The Corps has three MEFs, and each is made up of ground, air and logistics forces. They act as standing Marine air-ground task forces in peacetime and war. MEFs are capable of projecting power on land or at sea and are able to support themselves in combat for up to 60 days. Another exception to the basic unit structure is Marine aviation, which is broken down into commands made of squadrons, groups and wings. The squadron is the basic tactical and administrative unit.
One or more squadrons form a group, and one or more groups form a wing. Includes three or more platoons. Commanded by a captain.
Companies are the lowest command level to have a headquarters element. Three or more divisions make up the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps' leader, the commandant, reports directly to the secretary of the Navy. Three or more Divisions make up the Marine Corps. Four Marines to a fire team consisting of a rifleman, Automatic rifleman, assistant automatic rifleman, and a team leader , three fire teams to a squad three team leaders and one squad leader , three squads to a platoon three squad leaders, one platoon sergeant, and one platoon commander.
There are four companies to a battalion and four battalions to a regiment. On 4 February, advance elements of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force began moving into Hiroshima Prefecture and formally took control from the 24th Infantry Division on 7 March.
Later in March, the British force relieved the 6th Marines in Yamaguchi Prefecture, therefore reducing the 2d Marine Division zone to the island of Kyushu. Except for the movement of the 2d Marines' command post from Miyazaki to Oita, the constant shifting of units was largely over and the division could concentrate on routine occupation missions and on reinstituting regular training schedules. In late February, in order to reduce the division to peacetime strength, infantry regiments were instructed to relieve respective third battalions, and the artillery regiment the last lettered battery of each battalion, of occupation duties.
The battalions and batteries were assembled at Ainoura, moved to Sasebo and boarded transports for the United States where the units would be disbanded. The remaining units were assembled in battalion-sized camps which served as centers for the daily reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence patrols.
As occupational duties permitted, training in basic military subjects, firing of individual and crew-served weapons, and exercises in combat tactics filled increasing amounts of the Marines' time. An extensive air courier service, operating from Omura, linked the scattered battalions and enabled the division and regimental commanders to maintain effective control of their units. Other than fielding special unarmed election patrols during national elections in April, most of the disposition work had been completed and the flow of Japanese repatriates had slowed, and the Marines settled into a weekly routine of patrols, training, and liberty.
Soon after General Hunt returned from Kyoto, word was received from Eighth Army that the 2d Division would be returned to the United States and the 24th Infantry Division would move to Kyushu and take over the Marine zone. Preparations for the movement got underway before the end of April, as reconnaissance parties of the relieving Army regiments arrived to check their future billeting areas.
General Hunt planned to relieve the outlying units first and then gradually draw them into Sasebo until the last unit had departed.
On 24 May, the 19th Infantry Regiment, under operational control of the 2d Division, relieved the 2d Marines and assumed responsibility for Oita and Miyazaki Prefectures. The regiment left Sasebo on 13 June bound for Norfolk; the 8th Marines was relieved by the 21st Infantry and followed two days later; and the 10th Marines departed on the 23d.
On 15 June, as all scheduled courier flights ended and Marine Air Base, Omura, was secured, Major General Hunt turned over responsibility for the island of Kyushu to the 24th Division and the 19th and 21st Infantry Regiments reverted to control of 24th Division. Before leaving, however, the division transferred more than 2, men to the "China Draft" as replacements for the 1st Marine Division.
The 6th Marines, slated to sail for the West Coast, and service troops and unit rear echelons needed to load out heavy equipment, remained behind. How well the division had done its job was attested to by I Corps' commanding general, Major General Woodruff: "Today the 2d Marine Division comes to the end of its long trail from Guadalcanal to Japan. Its achievement in battle and in occupation: 'Well done. The first Marines to set foot in Japan after the war landed at Yokosuka expecting to meet the same implacable foe they had encountered in years of bitter fighting across the Pacific.
Instead they were confronted by a docile people anxious to cooperate. For four long months the regiment relentlessly attacked the Japanese defenders and repulsed banzai charges and suicidal attacks. Arriving in Australia in January , the vast majority of the regiment suffered from malaria, wounds or fatigue.
Again and again the Regiment was called upon to storm the Japanese-held islands in the Pacific. The regiment was deactivated on 6 March as part of the Marine Corps' draw down of forces after the war. Activation of the regiment's organic battalions already had been underway since 1 September when the 1st Battalion was created. The 1st Battalion rejoined the regiment in September on Guadalcanal. On 15 December , the 11th Marines left Guadalcanal for Australia, rested and reorganized, and then reentered combat on New Britain at Cape Gloucester on 26 December Here the regiment furnished support to the infantry in their capture of the Japanese aerodrome.
Following the New Britain campaign came a period of preparation for the Peleliu landing where the regiment was actively engaged. For the first two weeks after the initial landing on 15 September , the regiment took part in the Battle of Peleliu. All artillery support was handled both novelly and conventionally, providing massed preparatory, harassing, and interdicting fire. Later, the artillery was used to fire directly into the mouths of enemy caves. There the regiment played an important defensive role with effective counter-battery fire, and steadily suppressed enemy attempts to counter-attack objectives already won by U.
With the war won, in the fall of the 11th Marines moved to Tianjin in North China where it was soon involved in trying to keep peace in the midst of the increasing conflict between rival Chinese factions. Early in , the regiment returned to the United States to be reduced virtually to a battalion-sized unit. The First Marine Division was never really a green outfit in the sense of a newly formed military unit.
When it was activated early in , the Division was filled by Old Corps Marines with many years of expeditions and campaigning behind them.
The name fit, and it stuck. Through the war, many of the old timers were killed, wounded, or became sick in the harsh conditions of the Pacific. But they left an indelible stamp on their Division that endured long after they had packed their seabags. Except for the interlude of in Australia, the First Marine Division spent its years of service in austere conditions. This helped cement its inner feeling of being somehow different and set apart from the rest of the Marine Corps.
The Divisional history noted that, "We never really came out of the boondocks General Vandegrift had begun to be a little bored with the monotony of the long plane ride. Vandegrift looked at it for a moment, scribbled something on it, and handed it back to Twining, who saw the word, "Approved," with the initials, "A. They had been on the ride from Guadalcanal to Brisbane. Because the first few days in Australia were hectic, Twining did nothing else about the patch until one morning he was called into Vandegrift's office.
I made six sketches, each with a different color scheme. In a couple of days I went back to the General with my finished drawings. He studied them only a minute or so and then approved the one that is now the Division patch. Twining knew there was more to his mission. He placed an order for a hundred thousand with the Australian subsidiary of an American woven name manufacturer although money was one of the things the Division did not have when it arrived in Australia.
The patches went on sale in February [], three weeks after Vandegrift approved Twining's design. The Pacific Wiki Explore. Wiki Content. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account?
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