warspite1
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MrDave
My game time in the full campaign is Feb 4, 1942. I see regiments of the 2nd Marines but where is the 1st? The 1st Marine Rgt is due to arrive in May per the Reinforcement schedule. I thought the 1st had already been constituted by now.
warspite1
Info below largely from Frank's marvellous Guadalcanal but other sources used to.
quote:
7th Marine Rgt is the first unit of the 1st Mar Div to appear, it should be on the board, unless you have the variable reinforcements option. The other 2 Rgts come in may 42
The arrivals in game can be shown to roughly match that below. The 1st Marine Division was constituted but by April 1942 “the 1st Marine Division represented a title, not a tactical unit” (Frank – Guadalcanal)
1st Marine Division – Major-General AA Vandegrift
7th Marine Regiment – other regiments were stripped to bring fully up to strength and the 7th Marines sailed for Samoa on 10th April 1942.
5th Marine Regiment – this regiment had been reduced in order to bring the 7th Marines up to strength and to assist the formation of the 1st Raider Battalion.
1st Marine Regiment – this was at cadre status until as recently as March, when it was filled out. One transport and two cargo ships carried the men and their equipment.
The 11th Marine Regiment - provided the divisional artillery
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quote:
The First Marine Division was sent first to Australia to train for six months and receive some of their equipment to fill out the TOE before they were to take part in any landings.
On the 29th April 1942 Admiral King ordered an amphibious force stationed in the South Pacific. The 1st Marine Division would be the core of that force.
The 5th Marines, the divisional HQ and sundry divisional assets sailed for Wellington, New Zealand (not Australia) on the 20th May and arrived there on the 14th June.
The 1st Marines and the remaining divisional assets sailed in 8 ships for New Zealand in June, arriving in early July.
For Watchtower the two regiments (1st and 5th) of the division would be supplemented by:
2nd Marine Regiment – which was detached from the 2nd Marine Division to replace the 7th Marines – and sailed from San Diego on four ships and rendezvoused with the rest of the landing force en-route to Guadalcanal.
1st Raider Battalion – was at Noumea, New Caledonia in training there and was picked up by four destroyer-transports en-route
3rd Defence Battalion - sailed for Fiji from Hawaii on the 22nd July where it met up with the main convoy.
1st Parachute Battalion - sailed initially for New Zealand in June and then to Fiji the following month. Must have been picked up en-route but no details as to which ships.
There is mention of the 10th Marine Battalion in Wiki but Frank and Mueller don't mention this unit for Watchtower.
The 1st Marine Division left New Zealand on the 22nd July 1942.
It arrived off Fiji on the 26th and a rehearsal was carried out.
The fleet then set sail for Guadalcanal on the 31st July.
quote:
"After 11 days of logistical challenges, the division, with 16,000 Marines, departed Wellington in eighty-nine ships embarked for the Solomon Islands with a 60-day combat load which did not include tents, spare clothing or bed rolls, office equipment, unit muster rolls or pay clerks. Other things not yet available to this first wave of Marine deployments were insect repellent and mosquito netting. Attached to the division was the 1st Parachute Battalion, which along with the rest of the division, conducted landing rehearsals from 28 to 30 July on Koro Island, which Major General Alexander Vandegrift described as a "disaster"."
quote:
Interesting that it states that it took 89 ships to load a single division.
The 1st Marine Division was thus heavily reinforced with effectively an extra regiment thanks to the three additional battalions; 1,959 officers and 18,146 men.
There was not enough room on the 23 transports - not 89. The bulk of the ships were the escorting warships.
From http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-CN-Solomons/USN-CN-Solomons-6.html
To utilize to the utmost the troop-carrying capacity of the ships available, all excess supplies and equipment were eliminated and even normal supplies were radically curtailed. Divided into 13 classifications, equipment and supplies were taken aboard in varying quantities as follows:
Group 1, individual equipment (all the weapons, mess gear, clothes, etc., which an officer or enlisted man could carry on his person).--All of this was taken.
Group 2, baggage.--Officers were limited to one clothing roll, one bedding roll or one handbag. Enlisted men were permitted to take aboard only what they could carry in their knapsacks.
Group 3, office equipment (typewriters, pencils, paper, etc.)--All these were taken. Included in this category were medical supplies, of which enough were taken for 60 days.
Group 5, supplementary equipment.--This was reduced to necessary cleaning materials for weapons only.
Group 6, mess equipment.--This was restricted to a very few field kitchens and water bags, vacuum food carriers, camp kettles, and coffee mills.
Group 7, camp equipment (tents, etc.).--Tents were provided only for the sick bay.
Group 8, transportation (motor vehicles).--Only 50 percent of the available vehicles were taken, except amphibious tractors, all of which were taken.
Group 9, special equipment (camouflage, chemical warfare, etc.).--This category was reduced materially.
Group 10, ammunition.-- Ten units of fire, one unit of fire being the ammunition necessary to operate a weapon in one day of fighting.
Group 11, automatic supplies (rations for men, gas and oil for vehicles, etc.).--Enough for 60 days.
Group 12, replacement supplies (spare parts for guns, vehicles, etc.).--All available were taken.
Group 13, post exchange articles.--Only necessary items like soap, matches, razor blades and cigarettes were taken. No candy.
< Message edited by warspite1 -- 6/24/2017 12:09:16 AM >
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