Merrill's Marauders

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5307th Composite Unit (provisional)

75th Ranger Regiment Distinctive Unit Insignia.svg

Coat of arms of the Marauders
active 1943 to 1944
Country United States of America
Armed forces United States Armed Forces
Armed forces United States Army
Branch of service United States Army Rangers
Type Light infantry
structure 3 battalions with 2 combat teams each
Strength about 3000
Nickname Merrill's Marauders
Wars and major battles Pacific War , Burma campaign

Merrill's Marauders (dt. "Merrill's Marauders "), official name 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) (dt. "5307th Combined Association (tentative)"), with the use of code GALAHAD were a special unit and a large bandage on brigade level of the United States Army Rangers with a focus on command warfare and long- range reconnaissance .

history

The troop, consisting of three battalions of two combat teams of 400 men each , a staff and an air transport unit, which was nicknamed after its commander Brigadier General Frank Merrill , was set up in India after the Quadrant Conference on October 31, 1943 and dated British military trained. In February 1944, Merrill's Marauders began operations in the Burmese theater of war against the Imperial Japanese Army as part of the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) . During their deployment in Burma , the troops achieved outstanding successes, including the liberation of a prison camp in which the last survivors of the Bataan death march were also imprisoned. However, it also suffered enormous losses, so that it was disbanded on August 10, 1944 with a manpower of 130 deployable soldiers from originally around 3,000.

literature

  • Alan Barker: Merrill's Marauders. Ballantine 1972.
  • Cresson H. Kearny: Jungle Snafus ... And Remedies. Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, 1996, ISBN 1-884067-10-7 .
  • John B. George: Shots Fired In Anger. NRA Publications, 1981, ISBN 0-935998-42-X .
  • James Hopkins: Spearhead. Merrill's Marauders Society, 2000, ISBN 0-8018-6404-6 .
  • Edwin Hoyt: Merrill's Marauders. Pinnacle Books, 1980, ISBN 0-523-40671-1 .
  • Charles Newton Hunter: Galahad. Naylor Publishing, 1963.
  • John Latimer: Burma: The Forgotten War. John Murray, 2004, ISBN 0-7195-6576-6 .
  • Charlton Ogburn Jr: The Marauders. Harper & Row, New York 1956.
  • Logan Weston: The Fightin 'Preacher. Vision Press, 1992, ISBN 0-9628579-7-1 .

Web links