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The Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF), (海軍陸戦隊 Kaigun Rikusentai) were the marine troops of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were only part of the IJN Land Forces. They saw extensive service in the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Pacific theatre of World War II. Prior to the late 1920s the IJN did not have a separate marine force, instead it used naval landing forces or rikusentai formed from individual ships's crews, who received infantry training as part of their basic training, for special and/or temporary missions. In the late 1920s, the navy began to form Special Naval Landing Forces as standing regiments (albeit of battalion size). These forces were raised at — and took their names from — the four main naval districts/bases in Japan: Kure, Maizuru, Sasebo, and Yokosuka. These bases all raised more than one SNLF and others were later raised from IJN personnel in China, at Hankow, and Shanghai, for service in Canton and on the Yangtze River. On 7 December 1941 there were 16 SNLF units, this increasesd to 21 units during the war. The strengths of each SNLF ranged from the prewar peak of 1,200 to a later 650 personnel. There was also a special detachment in the Kwantung area, garrisoning the ports of Dairen and Ryojun. In 1941, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Yokosuka SNLF were converted to parachute units. They conducted more combat drops than Japanese Army parachute units during World War II. The SNLF paratroopers were used at the attack on Celebes, to much lauded success by the Imperial government. The original SNLF personnel were well-trained, high quality troops with good morale and they performed well against unprepared and unorganized opposition across Southeast Asia. However, when faced with determined resistance, such as at the invasion of Timor and the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942, they often experienced heavy casualties due to their unwillingness to surrender. When completely out of ammunition, they would often resort to hand-to-hand fighting with their swords. They were also responsible for the war crimes committed in their defence of Manila during the American invasion of the Philippines during 1944. In a famous last stand in 1943, the 1,500-strong 7th Sasebo SNLF and 1,000 base personnel at the Battle of Tarawa accounted for 3,000 U.S. Marine Corps casualties. They wore a greener version of the Imperial Japanese Army's uniform with an anchor on their helmet. The SNLF Paratroopers wore somewhat advanced bandoleers, being better designed than other paratrooper models of the time. (Note: the Imperial Japanese Army also raised amphibious units called Sea Landing Brigades. These 3,500-strong brigades were used to assault and then garrison islands.) Infantry Units Paratroopers and Others Infantry Units Tank and Armors Units Heavy weapons Armors and Tanks APCs and Armored Cars Amphibious Trucks and Land Trucks Infantry Handguns | |||||||
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