British and American staff planners meeting in Washington had been making contingency plans for the growing likelihood of America's participation in the war. In the early spring of 1941, the British had, in fact, expressed concern about the security of the Azores which, if taken by the Germans, would threaten both Portugal and the British supply lines into the Mediterranean Sea. Still another rumor held the Azores as the objective. One credible rumor was that they were going to Martinique to guard an impounded Free French aircraft carrier against a potential German takeover. Most of the Marines embarking with the 6th believed that the force would go to the Caribbean region, so some officers packed summer service uniforms, dress whites, and summer and winter civilian dinner clothes, in addition to all their winter service uniforms. These Marines in fur-collared cold-weather gear stand on the chilly "Main Street" of their wooden-fronted and coke-and-coal-stove-heated Nissen hut encampment in Iceland.ĭepartment of Defense Photo (USMC) 185054 higher headquarters kept adding items to be embarked, leading some companies to take everything in their camp supply sheds. In any case, the regiment and its supporting units did not know where they were going or what their mission was to be, so the ships were loaded more for convenience than for combat. At that time, combat loading for an assault landing had not yet become as refined as it was to be later in the war. On 31 May, the reinforced 6th Marines mounted out of San Diego with orders to report to the Commanding General I Corps (Provisional), Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic Fleet. The division ordered the reinforced regiment to take 10 units of fire for all weapons, gasoline, 30-days' rations, and other supplies. The regiment and the reinforcing units were brought up to a strength of 204 officers and 3,891 enlisted, Marines and Navy, following the arrival of 58 officers and 577 enlisted men from the other units of the division. For its move, the regiment was to be reinforced by the 2d Battalion, 10th Marines (with 12 75mm pack howitzers) Company A, 2d Tank Battalion, minus one platoon (with 12 light tanks) a parachute platoon an antitank platoon and the 1st Platoon, Company A, 2d Service Battalion. ![]() "Dutch" Hermle, a much-decorated veteran of World War I, commanded the 6th Marines. There was no shortage of volunteers.Ĭolonel Leo D. ![]() At the time, the regiment was not yet up to peacetime strength, so the call went out to both the 2d and 8th Marines for volunteers-both officers and enlisted Marines-to augment the 6th. The 6th Marines received a warning order in May 1941 for a possible move to the East Coast to join the 1st Marine Division for contingency operations related to the war in Europe. (The LCPR with a ramp at the bow was not widely available to Marines until after the landing on Guadalcanal in August 1942.) ( LCP) or "Higgins Boat." This boat had no ramp in the bow, so the Marines had to roll over the gunwales to debark. ![]() Ship-to-shore drills were held on San Clemente Island, west of San Diego, using the recently developed Landing Craft Personnel In April, the 6th Marines' landing teams began a series of amphibious training exercises embarked in a group of recently modified freight/passenger ships procured for the purpose. There were very few battalion or larger-unit filed exercises. The Marines had virtually no vehicles or motorized mobility, so nearly all movement was by foot. Small unit tactical exercises were run by companies, and there was a considerable number of long-distance hikes. Unit training consisted of weapons schools, drills, and firing of individual and crew-served weapons. ![]() The division was then stationed at Marine Corps Base, San Diego, and also at the newly opened Camp Elliott.įield training for the 6th Marines and the other 2d Division regiments (2d and 8th Marines, infantry 10th Marines, artillery) was conducted in the scrubby hills and arroyos of Camp Elliott where large wooden, yellow-painted, Navy designed barracks housed the Marine companies and battalions at what is now Naval Air Station, Miramar. In the early spring of 1941, with the war in Europe a year and a half old, the recently formed 2d Marine Division trained for what observant Marines expected would be an amphibious war against the Japanese in the Pacific. Marines in the Defense of Iceland by Colonel James A. HyperWar: Outpost in the North Atlantic: Marines in the Defense of Iceland Outpost in the North Atlantic:
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