INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
ENLISTMENT
TRAINING
Tank school • After tank school
APPEARANCE AND DRESS
Prewar uniforms • New uniforms for the Pacific war • Tank crew garb in combat
BELIEF AND BELONGING
ON CAMPAIGN
Early “tanking” in the Marine Corps • The Marine Corps tank • The tank park routine
• To the ’ville • Into battle • Learning to fight • Veteran tankers in action
THE AFTERMATH
MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
COLOR PLATE COMMENTARY
“OK Crowley, I’ve got you this time, you screwed up one time too many … Report to the Commanding Officer!” the first sergeant barked. Private first class (PFC) Fred Crowley marched into the office of Captain Richards, the CO of B Company, 6th Marine Infantry Regiment. The captain looked at the record and the charges filed by the shore patrol in nearby San Diego, showing how this misfit had once again brawled in the bars and resisted apprehension, and sworn at the corporal in charge. “I’ve seen enough of you, young man, I don’t want your kind in my outfit. I’m dismissing the charges, but only so I can transfer you. First sergeant, send this man with the other three to battalion, on the quota for the tank unit.” Turning to Crowley, he growled, “You’re going to be a grease monkey now, see how you like that! Dismissed!”
Fred, who had joined the Marine Corps only two years before, after leaving his birthplace of Grant’s Pass, Oregon, to seek travel and a paid job, now found himself ousted from his comfortable home in 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, where he had been a rifleman in B Company. Now, on May 5, 1941, he found himself heading, with several dozen other rejects, to 4th Tank Company, Fleet Marine Force (FMF), now known as A Company, 2d Tank Battalion and part of the new 2d Marine Division, which was standing up with hundreds of newly trained and transferred men arriving daily since formally organizing that February.
Marines had adopted tanks in their organization after they decided on the mission of forcible entry against beaches defended by a determined and well-armed enemy. This mission would be at the center of a naval campaign, which would at the same time require other Marine Corps units to defend islands and coastlines against similar all-out assault. They had experimented with borrowed M1917A1 light tanks beginning in 1923. A tank platoon deployed to China 1928–29, but was disbanded upon return.
What the Marine Corps sought in its tanks in 1940 was this: a Marmon-Herrington CTL-3a light tank, or tankette, weighing not more than 5 tons for ease of handling, able to land with the amphibious assault and knock out the machine guns of the beach defenders and support the advance inland, supplied by the LVT-1 amphibious tractor. (USMC photo)
In 1934, the Marine Corps planned two tank companies of 5-ton light tanks for its two brigades proposed for duty in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The vehicle selected was the two-man Marmon-Herrington CTL-3. The Marine Corps bought a total of 35 Marmon-Herrington tanks, but the coming of World War II required adoption of army light and medium tanks for a variety of reasons.
Marine Corps tankers then operated M2A4 and M3 light tanks. After February 1944, all USMC landings would feature the M4 series medium tanks. Marines officially first used the flame-thrower tank on Saipan to flush the enemy from caves. Earlier, tankers had improvised flame weapons for light tanks. On Iwo Jima, tank bulldozers were employed to seal enemy bunkers. At the end of the Battle of Okinawa, Major-General Lemuel Shepherd wrote in his after-action report that “if any one supporting arm can be singled out as having contributed more than any others during the progress of the campaign, the tank would certainly be selected.”
Just as the amphibian tractor changed in its Marine Corps role and mission, the tank, by late 1943, was fighting other tanks, antitank guns, infantry, artillery and fixed fortifications. No longer used as an independent unit, as at Guadalcanal, tank companies and platoons fought in close coordination with the infantry to blind, burn and blast, “processing” the enemy-held territory yard by yard. By the war’s end, demands for even larger and more powerful tanks came from tankers and senior commanders alike, including General Lemuel Shepherd, a later commandant, who as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1939 had urged the Corps to acquire standard army-type tanks.
Along the way, marines made several key innovations, including the improvisation of tank infantry telephones and flame-throwers (1943), the use of diesel-powered tanks overseas (1943), the use of pontoons to float tanks ashore in amphibious assaults (1945) and the first use of Sherman flame tanks (1945). Many other field improvisations occurred in individual units. Marine tankers bore much deprivation in far-off places and in cruel combat against a determined and fanatical enemy. In the end, victory came because, as Lieutenant-General Mitsuru Ushijima, commanding the Japanese 32nd Army on Okinawa, put it: “The enemy’s power lies in its tanks.”
