How to organize my US Marines?

[grant]

So I received a bunch of US Marines for Christmas, along with a Sherman tank.

Now, how do I organize them?

I have:

Officer
Radioman
Medic with Casualty
Stretcher Bearer

2x M1 Carbine
4x Thompson gunners
4x BAR gunners
15x Riflemen - one has a bayonet, one has a rifle grenade
3x Shotguns
1x Browning MG with loader
1x Mortar team

Any thoughts?

[Centurio Marcus T]

Gday Grant. From the look of your force i would go with either the remains of A marine platoon after hitting the beaches or a stike force detailed with taking out jap bunkers and mopping up.I have about 30 Marines painted up and yet to do my Sherman but will be definetly thinking along those lines.Altennatly you could have them holding off a Massive attack by the Japs depending on how many Japanese you have ready
Cheers Marcus T

[grant]

So, I have thought of doing this:

Platoon - US Marines, c. 1944
Lt. with pistol, and Radioman - one base
2IC with Thompson
Medic/Casualty/Stretcher

Section 1
Sgt. Section Leader with M1 Carbine

Fire Team 1
Cpl. with M1 rifle
Rifleman with M1 rifle
BAR gunner
Assistant gunner with Thompson

Fire Team 2
Cpl. with M1 rifle
Rifleman with M1 rifle
BAR gunner
Assistant gunner with Thompson

Fire Team 3
Cpl. with M1 rifle
Rifleman with M1 rifle
BAR gunner
Assistant gunner with Thompson


Total for Section: 6x M1 rifle / 3x BAR / 3x Thompson / 1x M1 Carbine

With 3 sections for a platoon, I will need to add 4 BAR, 2 SMG, and a M1 carbine.

I am interspersing the shotguns randomly for riflemen.

If anyone thinks this isn't in any way realistic, please let me know!

[grant]

Gday Grant. From the look of your force i would go with either the remains of A marine platoon after hitting the beaches or a stike force detailed with taking out jap bunkers and mopping up.I have about 30 Marines painted up and yet to do my Sherman but will be definetly thinking along those lines.Altennatly you could have them holding off a Massive attack by the Japs depending on how many Japanese you have ready
Cheers Marcus T

Cheers! I have about a platoon of Japanese on the go, too. So it will be unfortunate for the Japanese, but they will be up against a ton of automatic weapon fire! Maybe, I will use a 2nd Wave rule and put back into play dead Japanese.

I'm also going to need a Bazooka team, and the Sniper/spotter. So not bad, just a few things to add.

[Parus Ater]

I'm not up on Marines but wouldn't they be using the 10 men scheme? You'd certainly want riflemen in the vast majority.

[grant]

I'm not up on Marines but wouldn't they be using the 10 men scheme? You'd certainly want riflemen in the vast majority.

I would have thought so, too. What I found was that by mid 1944, the US Marines instituted a "fire team" concept. Each team under a corporal (?) made for semi-independent movement and fire, apparently so flexible and effective that it's still used today. Completely different from any army org. I have found!

Interestingly, the Bolt Action boxes, both Japanese and USMC that I have picked, have been nice starting points, but have borne no semblance to any kind of useable box contents re the real world organization.

I have to say that the USMC project has really got me going. I have done the Normandy theatre to death, and have never done anything US related. Hey, I'm Canadian. But after watching the whole Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima/The Pacific stuff, I am somewhat stoked to try something different.

[pbeccas]

Well a man for man, weapon for weapon break down is a pretty big endeavor, I can try to give you an outline,In general the marine rifle platoon (and company) were reorganized in every year of the war, but it was an evolutionary process, with each reorganization adopting the battlfield implementation, official or unoffical of the previous series. Consequently, by the end of the war the marines were a refined force of assault troops. this means that it is asier to pick your force based on a particular operation.

D-series

The D-series platoon was the initial organization at the start of the war, and was the basic organization for a platoon on Guandacanal.

the platoon HQ consisted of 1 officer and 6 men. One of these men would be the platoon sgt, another the platoon guide (also a sgt.), a demolition specialist was included in the HQ, along with three runners. The Lt. and the platoon sergeant may have initially been issued SMGS. The remainder of the HQ was issued rifles. for gaming purposes it is
simplest to assume the d-series was not issued M-1 Garands, so All rifles would be bolt action.

