US Marines in Crossfire 1942-43

Quite some time ago I developed a US Marine force for Pacific Theatre operations, especially for my favourite campaign (Guadalcanal & the Solomon Islands) but also designed to cover the subsequent campaigns through 1943 to early 1944 (e.g. Gilbert and Marshal Islands). This covers the period of the “D” and “E” organisations of the US Marine Divisions & Regiments, primarily the first three Marine Divisions. The next restructure “F” occurred in May 1944 prior to the Marianna & Palau, and Philippine, Campaigns which all kicked off around June-July 1944. So this is my take on US Marines for Crossfire for the first 18 months these divisions existed and the initial campaigns to ‘retake the pacific’…

When the recapture of Guadalcanal commenced involving the US 1st & 3rd Marine Divisions, 1st & 2nd Marine Raider Battalions and the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion, the ‘standard’ Marine Regiment organisation was as follows:

D-Series Marine Infantry Regiment (1942)

Regimental Headquarters
   RC (Regimental HQ) not normally modelled for CF

Regimental Marine Weapons Company, with:
   BC not normally modelled for CF
3 Marine (Light) Anti-Tank Platoons, each with:1
   2 x 37mm ATG Stands & Jeep/Truck transport
   1 x 0.50" HMG AA/AT Stand & Jeep/Truck transport
1 Marine (Heavy) Anti-Tank Platoon, with:1
   1 x 75mm SP Anti-Tank Gun (M3 GMC Half-Track)

3 Marine Infantry Battalions, each:
Battalion Headquarters
   1 x BC
1 Marine Weapons Company, with:
   CC not normally modelled for CF
   3 Marine MG Platoons, each with:
   2 x 0.30" HMG Stands2
   1 Marine Mortar Platoon, with:
   2 x 81mm Mortar Stands3
   1 Marine Anti-Tank Platoon, with:
   2 x 37mm ATG Stands & Jeep/Truck transport
   1 x 0.50" HMG AA/AT Stand & Jeep/Truck transport
3 Marine Rifle Companies, each:
   1 x CC
   1 x 0.30" 'LMG' Stand with hand carts4
   1 x 60mm Light Mortar Stand
   3 Marine Rifle Platoons, each with:
   1 x PC
   4 or later 3 x Rifle Squads5

By the time of the Gilbert & Marshall Islands Campaigns (and the latter stages of the Solomon Island Campaign) the organisation had had minor updates as follows:

E-Series Marine Infantry Regiment (May-1943)

The key difference with the later “E-Series” Regiment is essentially the rearrangement of the Weapons Company and removal of the anti-tank assets (based on experience on Guadalcanal and in the Solomon Islands). The other change is to the Rifle Platoon structure.

Regimental Headquarters
   RC (Regimental HQ) not normally modelled for CF

Regimental Marine Weapons Company, with:
   BC not normally modelled for CF
3 Marine (Light) Anti-Tank Platoons, each with:1
   2 x 37mm ATG Stands & Jeep/Truck transport
   1 x 0.50" HMG AA/AT Stand & Jeep/Truck transport
1 Marine (Heavy) Anti-Tank Platoon, with:1
   1 x 75mm SP Anti-Tank Gun (M3 or M3A1 GMC Half-Track)

3 Marine Infantry Battalions, each:
Battalion Headquarters
   1 x BC
1 Marine Weapons Company, with:
   CC not normally modelled for CF
   3 Marine MG Platoons, each with:
   2 x 0.30" HMG Stands2
   1 Marine Mortar Platoon, with:
   2 x 81mm Mortar Stands3
3 Marine Rifle Companies, each:
   1 x CC
   2 x 0.30" 'LMG' Stands4
   1 x 60mm Light Mortar Stand
   3 Marine Rifle Platoons, each with:
   1 x PC
   3 x Rifle Squads6

Notes:

