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Marines

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British Royal Marines in a Rigid Raider assault watercraft

Marines (from the English adjective marine, meaning of the sea, from Latin marinus ("maritime"), via French marin(e), of the sea) are military forces optimised for operations at sea. Historically marine forces are part of a navy, however in some countries the marine force is under independent command.

Tasks undertaken by marines have included providing security in a warship whilst at sea, reflecting the pressed nature of the ships' company and the risk of mutiny. Other tasks would include boarding of vessels during combat or capture of prize ships and providing manpower for raiding ashore in support of the naval objectives. Marine elements would also contribute to the campaign ashore, in support of the military objective.

With the industrialisation of warfare in the 20th Century the scale of landing operations increased, and brought with it an increased likelihood of opposition, and a need for co-ordination of various military elements. Marine forces evolved to specialise in the skills and capabilities required for amphibious warfare.

The exact term marine does not exist in many other languages. Typically, foreign equivalents are called naval infantry (e.g., as in Spain, Germany, and Russia). In French-speaking countries, two terms exist which could be translated as marine: troupes de marine and fusiliers-marins; similar pseudo-translations exist elsewhere, e.g., Fuzileiros Navais in Portuguese. The word marine means Navy in many European languages such as Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian.

Roles

The principal role of marine troops is military operations in the littoral zone, operating from ships they are trained to land on and secure key points to around 50 miles inland.

Marine units primarily deploy from warships using helicopter, landing craft, hovercraft or amphibious vehicles with some force elements capable of parachute insertion.

In addition to their primary role, marine troops are also used in a variety of other naval roles such as boarding operations, ship and port security or riverine operations

Abkhazia

Argentina

  • The Naval Infantry of the Armada of the Argentine Republic (Infantería de Marina de la Armada de la República Argentina, IMARA) is a part of the Argentine Navy. Argentine Marines have the same rank insignia and titles as the rest of the Navy. It is composed of a Fleet Marine Force (one Marine Battalion, plus artillery, air defence, communications, logistics, engineer and vehicle units), a Southern Marine Force (2 Marine Battalions), a River Operations Battalion, a Special Forces Unit (the Amphibious Commandos Group) and several Security Battalions and Companies. The 5th Battalion of the Infanteria de Marina fought and lost against three British battalions in the Falklands War (Template:Lang-es).

Bolivia

Brazil

  • The Corps of Naval Fusiliers (Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais), is subordinate to the Brazilian Navy. The Marine Corps is composed of an Operational Brigade and some Guard and Ceremonial Duty Battalions. The main unit is the division-sized Divisão Anfíbia (Amphibious Division).

Canada

While there is no significant marine force currently in Canada, Marine Commando Regiment is apparently said to become active in the future.

Cambodia

  • 2007 Cambodia said that it is increasing the Royal Khmer Navy from 1,000 to 3,000 sailors, apart from creating a force of 2,000 marines.

Chile

Chilean Navy special forces seen here using the MP5N
  • The Corps of Naval Infantry (Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marina) is a branch of the Chilean Navy. They specialise in performing amphibious assaults, and belong to the Chilean Special Forces Unit, along with the Combat Divers. The Corps is composed of four units, organized along the Chilean territory. Each one with their own anti-aircraft guns, artillery and landing craft.

China

People's Republic of China

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Colombia

The 24000-member Colombian Marine Corps is organized into a two brigades (one amphibious assault brigade and one riverine brigade), each with five battalions plus numerous small security units. It is a part of the Colombian Navy.

Cuba

The Cuban Revolutionary Navy (Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria, or MGR) maintains a small marine battalion called the Desembarco de Granma. It once numbered 550 men and its present size is 5. The force guards most of the light houses that populate the coast of Cuba.

Ecuador

The Ecuadorian Navy maintains a 2000 man Naval Infantry Corps (Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marina) headquartered in Guayaquil. It was formed on 12 November 1962. It is organised into two security battalions, one east in the Amazon River area and the other on the coast. There is also a commando battalion based in the Galápagos Islands. The Ecuadorian Marines have a lack of physical standards that cause an enlargement of the torso region.

El Salvador

The El Salvador Navy included two 600-man Marine Infantry Battalions (Batallon de Infanteria de Marina--BIM), and a 300 man Naval Commando Force. The BIMs were located at La Union and Usulatan.

Egypt

  • The 130th Marine Amphibious Brigade of the Egyptian Army is responsible for amphibious assault operations under the command of Michael sean Neely.

