"German Imperial "Marines"" Topic

Thought some may find this interesting,

"During the Great War, the marines formed most of the 3rd Naval Division, which was created in 1917 and participated in Germany's final 1918 offensives. In small units they had participated in the siege of Antwerp in 1914, but mostly provided security for naval bases. In September 1914 the Navy formed regiments of "Marine Fusiliers," surplus naval personnel plus new recruits from Germany's port cities. The 1st Naval Division fought during the siege of Antwerp and the 2nd Naval Division was formed afterward. These two units made up the Naval Corps, which anchored the far right flank of the German line in Flanders with responsibility for coast defense. By 1918 they were officially rated as "fourth-class" divisions; by 1915 they had even been forced to give up their Mauser rifles for issue to front-line troops and had been given captured Russian Mosin-Nagant pieces instead."
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German Naval Infantry using captured Belgian dog teams
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I have a lot of Avalanche Press games and recomend them a lot. They also do what-if booklets for their games.

German Marines armed with Moisin-Nagants modified to take a German blade bayonet at Kiel in 1918
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German marines carrying wounded.
pinterest.com/boswell/history

The German Marines also had a unique medal awarded to them – for action in Flanders IIRC.

"Matrosen-Regiment "marines". The 1st and 2nd Matrosen (Sailors) Regiments along with naval artillery batteries and naval air squadrons were stationed in Flanders along the Belgian coast from 1914-18. The regiments were quickly expanded to divisional strength and along with the Naval Infantry Division (formed from the Seebatallione) became the Marinekorps Flandern."

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Clearly visible in the foreground is an Erzatz M1915/18 "crank-handle" bayonet /trench-knife.

"III. Seebataillon, Tientsin (China), June 1914
Four members of the Prussian III. Seebataillon (naval infantry – marines if you like) pose for a memento photograph in Tientsin China, June 1914.

Germany by the late 1870s was on a course of extensive economic involvement in several Chinese provinces, among them the Tientsin area. The German enclave south of the Hai River was situated between the British and one of the Japanese concessions. In July 1877 xenophobic groups threatened the life and property of German merchants in Tientsin. Local unrest intensified, mainly due to poor harvests and resulting famine, and Tientsin business interests requested armed protection. The German admiralty then dispatched the corvette SMS Luise to China. This initial show of support eventually evolved into a permanent presence in Chinese waters by initially modest German naval forces.

After Germany acquired the Kiautschou Bay region in 1898 with a 99-year lease, a further concession was negotiated for the Tientsin enclave and economic growth escalated with infrastructure improvements. Major trading houses and diverse enterprises established themselves, including a branch of the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank. The Boxer rebellion of 1900 initially laid siege to the foreign concessions in Tientsin, but the city was secured and used as a staging area for the eventual march on Peking by the eight-nation international relief forces.

After the German concession territory was recovered by China during World War I, the United States 15th Infantry was billeted in the German barracks from 1917 until 1938, departing only after the Japanese Army entered Tientsin."

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I have always believed that the Germans had Marines – and Naval Infantry – that they were not one in the same. Just as today there is the USMC and the Royal Marines, the Germans had marines. German Marines had their own uniforms closer to the Army in style (dark blue with white collar and cuffs, head gear was a shako with an Imperial Eagle with an Anchor plate). While Naval Infantry were sailors and uniformed as such. German Marines were commanded by Army Officers, while the Naval personal were commanded by Naval Officers. Their Marines were made up of 3 battalions, with the First on Home Service, Second on Fleet Duty, and the Third posted to overseas possessions.
In 1914 the First Battalion took part in the opening stages of the fighting in Flanders and went to the field in there dark blue uniforms. The French called them the black jaegers, due to the dark uniforms.

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Here the link with the uniform in 1870

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Uniform

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Orga

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Here the uniform and orga of the Marines in 1914

Have fun
( all in colour)

PS: Matrosen are naval infantry a nd the seebatallion are marines. The personel in the photo 3364-15 are matrosen and not marines
PPS: I used the jaeger from great war for them and here is the flag:http://www.universalhandel24.de/?module=advanced_search_result&keywords=Marine+see&x=0&y=0

PPS: the HQ of the Marine is today a very good restaurant in Berlin. The food is great and it is stuffed with items of the fights of 1919.

marinehaus.de

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More Seebatallion troops in Tientsin (China)

Troops from the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), armed with Mauser Gew98 rifles
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2nd Matrosen Regt.

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Thanks for that, Kaos. Especially for the Marinehaus. "Ahoi Landratten!" And the tie in with the Marines and Tsingtao beer!

You are welcome Bowman. Thanks for noticing . Robert

'Wielding the Dagger' provides a detailed history of the Marinekorps Flandern during the Great War. It is an expensive book though. Jack Sheldon provides some information about the Marines in his books on the German Army in the Ypres area.

Operation Strandfest ('Beach Party') is arguably their most famous achievement in WW1. I wrote a review here:

1914-1918.net/hush.htm

The maps have been transferred onto a terrain cloth in preparation for a Great War Spearhead game. The goal is to enact Operation Hush, which was the proposed British amphibious landing on the Belgian coast. I have even made the huge landing pontoons, with two British monitors either side of the each pontoon.

Robert

"THE COWHERDS OF WAR: ARMED GERMAN MARINES ROUNDING UP CATTLE FOR FOOD FOR THE ARMY IN THE FIELD."
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Cron mentions a "Pioneer Landing Company" that "took part in the crossings of the Danube in the Serbian and Rumanian campaigns, in taking the Baltic islands and in the expedition to the Aaland islands". Of course that was an army unit, but it sounds like it did marines kind of work.