Where did all the Defense Battalions Go?A Historical Examination of the Marine Corps Ability to Defend Expeditionary Bases
Abstract
In 1901 the Secretary of the Navy, ordered the Marine Corps to establish an Advance Base Force to secure and defend advance bases for the fleet. The Marine Corps struggled to man, train, and equip the Advance Base Force until the 1st Defense Battalion was created in 1939. The defense battalions repeatedly proved their worth on the battlefields of the Pacific but by the end of the war the majority of the battalions were redesignated as antiaircraft battalions. This signaled the end of manned, trained, and equipped base defense units. The Marine Corps has paid a high price for the lack of base defense units since the successful defense of Hagaru-ri during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950. Irregular forces have repeatedly exploited undertrained and undermanned ad hoc Marine Corps base defense forces at places like Da Nang, Marble Mountain, Beirut, and Camp Bastion and have caused the destruction of valuable aircraft and have killed hundreds of soldiers, sailors, airman, and Marines. The Marine Corps has embraced the offensive aspects of our expeditionary crisis response mission and focused on the creation of offensive capabilities, largely at the expense of defensive capabilities. The historical record proves that the Marine Corps has struggled to adequately defend expeditionary bases since the end of World War II, and it is likely that the United States enemies will continue to exploit this weakness during current and future conflicts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 15, 2015
- Accession Number
- AD1176056
Entities
People
- Seth Wolcott
Organizations
- Marine Corps University