# Questions about WW2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-ww2/264621 "2004-09-16T00:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-ww2/264621/1 "2004-09-16T00:18:04Z")
A couple of things that I’ve always wondered about World War Two… (1) Did any combat units of the United States Marine Corps ever fight enemy forces in Europe in WW2? (2) Did any U.S.Navy fighter units see action against any Luftwaffe fighter or bomber units in Europe in WW2? ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-ww2/264621/2 "2004-09-16T00:54:56Z")
1. Yes, but comparatively few Marines fought in Europe. See [here](http://www.usmc.mil/history.nsf/Table+of+Contents/77f992b2acb682eb852564d70059c642?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=5). 2. There were carriers in the Atlantic, but I haven’t found anything yet to indicate that they engaged the Luftwaffe. Only one carrier was lost in the Atlantic, [the USS Block Island (CVE-21)](http://www.ussblockisland.org/). Its duties included hunting U-boats and ferrying USAAF planes to Europe. I found a few other mentions of carriers in the Atlantic, mostly escort carriers, but they seem to have operated mostly as U-boat hunters and ferries, and mostly to the south of the European theater. It’s entirely possible that Navy fighters engaged German naval aircraft, although it seems that most of those were operated by the Kriegsmarine and not the Luftwaffe. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-ww2/264621/3 "2004-09-16T01:01:50Z")
> [@rippingtons\_fan](#): > > A couple of things that I’ve always wondered about World War Two… > > (1) Did any combat units of the United States Marine Corps ever fight enemy forces in Europe in WW2? > > (2) Did any U.S.Navy fighter units see action against any Luftwaffe fighter or bomber units in Europe in WW2? (1)From here [http://www.usmc.mil/history.nsf/Table+of+Contents/77f992b2acb682eb852564d70059c642?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=5](http://www.usmc.mil/history.nsf/Table+of+Contents/77f992b2acb682eb852564d70059c642?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=5) > [@](#): > > Overshadowed in history by Marines who fought World War II’s Pacific island battles, fewer than 6,000 Marines participated > in the Atlantic, North African and European campaigns. > > … > > The first Marine unit of combat troops to serve on land in the Atlantic theater was the 1st Marine Provisional Brigade. More than 4,000 Marines commanded by Brigadier General John Marston arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, in July 1941. The Marines augmented the British forces already in place to prevent Iceland from falling to the Germans. Iceland was strategically located for air and naval control of the North Atlantic lifeline between the British Isles and North America. > > Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Marines assigned under Marston received orders to leave Iceland. They began > departing on Jan. 31, 1942, and were completely gone by March 9, 1942.] > > Masters of amphibious warfare tactics, Marines served as planners for the North African, Mediterranean and Normandy > invasions… > > Marines trained four Army infantry divisions in assault from the sea tactics prior to the North African landings. Leading the way > during Operation Torch, the November 1942 North African invasion, Marines went ashore at Arzeu, Algeria, and moved > overland to the port of Oran, where they occupied the strategic Spanish fortress at the northern tip of the harbor. > Assigned to the secretive world of spies and saboteurs were 51 Marines who served with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services > to engage in behind-the-lines operations in North Africa and Europe from 1941 to 1945. These OSS Marines served with > partisan and resistance groups in France, Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy, Austria, Albania, Greece, Morocco and Egypt; on the > islands of Corsica and Sardinia; in Rumania; and in North and West Africa. Ten of these OSS Marines also served with forces > in Ceylon, Burma, Malaya and China. > > Marine Colonel Peter J. Ortiz was twice awarded the Navy Cross for heroism while serving with the French Resistance. > > Shipboard detachments of Marines served throughout the landings in North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Normandy invasion as gun crews aboard battleships and cruisers. A 200-man detachment was normally carried aboard a battleship, and 80 Marines served aboard cruisers to man the secondary batteries of 5-inch guns providing fire for the landing forces. > > During the June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion, Marines, renowned as expert riflemen, played a vital role reminiscent of the days of the sailing Navy when sharpshooters were sent to the fighting tops. Stationed high in the superstructures of the invasion fleet, Marine riflemen exploded floating mines in the path of the ships moving across the English Channel to the beaches of > Normandy. > > On Aug. 29, 1944, during the invasion of southern France, Marines from the battleship USS Augusta and the cruiser USS Philadelphia went ashore in Marseilles harbor to accept the surrender of more than 700 Germans who had fortified island garrisons. (2) US Navy aircraft, flying off of Escort Carriers (i.e. Baby Flattops) defended convoys of cargo ships & troop transports from land based Nazi & Fascist Italian aircraft quite often in WW2. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-ww2/264621/4 "2004-09-16T02:13:37Z")
There were some episodes of Marines training the Army divisions that carried out the several amphibious landings in Europe, but generally not much. In accounts that I’ve read of the war a common theme seems to be that there was always quite a bit of friciton between those two branches of the military, and the Marines seemed to frequently resent it whenever they were part of an operation where someone from the Army was supreme commander.