commandos, the Raiders took their existing Battalion formation and trimmed it down. In this case, it facilitated the formation of a fourth Rifle Company. The total all ranks is inclusive of US Navy personnel who provided medical staff for the Battalion as elsewhere in the Marines.
The elements of the Battalion
Battalion Headquarters - contained the command staff and various admin personnel who were no doubt segregated into a 'Company Headquarters' as was common to all US units. The Battalion also maintained an interesting 'Weapon Pool' with twenty two extra BARs, two light machine guns and two hundred .45 cal sub machine guns. These were issued to the Rifle Squads as required, as discussed below.
Motor Platoon - the Quartermaster and supply elements, along with the Battalion's sparse transportation.
Communication Platoon - provided the usual signals services
Mortar Platoon - the Mortar Platoon was the first sign this was a light infantry unit as it served just three 60 mm mortars. The 81 mm was obviously more effective but it weighed more and less ammunition could be carried for the same weight load. Interestingly, Battalion HQ carried a further four 60 mm weapons in reserve, suggesting the Platoon could potentially double its firepower if required.
Machine Gun Platoon - the Machine Gun Platoons again demonstrated the light weight approach, each serving four M1919A4 light machine guns. No heavy M1917s were carried.
Demolition Platoon - the Demolition Platoon typified the Raider aim of getting in, blowing up items the Japanese regarded as important and then leaving. It fielded eight Squads, each of eight men, plus the usual Platoon and Section commanders.
The Rifle Company - the Rifle Company was far larger than its Ranger and Commando contemporaries. Its building block the, Rifle Squad, provides one of those conundrums of organisation that often appear just when you think you understand matters.
The 'official' table of organisation posted on http://www.heatonhouse.com/tonypage.htm actually gives a very different format to the Platoon than the version originally shown on this page. The key difference is the deployment of an eight man Rifle Squad, comprised of a Corporal, four riflemen, two automatic riflemen and a sniper. The first five men were each armed with a rifle, the two automatic gunners each a BAR, and the sniper the M1903 Springfield. Platoon HQ is a much larger affair, with a Lieutenant and Sergeant, armed with Carbines, a Sergeant Guide and two runners, armed with rifles.
This Squad is notably different to the nine man version described in much of the literature on the Raiders, and provides a classic example of the reorganisation of units in the field to meet tactical circumstances.
In this, three teams, each of three men became a favoured option. In some operations, this was used to field a unique blend of automatic firepower. Two teams were each equipped with a pair of sub machine guns and one rifle. The third team substituted a BAR for one of the SMGs. This naturally meant the Squad had a much reduced range, but reportedly it was a highly efficient unit in combat and despite its weapons not given to wasteful use of ammunition. If no additional men were provided in this model, then Platoon HQ would have had to shrink to perhaps no more than an Officer and one man, almost certainly the Platoon Sergeant.
The Weapons Platoon served two 60 mm mortars and two M1919A4 light machine guns in its two Sections. The really intriguing thing though is that it also carried two British Army .55 cal Boys Anti Tank Rifles. The US Army, as mentioned in the Infantry Weapons of World War Two pages had no anti tank rifles. A few Boys models were procured for evaluation but quickly rejected as obsolete. The Marines in general though were not high on the list for receipt of the new Bazooka in 1942 and the Raiders less so. The Boys could penetrate a light Japanese tank, the type most likely to be encountered and perhaps it was for this reason they were adopted. There were two more in the Weapons Company and four more at Battalion. In time they were no doubt replaced by Bazookas.
Company HQ added two Navy medics and a Captain with the usual NCOs and runners and admin staff.
Summary
The Raider Battalion looked decidedly heavy compared to the stripped back Rangers. However, there were variations even between the Raider Battalions themselves. 2nd Raiders tried six Rifle Companies and no Weapons Company for example. The four Raider Battalions eventually settled on three Rifle and one Weapons Company during 1943, though there were other formats before this. Quite how these changes impacted on the Battalion organisation can only be guessed at.
Three of the Raider Battalions were used to reconstitute the 'missing' 4th Marine Regiment in early 1944 and the Raider concept passed into history. In their remarkably short service career though, the Raiders proved the value of light infantry operations against Japanese garrisons. But as the campaign drew ever closer to the Home Islands, the Marines were not interested in hit and run tactics. The ground they took they intended to keep, and as such the Raider concept was deemed exhausted.