Finland

Finnish coastal jaegers in a landfall exercise

The Finnish Uusimaa Brigade (Template:Lang-sv) in Ekenäs is part of the Finnish Navy and trains the Finnish costal jaegers. The detachment is the only Swedish-speaking unit in the Finnish Defence Forces.

France

In the French armed forces both the French Army and the French Navy possesses troops called marines:

French Army

The Troupes de marine (Marine Troops) are, despite the name, a branch of the French Army. The arm is dedicated to service overseas, particularly in Africa. The troupes de marine include infantry (Infanterie de Marine), including paratroopers and light cavalry, artillery (Artillerie de Marine). Due to their former name of Troupes Coloniales, Marine Forces are commonly referred as La Colo.

The troupes de marine were founded in 1622 (officially titled compagnies ordinaires de la mer) as land forces under the control of the Secretary of State of the Navy, notably for operations in French Canada. The Compagnies de la Mer were transformed in line infantry regiments by Napoleon, but became once more Marine Forces in 1822 (for the artillery) and 1831 (for the Infantry). These Troupes de marines were in the 19th century the main overseas and colonial forces of the French military. In 1900 they were put under the orders of the War Ministry and took the name of Troupes Coloniales (Colonial Forces). In 1967 the name of the Troupes Coloniales was changed back to Troupes de Marine, but they continued to serve in the French Army.

French Navy

  • The Commandos Marine (literally "Navy Commandos", sometimes loosely translated as "Marine commandos") are an elite special operations unit of the French navy.
  • The Navy also includes the Fusiliers Marins (literally "sailors riflemen"), who protect naval bases and serve on capital ships. Currently the Naval Fusiliers consists of two battalion and seven companies and a Naval support Base.

The Naval Fusiliers and Naval Commandos are under the common command of the FORFUSCO or Force Maritime des Fusiliers Marins et Commandos in Lorient.

Germany

The Bundesmarine maintains two distinct marine commando organizations

Greece

  • 32nd Marine Brigade "Moravas" (32η Ταξιαρχία Πεζοναυτών Mοράβας) is a unit of naval infantry maintained by the Hellenic Army. The unit is based at Volos in Thessaly and is intended for use among the numerous small islands off the Greek coast. Its landing craft and other nautical gear are furnished by the Hellenic Navy.

Honduras

  • The Honduran Navy established at least one 600-man Marine Infantry Battalion (Batallon de Infanteria de Marina — BIM) in 1982.

India

Indonesia

Israel

  • The Givati Brigade functions as the amphibious force and is one of the infantry brigades in the Israel Defense Forces. It was formed in December 1948 and placed under the command of Shimon Avidan. Before that it participated in Operation Yoav (October 15-22, 1948). Its role was to capture the areas of Hulikat, Kawkaba and the junction which is today known as the Givati Junction. Later it was disbanded but was reestablished in 1983 and still exists today. Since 1999 it serves under the Southern Command (Pikud Darom). Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets. The Brigade's symbol is the fox, alluding to Shualei Shimshon (שועלי שמשון, lit. Samson's Foxes), a unit in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Iran

File:Takavar2.jpg
Iranian marine commandos.
  • At the fall of the Shah in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Imperial Iranian Navy had three battalions of marines. That force has since expanded to 2,600 personnel, two Marine Brigades each of three Marine Battalions. These two brigades have also been reported as three Marine Battalions in the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (may be part of the Iranian Army).
  • The Navy of the Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains several units which may perform marine-type functions to include at least one 5,000 man Brigade of three or four Marine Battalions.[1]
  • The Pasdaran also has one Takevarr Naval Commando Battalion.

Iraq

  • The Iraqi Navy is a small force with 800 sailors and six platoons of marines designed to protect the shoreline and inland waterways from insurgent infiltration. The navy is also responsible for the security of offshore oil platforms. The navy will have coastal patrol squadrons, assault boat squadrons and a marine battalion.[2] The force will consist of 2,000 to 2,500 sailors by year 2010.[3]

Italy

The Italian military maintains two marine type units:

COMSUBIN (Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei ed Incursori Teseo Tesei) is the elite Italian combat frogman force and one of the Italian special forces.

Korea

Republic of Korea

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

  • The NKPA's Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau has a two or more amphibious light infantry/sniper brigades. These brigades are believed deployed to Wonsan on the east coast and Namp'o and Tasa-ri on the west coast. In organization and manpower, they are reduced versions of the regular light infantry brigades with a total strength of approximately 5,000 men organized into ten battalions. Each battalion has about 400 men organized into five companies each. Some amphibious brigade personnel are trained as frogmen[4].