The D series platton had three rifle squads, each with 9 men. A corporal, with a .45 SMG, a BAR man, two scouts (rifles) and assitant Squad leader(rifle) and four riflemen (rifles).

In addition to the three rifle squads, there was a fourth, automatic rifle squad which had BARs, two reserve gunners (rifles), two riflemen (rifle), a leader (rifle) and a scout (rifle). Now the compny had three spare BARS, which were assigned ad hoc by the company commnder, so each platton could have and extra BAR or Three. These extra BARS allowed an alternate organization which became the e-series in 1943 (i think february).

E-series
The series evolved from the D-series, and was largely based on the reallocation of the BARS In the E-series, the platoon HQ remained identical, only there were no SMG's officially issued after 1942, it seems. Although unoffical is always a different story. In theory the Lt. and the Platoon Sergeant were issued M-1 Carbines, but often these were exchanged for rifles on the beach, if not before. By the E-series, the marines were equipped with the M-1 Garand, and I would do so for gaming purposes.

The rifle squads were completely reorganized in the E-series. Each platoon had three squads with 12 men: A Sergeant (rifle), a Corporal (rifle), two BARS, two assitant BAR men (rifles)and six riflemen (rifles).

Each platoon's demolitions specialist had a demo pack, and each platoon could be allocated a bazooka from regiment.

F-Series

The F-series represented a significant change in fire power and tactics. It was first tested in February 44, at Roi-Namur by (I think) the 22d Marines. But arguably it had its seeds in the marine corps jungle warfare experience from Nicaragua in the 20's.

The Platoon HQ in the F-series remained the same through out the war.

The rifle platton changed radically. The squad ceased to be the basic tactical unit of the USMC, being replaced by the four man fire team Platoons had three squads, each with a squad leader and three fire teams. The squad leader was in theory armed with a carbine (again- rifles were preferred). Each of the three fireteams was led by a
corporal(rifle) and had a BAR, an assitant (initially armed with a carbine, but this was officially changed to a rifle) and a riflemen (rifle, with a rifle grenade). With 9 BARS the squad's firepower was huge. Each platoon could still get a Bazooka (now from company HQ), but each squad was allocated a flame thrower and a demo kit. These were given to squad members in addition to the rifles, not inplace of them.

Cheers

Paul

[pbeccas]

[Hey, I'm Canadian. But after watching the whole Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima/The Pacific stuff, I am somewhat stoked to try something different.

The Canadians defended Hong Kong. Great stuff to wargame. A Canadian John Osborne won the Victoria Cross there. And a Canadian dog won the animal VC. The Japs chucked a grenade in a area where some Canadian wounded were resting. The dog picked up the grenade in its mouth and ran it back to the Jap that chucked it. Unfortunately the dog blew up.

Your Mission - Canadian platoon, Defenders of Hong Kong.
Warlord Games Mission - Model of Gander the dog.

[grant]

[Hey, I'm Canadian. But after watching the whole Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima/The Pacific stuff, I am somewhat stoked to try something different.

The Canadians defended Hong Kong. Great stuff to wargame. A Canadian John Osborne won the Victoria Cross there. And a Canadian dog won the animal VC. The Japs chucked a grenade in a area where some Canadian wounded were resting. The dog picked up the grenade in its mouth and ran it back to the Jap that chucked it. Unfortunately the dog blew up.

Your Mission - Canadian platoon, Defenders of Hong Kong.
Warlord Games Mission - Model of Gander the dog.

I lived in Winnipeg for a lot of years, so am very familiar with Osborne. The regiment he served with was from there. He was also the first VC for Canada in the war, and the last to be awarded - as his exploits were not known until the POWs from Force "C" from Hong Kong were liberated.

Could maybe start with a Celt dog ... hmmm ....

[pbeccas]

Make sure you model the dog at the point of detonation.