Marines in Europe?

[Ironmachine]

About U.S. Marines in Operation Dragoon:

Two cruisers, the Philadelphia and Augusta, provided gunfire support for French Army troops on the western outskirts of Toulon. Four days later these ships sent landing parties ashore, which included their Marine detachments, to accept the surrender of German forces on the is lands of Pomegues, Chateau d'If, and Ratonneau in the Bay of Marseilles. Some 730 Germans were taken prisoner in these operations. Overlord and Dragoon were the two main operations in the invasion of Europe in which the U.S. Navy played a leading part.

Quoted from A Different War: Marines in Europe and North Africa.
schrisbpd, perhaps the story you have heard is a deformation of that.
Regards.

[Andy H]

Below is the preamble when for searching for USS Augusta Pomegeus and has this link as the first source http://www.fold3.com/document/287126198/

The 90 Marines, previously assigned, were landed in Frioul harbor which is located between the Isles of Raton-neau and Pomegues.

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Regards

Andy H

[Andy H]

Hi

Also found this:-

there was a USMC unit in Londonderry 1st Provisional Batallion guarding the USN FOB at Lishally(FT George) and the USN Signal centre in Waterside, it was still there in 1970,and the Navel Hospital at Creevagh.

http://www.arrse.co.uk/military-history ... -wwii.html

There was also the Marines on Iceland during WW2 but they saw no direct action

Regards

Andy H

[schrisbpd]

Hi

Also found this:-

there was a USMC unit in Londonderry 1st Provisional Batallion guarding the USN FOB at Lishally(FT George) and the USN Signal centre in Waterside, it was still there in 1970,and the Navel Hospital at Creevagh.

http://www.arrse.co.uk/military-history ... -wwii.html

There was also the Marines on Iceland during WW2 but they saw no direct action

Regards

Andy H

They are called "Marine Barracks". Some examples are Marine Barracks Guatanamo bay, Cuba , Marine Barracks Siganela, Sicily, Marine Barracks Suda Bay, Crete (there are a few more). They are roughly the size of a reinforced company or close to the size of a battalion. I was stationed Marine Barracks Guatanamo Bay, Cuba for a year and a half and if memory serves me correctly it was the largest "Marine Barracks". We around 450-550 Marines there.

[schrisbpd]

Hi

Also found this:-

there was a USMC unit in Londonderry 1st Provisional Batallion guarding the USN FOB at Lishally(FT George) and the USN Signal centre in Waterside, it was still there in 1970,and the Navel Hospital at Creevagh.

http://www.arrse.co.uk/military-history ... -wwii.html

There was also the Marines on Iceland during WW2 but they saw no direct action

Regards

Andy H

Usually anywhere there is a US Navy base there is a Marine Barracks there...even here in the states too!

[phylo_roadking]

Hi

Also found this:-
there was a USMC unit in Londonderry 1st Provisional Batallion guarding the USN FOB at Lishally(FT George) and the USN Signal centre in Waterside, it was still there in 1970,and the Navel Hospital at Creevagh.
http://www.arrse.co.uk/military-history ... -wwii.html

...which of course is discussed in some considerable detail in the thread Andy linked us to on page one of this discussion

[rebel60]

According to J. Robert Moskin in his book "The U.S. Marine Corps Story", 306 Marines (a rather specific number) participated in the invasion of Normandy. This included four officers on Eisenhower's staff. Some of the enlisted men were deployed as riflemen and used to explode floating mines in the path of their ships. Others manned various 5" batteries (I assume on the various battleships deployed). He also mentions the deployment of Marine detachments from the Augusta and the Philadelphia during the invasion of southern France (as noted above).

Further he mentions Marine Captain John Hamilton, a member of the OSS, who worked with the partisans in Yugoslavia. John Hamilton was the pseudonym of the actor Sterling Hayden (who was actually born Sterling R. Walter).

[schrisbpd]

Were there any Marines fighting in Europe? I only see them appearing in pacific theater

I did a little more research and found out that approximately 20-30 U.S. Marines served in the OSS in Europe (mostly in France. Some served in Yugoslavia, Greece , Albania, Bulgaria and Italy. A couple of OSS teams were entirely made up of U.S. Marines (including Julien Ortiz's)!