I'd like to thank Allan Alsleben for providing permission to post this article.
All Destroyers and Cruisers had a detachment of landing forces within the ships company. They ranged from 60 to 150 men. They received a rudimentary training in amphibious operations and were generally lead by a junior officer. These units were not the best, and considered as "Third Stringers". There purpose was to occupy objectives where little or no resistance was offered. There were exceptions, to be sure, such as the occupation of Kavieng, where a detachment went ashore from the Cruiser Kashima in January 29th, 1942. Another instance is where the Cruiser Kuma dispached a detachment on Zamboangoa on March 2d 1942 to assist the 32d Base Force.
The last known use (To me anyway) of such units were the occupation of Ocean and Nauru on August 26th 1942. Ariake landed unopposed a detachment on Nauru, while the next day, Yugure landed her detachment on Ocean Island. Hakozaki Maru would follow in a couple of days with the garrison troops.
There were probably more minor operations conducted by ships companies during 1942, and I'm mindful that this summary is still not complete. I'm still searching.
But, for these men, there wasn't a lot to cheer about. It was land, hold, wait for the garrison, then return to their normal duties.
I wish to thank Gordon for his introduction on what constituted a Base Force. I would suggest that one should read it before continuing on with this post.
Secondly, I wish to correct an error in that these organizations were not SNLF or NLF. Neither Ships Company, Guard Units, or Defense Units were NLF. They could be loosely applied I suppose, be not in reality.
Moving on, the first use of a Defense Unit was at Guam when 370 men of the 5th Defense Unit (Saipan) was used to seize Guam. All Base Forces had some kind of units that were used in this mannner.
When the Third Phase of the First Stage was completed (Java Seizure), the big push was to Rangoon. but there were other operations going on at the same time.
"X" Operation, the Seizure of Christmas Island by the Guard Units of the 21st and 24th Base Forces were involved. At the same time, a more ambitious operation was undertaken by the 4th Guard Unit of the 24th Base Force. This was the Northern New Guinea Attack Force. Not only were defense units involved, but detachments from the cruiser Kinu and the second section of DesDiv 16. The timetable was very rigid, but it was held to. It composed of a landing at Buru, Ceram on March 31st, then Fak Fak on April 1st then so on, continuing on to Hollandia by April 20th.
The last Base Force to be involved during the timeline the the 8th Special Base Force at Rabaul. This involved the seizure of Buka, Shortlands on March 30th, Keita, Bougainville on March 31st, and Lorenagau, Manus on April 8th.
Aside from the minor operations in the Philippines by the 32nd Base Force, this pretty much concluded the use of such personel.
What constituted a Guard Unit or Defense Unit? Well, in the case of the 24th Base Force, the 4th Guard was activated March 10th, 1942 at Ambon. The Sasebo Combined SNLF was deactivated that date, also at Ambon. But that is getting ahead of myself. The next post will deal with the Yokosuka SNLF.
The 1st and 3rd Yokosuka SNLF were Airborne, and there is an excellent post on these two units last year. I could not expound on it further. The only thing I would add are the following: Formed before the war and assigned to the Combined fleet until May 20th, 1942. Reassigned to the 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet. The 1st Yokosuka SNLF left the area in October 10th for Yokosuka Naval District, while the 3rd Yokosuka departed on August 5th, 1942 for the same destination. Both were deactivated on November 11th 1944. The 3rd Yokosuka SNLF did perform one more operation before being reassigned. One company from this unit was involved in the seizure of Banda Sea Operation, known as "T" Operation. This was the occupation of Kai Island. Elements of the 4th Guard unit was assigned the seizure of Tanimbar and Aru Islands.
The 2nd Yokosuka SNLF was also formed before the war and was assigned to the Combined Fleet. It participated in the Sawarak and Miri operations, then into Southern Borneo. It was deactivated on March 10th, 1942
The 4th Yokosuka SNLF was also formed before the war, and was assigned to the China Area Fleet, Hainan Naval Guard District throughout the War.
The 5th Yokosuka SNLF was formed on May 1st, 1942 and assigned to the Combined Fleet. It became a part of the 2nd Combined SNLF for operations against Midway. Having been turned back, the 2nd Combined was disbanded on July 1st, 1942. Reassigned on July 1st to the 8th Fleet, it participated in August 16th in actions on Guadalcanal, while a detachment was sent to New Guinea. The unit saw heavy fighting on both sides of the Solomon Sea. The 5th was deactivated on February 15th, 1943.
The 6th Yokosuka SNLF was formed on August 15th, 1942 and assigned to the 8th Fleet. On August 25th, 1942, this unit was reassigned to the 4th Fleet at Truk. It was deactivated on February 15th, 1943
The 7th Yokosuka SNLF was formed on November 20th, 1942 as part of the 7th Combined SNLF, Combined Fleet. On December 24, 1942, it was reassigned to the 8th Fleet. It was on Kolumbangara during the New Georgia Campaign. On December 1st, 1943, it was reassigned to the 14th Base Force, 8th Fleet and was deactiveted 4 days later.
The 8th Yokosuka SNLF was formed on January 20th, 1945 and assigned to the SouthWest Area Fleet. I don't have the location of the assignment or any other particulars. It remained the the area until the end of the war.
To those of interest,
As most are aware, the SNLF were not marines per se. They were Naval infantry assigned from their Naval Districts. The consisted of the following: Kure SNLF, Maizuru SNLF, Sasebo SNLF, Yokosuka SNLF
Also, the destroyers and Cruisers had NLF also. They consisted of: Destroyers - 1 platoon from ships company (Usually 60 men) Cruisers - 1 company from the ships company (Usually 180 men)
Then there were the SNLF from the various Base Forces. All Base Forces had some form of SNLF such as those that participated in the occupation of Guam. They was called the 5th Base Force SNLF.
Also, there was the Airborne portion which included the 1st and 3rd Yokosuka. Those have been extensively covered in an earlier post by one of your members. I will touch on those only from a amphibious approach.
If there is an interest on this topic, let me know and I will post a six part posting.