Mexico

  • The Mexican Navy (Armada de Mexico) - The Mexican Marines consists 8,000 men in a brigade of three battalions, plus a battalion attached to the Presidential Guard Brigade, three Regional battalions with headquarters in Mexico City, Acapulco, and Veracruz, and thirty-five independent companies and detachments distributed among ports, bases, and zonal headquarters. The marines are responsible for port security, protection of the ten-kilometer coastal fringe, and patrolling major waterways. In addition to having light arms, the marines are equipped with 105mm towed howitzers, 60mm and 81mm mortars, and 106mm recoilless rifles, as well as Pegaso BMR VAP-3550 and BTR-60 amphibious vehicles. The marines riverine duties have been increasingly taken over by the Mexican Army. More recently the Navy has ceded most of its riverine responsibilities (formally handled by the Marines) to the Army, and has reduced the size of the Marine force, putting them back aboard ships where they play a vital role in drug interdiction and boarding of suspect vessels in territorial waters.

Myanmar

  • The Myanmar Navy raised a naval infantry battalion of 800 men in 1964, followed by a second battalion in 1967, 3rd and 4th battalions may have also been raised. They were deployed mainly to the Arakan and Tenasserim areas, and to the Irrawaddy delta, to assist in counter-insurgency operations, but also performed other security duties.

Netherlands

Norway

Pakistan

Paraguay

Peru

  • 3,000 man Marine Infantry of Peru (Infantería de Marina del Perú-- Imap) included an amphibious brigade of three battalions and local security units with two transports (one used as a school ship), four tank landing ships, and about forty Portuguese Chaimite armored personnel carriers. Since 1982 IMAP detachments have been deployed, under army command, in counterinsurgency capacities in Ayacucho and Huancavelica departments.

Philippines

  • The Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) has a strength of about 9,000 men divided into three (3) brigades. The Marine units include three (3) infantry manoeuvre brigades, each composed of three (3) tactical infantry battalions with one (1) infantry battalion in reserve and one (1) heavy weapons battalion (composed of the 105 mm howitzer, 106 mm recoilless gun, along with amphibious vehicles (LVT) and various armoured units). Two (2) of the Marine battalions have specialised roles: the Force Reconnaissance (Recon) battalion is used for rapid airlift to troubled areas. This Recon Battalion is also trained in shipboarding attacks. The Marine Guard battalion is deployed in urban warfare and in defence of installations. The Philippine Marine Corps is also considered the shock force of the Armed Forces and is the first unit to be involved in any amphibious or seaborne clashes.

Poland

Poland maintains two marine type forces

Portugal

  • Since 1621 the Portuguese Navy maintains a naval infantry corps, presently named Corpo de Fuzileiros. The Portuguese Marine Corps includes many men, including two naval infantry battalions, a naval police unit, a special operations unit and several support units (logistical, fire support, landing craft, etc.).

Romania

File:307 bat..jpg
307th Marine Battalion Insignia
"The soldiers of Navy". From the series "The 25-anniversary of the Red Army and Navy of the USSR", 1943

Russia

Saudi Arabia

  • The Saudi Navy maintains two 1500 (approx) man marine brigades consisting of three battalions each. The brigades are assigned to the Western Fleet Headquartered in Jeddah and the Eastern Fleet headquartered in Jubail. The brigades are equipped with 200 Pegaso BMR AFV's and US made HMMWVs.

South Africa

  • The South African Navy's new Rapid Reaction Squadron is a marine type unit. It is planned that this squadron will eventually be a battalion sized unit. Currently it consists of roughly two companies. Members are sailors and use Naval ranks. They are trained in infantry combat up to company sized operations. They are also used for crowd control and conduct peacekeeping operations. During peacekeeping operations they are meant to augment and Army infantry battalion. Their role is very similar to the now disbanded South Africa Marine Corps.

Spain

Spanish marines assigned to the frigate SPS Numancia (F83).
  • The Spanish Marine Infantry (Infantería de Marina), the oldest Marine force in the world, was established on February 27, 1537 by Charles V when he permanently assigned the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles (Naples Old Sea Companies) to the Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Galley Squadrons).