1. Note the ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ designations are mine to distinguish the two platoon types. For Crossfire purposes the Battalion could be assumed to typically get a Light Platoon assigned (from Regiment) for extra weapons support if not committed elsewhere – and treated as additional support stands to its weapons company. The sole Heavy Platoon (in real life being 2 self-propelled 75mm ‘Anti-Tank’ Guns) would likely rarely be present for support of any one battalion unless Japanese armour was known to be present or fire support was required for a key operation (such as bunker assaults).
2. The Battalion Weapons Company HMGs were initially the water cooled Browning 0.30″ M1917A1 (which is well depicted in the TV Series “The Pacific”), and these saw extensive service at Guadalcanal and I believe for sometime later (especially in the Solomon’s) – these were eventually replaced however with the air-cooled Browning 0.30″ M1919A4 – but I believe this was not universal until 1944, after the period covered by this post.
3. In the 1942 D-Series organisation the Battalion Mortar Platoon was a single entity (i.e. one unit of 4 actual mortars, not 2 sections of 2 mortars each), and this suggests limited fire-control. As such in Crossfire it should be assumed both mortar stands must be controlled by a single FO or CC – so you either get both shooting on your target or none. For the mid-1943 E-Series they are then in more flexible sections of 2 actual mortars so each Crossfire Stand can then be assigned to a separate FO or CC (i.e. each stand can support a separate company or portion of the battalion’s front).
4. As with many US units (Army Infantry, Paratroopers), because the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was present in the rifle platoons & squads (as opposed to a ‘light’ or bipod machine gun), rifle companies had sections of 2 x Browning 0.30″ M1919A4 machine guns in their weapons platoon to provide more sustained fire. For Crossfire simply model this is a 0.30″ HMG Stand in each company as these did nominally have small tripods available for sustained fire. In the later ‘E-Series’ this increased to 3 MGs per company (hence the 2 stands – see point #6 below).
5. The Marine Rifle Platoons of the 1942 era is modelled with 4 Rifle Squads when at full strength as they had 3 Rifle Squads plus 1 BAR Squad (which gave the whole platoon a total of 5 BARs and 42 Officers & Men incl. Platoon HQ). Once in action they would be permanently below strength so should then simply be modelled as only 3 (or sometimes 2) squads per rifle platoon.
6. The later E-Series Marine Rifle Platoon had only 3 squads but even more BARS (6 vs. 5 of 1942, so 2 per squad) and nominally more men (43 Officers & Men). However for mid-1943 E-Series the company weapons platoon gets 2 x LMG (Crossfire HMG) stands, representing 3 actual LMGs, which I consider sufficient benefit to not warrant trying to model the increased BARs and larger rifle squads. As mentioned above once in action they would be permanently below strength so in some cases once on campaign for a prolonged period should be modelled as only 2 squads per rifle platoon.

Also note there are no Bazookas at this time, although these would have probably appeared later, possibly at the very end of 1942 or in first half of 1943 on an adhoc basis.

Note I am still researching headquarters organisations and the presence of, and doctrine for, snipers, etc, so may update this further if that info leads to additional Crossfire elements in the organisation.

Divisional Artillery Regiments

For artillery support purposes the Marine Divisions of each organisation had the following available:

D-Series July-1942 Artillery Regiment

3 x 75mm Artillery Battalions (each 3 x 75mm Howitzer Batteries)
1 x 105mm Artillery Battalion (3 x 105mm Howitzer Batteries)
1 x 155mm Artillery Battalion (3 x 155mm Howitzer Batteries)

E-Series April-1943 Artillery Regiment

3 x 75mm Artillery Battalions (each 3 x 75mm Howitzer Batteries)
2 x 105mm Artillery Battalion (each 3 x 105mm Howitzer Batteries)

As with the Marine Infantry Battalion’s Anti-Tank Platoon the heavier more cumbersome weapons were removed from the Marine Division’s Artillery Regiment in the ‘E-Series’.

Marine Raider & Marine Parachute Battalions

The Marine Raiders I will look to provide information on their organisation in a later post along with other Divisional support formations (Tank, AA, Coast Defence, Headquarters Defence and similar battalions and units); and for the short lived Marine Parachute Battalions (these were disbanded in 1944 some having only seen limited combat) I plan to simply treat a company of these the same as the standard D-Series US Marine Rifle Company above’s organisation with 3 squads per platoon for the 1942-1943 campaigns.

For more related information see my posts on Modelling Japanese in Crossfire and my initial progress on my Japanese forces in Banzai – The Japanese are Coming! I’ll also look to post pictures of my US Marines in future too, once I get basing of them underway…

The primary source for the main organisational structure is the Osprey Battle Orders series, specifically “US Marine Corps Pacific Theater of Operations 1941-43”, “US Marine Corps Pacific Theater of Operations 1943-44” and “US Marine Corps Pacific Theater of Operations 1944-45” all by Gordon Rottman. Secondary sources include several online OOBs and other works.