1923 | The commandant general approved the crucial study Advance Base Operations in Micronesia as the main Marine Corps operations plan December 5, The light tank platoon, Marine Corps Expeditionary Force, formed at Quantico, Virginia, with a strength of two officers, 22 men, and three M1917A1 6-ton tanks borrowed on oral agreement from the army |
1927 | April 6, The light tank platoon departs for Tientsin, China, and duty with the 3d Marine Expeditionary Brigade. Upon return, it disbands on November 10, 1928 |
1937 | March 1, 1st Tank Company, 1st Marine Brigade, formed at Quantico. It is later redesignated 1st Scout Company |
1940 | July, Congress approves the “two-ocean” navy-building program November 1, 3d Tank Company, 1st Marine Brigade, and 4th Tank Company, 2d Marine Brigade, formed |
1941 | February 1, 1st and 2d Marine Divisions formed with 1st and 2d Scout Companies, 3d and 4th Tank Companies July 4, Tank Company (now A Company, 2d Tank Battalion) deployed with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade to garrison Iceland November–December, 1st and 2d Tank Battalions formed in their respective divisions |
1942 | January, B Company, 2d Tank Battalion, detached for duty in with the 2d Marine Brigade guarding Samoa June, 1st and 2d Separate Tank Companies form on the east and west coasts to man the Marmon-Herrington tanks rejected by the tank battalions. These are later dispatched to Samoa to relieve two tank companies, which rejoin their tank battalions July, Tank School, FMF Training Center, Camp Elliott (San Diego) established August 7–9, USMC tanks in combat, landing at Guadalcanal and Tanambogo Island, Solomons (A and B Co. 1st Tk. Bn., C Co. 2d Tk. Bn.) September 16, 3d Tank Battalion formed |
1943 | January 18, 1st Corps Medium Tank Battalion formed May 12, 4th Tank Battalion formed July 15, Tank platoons of 9th, 10th, and 11th Defense Battalions in action at Munda Island September 16, Tank platoons of 9th, 10th, and 11th Defense Battalions in action at Arundel Island November 1, Assault landing at Cape Torokina, Bougainville Island (3d Tk. Bn.) November 20, Assault landing at Betio Island, Tarawa (2d Tk. Bn., C Co., 1st Corps Medium Tk. Bn.) December 26, Assault landing at Cape Gloucester, New Britain (1st Tk. Bn.) |
1944 | January 3, 5th Tank Battalion formed February 1, Assault landing on Roi-Namur Island, Marshalls (4th Tk. Bn.) February 18–22, Assault landing on Eniwetok Atoll (2d Sep. Tk. Co.) June 15, Assault landing on Saipan (2d and 4th Tk. Bn.) July 21, Assault landing on Guam (3d Tk. Bn., 2d Sep. Tk. Co., 4th Marines Tk. Co.) July 24, Assault landing on Tinian (2d and 4th Tk. Bn.) September 15, Assault on Peleliu Island, Palaus (1st Tk. Bn.) October 1, 6th Tank Battalion formed |
1945 | February 19, Assault on Iwo Jima (3d, 4th and 5th Tk. Bn.) April 1, Assault on Okinawa (1st and 6th Tk. Bn.) September 3, V-J Day September 1945–46, North China operations (1st and 6th Tk. Bn.) |
1946 | March 26, When 6th Tank Battalion disbands, only 1st and 2d Tank Battalions remain on active duty, where they continue to the present day |
Tank battalion organization, USMC
Numerous paper organizations were produced during the war, but tankers confounded these by retaining additional equipment and vehicles or ad hoc units. Effectively, the divisional tank battalions developed as follows:
1941–43 Four tank companies of 18 light tanks each (the fourth company equipped on paper with Marmon-Herringtons in 1941–early 42).
1943 (late)–44 Three tank companies – one medium, two light – 17 tanks each (1st–4th Tank Battalions only made the change).
1944–45 Three tank companies, each of 15 medium tanks.
Many variations existed, with an additional tank company in 2d and 4th Tank Battalions at Saipan, each with 12 Satan flame tanks and six M5 light tanks. At Iwo, four M4-based flame tanks accompanied 4th and 5th Tank Battalions. Battalions appear to have taken liberties to bring extra vehicles for various reasons. On the converse, shipping shortages limited 1st and 3d Tank Battalion strength at the Peleliu and Bougainville assaults, respectively.
The first standup fight between USMC and Japanese tanks fell to the men of the 2d Separate Tank Company on Parry Island in the Eniwetok Atoll. Three Type 95 light tanks charged the beachhead, much to the surprise of all, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the firepower of USMC M4A2 tanks. (Map by W. Stephen Hill from US Army original)
There were as many reasons for a man to join the US Marine Corps as there were recruits. The tall, trim recruiting NCOs, immaculately turned out in their dress blue uniforms, could be found in neighborhood recruiting offices, and made frequent visits to schools and public gatherings, always alert for a volunteer or just a person in life’s transition. Once the seemingly endless paperwork was filled out amid a flurry of questions, it could be just a matter of days before a train or bus ticket was produced and the new recruit was on his way to one of the two recruit training depots (“boot camps”) maintained by the Marine Corps at San Diego, California, and Parris Island, South Carolina. Over the near-century of their dual existence, much scuttlebutt has been spilled over the differences in the training and rigor of the two depots. One general often put it this way: “… there is one difference. At San Diego they teach recruits, when jumping off a sinking ship, to hold their nose. At Parris Island they teach them to hold their private parts. So, the only way to know for sure where a marine was trained is to wait until he jumps off a sinking ship.”