Sri Lanka

  • Special Boat Squadron is the elite special operations unit of the Sri Lanka Navy. It is capable of carrying out amphibious raids/operations, maritime counter-terrorism, reconnaissance and target indication, combat swimmer missions and small boat operations. As a Special Forces unit, its role is not limited to water-borne operations. It also conducts operations on land, either with ground combat units of the Navy and the Army, or separately.
  • Naval Patrolmen are naval infantry units of the Sri Lanka Navy. Its current size is unknown, however it may be 2-3 battalions strong. These units were formed primary as a protective force for base and port security, but has since been trained and deployed for amphibious and land combat operations. In addition to being equipped with light arms, the patrolmen have 60mm, 82mm mortars and operate Unibuffel light armored vehicles

Sweden

Thailand

Turkey

The Turkish Navy maintains several Marine and Special Operations units. These include the Amphibious Marines Brigade (Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugayı), several commando detachments and two special operations forces:

  • Amphibious Marines Brigade - (Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugayı) consisting of 4500 men based in Foça near İzmir, three amphibious battalions, an MBT battalion, an artillery battalion, a support battalion and other company-sized units.
  • Su Altı Taarruz - (S.A.T.) (Underwater Attack). The missions of the Su Altı Taarruz (SAT) include the acquisition of military intelligence, amphibious assault, counter-terrorism and VIP protection.
  • Su Altı Savunma - (S.A.S.) (Underwater Defense).

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

  • The UAE maintains a small battalion sized marine force called the UAE Marines, it is equipped with BTR-3s.

United Kingdom

  • The Royal Marines (RM) of the United Kingdom were formed in 1664 and are among the finest soldiers in the world, they have the longest infantry training time in the world which stands at 32 weeks for a recruit and 54 weeks for an officer recruit, and is one of, if not the most diffucult organisation to become apart of. They are a part of the Royal Navy. The Royal Marines provide a commando brigade (3 Commando Brigade RM); The Fleet Protection Group RM (a naval security unit responsible for guarding Britain's naval nuclear weapons, and other security duties); a commando training centre; a landing craft and boat-training group which is also a parent unit for three landing craft units deployed on amphibious-support ships; a naval Special Forces unit (the Special Boat Service) and a naval band service (Royal Marines Band Service)

United States

US Marine lieutenant Baldomero Lopez scaling the seawall at Inchon, Korea.

Uruguay

  • The Uruguayan Marine Corps (Cuerpo de Fusileros Navales) FUSNA is a battalion-sized organization consisting of four company sized brigades.

Venezuela

  • The Infantería de Marina of Venezuela is a sub-division of the Venezuelan Navy which forms part of the National Armed Forces of the BRV. Headquartered in Meseta de Mamo, Vargas, the estimated numerical strength of this unit is of approx. 8,000 men and women. Its mission is to "enlist and direct its units in order to form the disembarking force and/or support of amphibious or special operations; executing naval safeguarding and environmental policing, as well as actively participating in the national development".

Vietnam

  • The Vietnam People's Navy maintains a Naval Infantry Force of which not much is known. It once stood at 11 brigades each of several battalions. The first Naval Infantry unit was established in 1975 is 126th Brigade. Nowadays, Vietnam maintains two Naval Infantry brigades, the 101st Brigade and 147th Brigade.

Historical Marine forces

Ancient Rome

The Roman Navy was known to use marines and naval personnel were trained for raiding and also proved at least two legions for service on land.

Austria-Hungary

The Royal Austrian Marines, a part of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, existed until 1918.

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States Marine Corps (CSMC), a branch of the Confederate States Navy, was established by the Confederate Congress on 16 March 1861.

The Netherlands

The corps was founded on 10 December 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War by the unofficial leader of the republic Johan de Witt and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter as the Regiment de Marine. Its leader was Willem Joseph Baron van Ghent. The Dutch had successfully used ordinary soldiers in ships at sea in the First Anglo-Dutch War. It was the fifth European Marine unit formed, being preceded by the Spanish Marines (1537), the Portuguese Marines (1610), the French Marines (1622) and the British Royal Marines (1664). Like Britain, the Netherlands has had several periods when its Marines were disbanded. The Netherlands itself was under French occupation or control from 1810 until 1813. A new Marine unit was raised on 20 March 1801 during the time of the Batavian Republic and on 14 August 1806 the Korps Koninklijke Grenadiers van de Marine was raised under King Louis Bonaparte. The modern Korps Mariniers dates from 1814, receiving its current name in 1817.

The battle honors on the Korps Mariniers' colors are: Raid on the Medway (1667), Kijkduin (1673), Sennefe (1674), Spain, Dogger Bank (1781), West Indies, Algiers (1816), Atjeh, Bali, Rotterdam (1940), Java Sea (1942), Java and Madoera (1947-1948), and New Guinea (1962).

Gran Colombia

The Confederation of Gran Colombia Marines were formed in 1822 and were disbanded in 1829, Personnel were mostly from Venezuela.

Germany

During the Imperial German era, the three German Seebatallione [1] provided shipboard troops to the German Navy. These forces also served in the German colonies as regular infantry.

The East German army's Nr29. Regiment ("Ernst Moritz Arndt") was a Motorized Rifle Regiment intended for amphibious operations in the Baltic Sea. while the Volksmarine Kampfschwimmer: Combat swimmer units intended for support of amphibious operations and for raiding.

France

Japan

The landing of the Japanese Marines from the Unyo at Ganghwa Island, Korea, in the 1875 Ganghwa Island incident.
  • The Imperial Japanese Navy's Land Forces maintained several combat units.
    • Special Naval Landing Forces were the Empire of Japan's marine corps. Japan no longer has marines.
    • The IJN also maintained the Guard Forces keibitai and Defense Units bobitai both of whom also received amphibious assault and beach defence training, however, their performance was poor or average when they were used as assault troops.
  • The Imperial Japanese Army's 3,500 man 1st to 4th Sea-Landing Brigades, were used to conduct amphibious assaults on an island but afterward they stayed to garrison that island.

Iraq

Italy

  • The Blackshirt militia maintained an independent Marine Group. with four MVSN battalions (24th, 25th, 50th and 60th).

Lebanon

  • The Lebanese Forces militia maintained a small elite Marine unit until the LF was disarmed and disbanded the unit. The Marines were the navy of the militia and it maintained a force of small boats.

Ottoman Empire

  • The role of Ottoman naval infantry originated in Orhan's conquest of the Karasi Beylik and the capture of its fleet. From then on Janissaries and Azaps were sometimes deployed as marines during the 14th Century. The Deniz azaps were used during the 16th Century; while troops called Levend(Bahriyeli) were raised on and off over the centuries - over 50,000 of them by the late 18th century. The last raised units were the Ta'ifat al Ru'sa (corsair captains militia) recruited from among the North African Arabs and indigenous Berbers. Ottoman marines were part of the Ottoman navy.

Portuguese Empire

  • Portugal raised numerous companies of Special Marines (Fuzileiros Especais) and African Special Marines (Fuzileiros Especiais Africanos), both at home and in her African colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique, for service during the Portuguese Colonial Wars. The African Special Marines were all-black units.

South Africa

United Kingdom

  • The Royal Marines date from the establishment of a Maritime Regiment of Foot in 1664. Six regiments of Marine Regiments for Sea were formed in 1702 but by 1713 they had been disbanded or taken into the army as regiments of foot. In 1755, a permanent corps of fifty companies of marines was established for direct service under the Admiralty and this force has an unbroken descent to the Royal Marines of today. See History of the Royal Marines.
  • The Royal Navy has since its beginning formed naval landing parties of seamen for action ashore, this being later formalised into the Naval Brigades. These brigades would often dismount guns from their parent vessels for use ashore, these guns often being the only artillery available. The most famous example of this form of land service was provided by the guns accompanying the forces relieving Ladysmith.
  • The Corps of Colonial Marines was a British Marine Corps formed during the mid 1840s to serve in the remaining British America colonies (mainly the West Indies). The Colonial Marines were controlled by the Royal Marines as an auxiliary force. Initially recruited from freed or escaped slaves from the United States and later from local inhabitants, these units were either disbanded or absorbed by the West India Regiment.
  • In the First World War, the shortage of ground forces for the Western Front in 1914 led to the creation of the Royal Naval Division, composed of two brigades of sailors and the brigade formed by the Royal Marines. The Division was part of the Royal Navy but for command purposes was integrated into the army's command structure. The sailors were initially disappointing as infantry, but eventually developed into one of the better divisions. The division participated in the defence of the Belgian city of Antwerp in late 1914, and then served with heavy casualties at the Battle of Gallipoli. At different times the Division included various army units. The division ceased to exist after the end of the First World War. Only men are allowed in the Royal Marines.

United States

Republic of Vietnam

Yugoslavia

  • Yugoslavia Navy (the entire coast of Yugoslavia was part of a naval region headquartered at Split) maintained the 12th Naval Infantry Brigade (Mornaricka Pesaddijska Brigada) near the Kotor, a coastal town in Montenegro. The brigade consisted of 900 to 2000 men in three battalions. As a multi-ethnic unit, the brigade was broken up during the Breakup of Yugoslavia, and it saw little action. The largest remnant moved to Montenegro.

See also

References

  1. ^ The IISS estimates the IRGC Naval Forces are 20,000 strong including 5,000 Marines (one brigade),
  2. ^ The New Iraqi Security Forces, Article on MNF-I website, 20 April 2006
  3. ^ US Department of State, Iraq Weekly Status Report Mars 21, 2007
  4. ^ North Korea Country Study, LOC
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