Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces - History

History

Before 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.

These SNLF units saw action in China from 1932 in the January 28 Incident and at the Battle of Shanghai and in naval operations along the China coast and up the Yangtze River and its tributaries during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Other SNLF 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 increased 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 during 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 Manila massacre during the Allied invasion of the Philippines in February 1945, where 10,000 SNLF troops under the command of Vice Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi disobeyed orders and stayed behind to fight the Americans.

In a well known last stand in 1943, 2,619 men of the 7th Sasebo SNLF and 2,000 base personnel at the Battle of Tarawa accounted for over 3,000 U.S. Marine Corps casualties.

(Note: the Imperial Japanese Army also raised amphibious units called Sea Landing Brigades(ja:海上機動旅団). These 3,500-strong brigades were used to assault and then garrison islands.)