Fred Crowley had joined the Marine Corps in December 1938, two years before the National Emergency call-up of reserves and another before the Pearl Harbor attack produced a wave of volunteering and Selective Service inductees. The Marine Corps then mustered just over 19,000 officers and men. When the war started, it would already have over 70,000, on its way to the wartime peak of 458,053. More marines would serve during World War II than had joined the Corps in its entire history before 1941. The terms “Old Corps” or “Old Breed,” later attached to Fred and his brethren, thus applied to a mere 3 percent of the wartime USMC. Years later, Fred would talk about his early life:
I imagined in 1935 – after seeing a movie – that I wanted to be a cowboy. But then it was back to school, not that they could teach me anything. I spent most of my time telling the other kids how I learned to roll a smoke. I did get the years in and graduated from grammar school! Principal Wilson held up my diploma until I got $5 to pay for a window I broke.
It was then that I learned about the CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] Camps. It was about one day after that I signed my mother’s name and was off to Vancouver Barracks, Washington, boot camp to become a CCC boy at the tender age of 15. I got $5 a month, and my mother received $25. My mother had been mad as hell until she knew where I was, as she thought I was on the bum. The money she was getting each month enabled my brothers to stay in high school. I spent two years in the CCC Camp in Humbug Mountain, Oregon, Silver Creek Falls, Oregon, and finished up at Silver Creek, Michigan, where I received a Dishonorable Discharge. I thought that was the end of the world. Later, when I signed my life away to the Marine Corps and told my recruiter about the discharge, the Sergeant said, “You should be proud of it. I took a $3.50 cut in pay when they started that damned outfit!” Which reminds me of the Sunday at home when I was leaving for the Marine Corps Boot Camp at San Diego ... My mother said to my Uncle Tom (a WWI Veteran), “He will be nothing but a bum!” to which my Uncle responded, “Yes, Irene, he will be a bum, but a damn good bum.” That now turns out, was pretty true about my life ... “A Damn good bum!” Back in the 30s, boot camp was tough, but depression kids were tough too, so we had no problems with it. Just as long as they fed us we could put up with anything. I was in the 6th Marines when Gunny Sergeant Martinez selected ten of us for sea duty, so after sea school graduation I was sent to the USS Nevada. I took a train from San Diego to Seattle, Washington. My ship was at Bremerton Navy Shipyard. In those days you took your sea bag, rifle, bayonet, and one clip of ammo (five .03 rounds). Somewhere along the line, years later, they didn’t trust a marine with his rifle ashore. It was about this time, 39 or 40, that the old ‘squad right, squad left’ drill method came to an end. As my old 1st Sgt. R. R. Inks used to say in disgust, “Fall in like three rows of corn!” Right around the same time we had to give up our Model 1903 rifles and were issued the Ml Garand. The old-time marine had a fit. I was just a boot and I could roll with the punches. At that time we had corporals with ten years in grade and they didn’t adjust well with all the changes. I should have extended six months on board ship to make corporal. Salt-water promotions had to be held for six months before they were good in the infantry.
Fred came back to the 6th Marines in 1940, but eventually ran afoul of the shore-type discipline. Some NCOs really had it in for him in B Company of the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marines, the only regiment then in California. But in a time of expansion and barely organized chaos, his company commander had an easy way to transfer his problem. He placed Fred on a quota for another 2d Marine Division unit forming in the summer of 1941.
The boot camp experience of 1938 really was suited to the times. Physical violence seldom happened, and the drill instructors used their impressive vocal talents to urge the recruits through their drills, hikes, and exercises. They taught their charges the tradition and customs of the Marine Corps, using a simple shorthand history to regale them with storied examples of past heroism, toughness, and endurance. Above all, the recruits learned to handle weapons and shoot them – and shoot well. They also learned the peculiar nomenclature of the naval service, and shipboard life in particular. As many have observed, marines can be seen as sailors who swear a lot. One of the important events for each recruit was the issue of his uniforms and the individual equipment he would use in the field. Called “782 gear” from the issue receipt document, it included the web gear, packs, pouches, canteens, and so forth that the unit considered he must have. In Fred’s time, the rifle, Model 1903, .30 caliber, would also be issued to the marine, to be turned into the unit armory upon arrival as he changed from station to station.
After the war began, recruits and marines learned a credo to accompany the Corps’ almost manic approach to precise marksmanship training. Much later, Fred could still recite it to his grandchildren. The first half reads: