Special Naval Landing Forces

Photograph of Special Navy Landing Forces

The Japanese Navy’s Special Naval Landing Forces (Rikusentai) are often likened to the U.S. Marines. However, the analogy is not a particularly good one. Like the Marines, the SNLF specialized in amphibious landings and in defending coastal positions. However, the SNLF were sailors trained as light infantry and organized into battalion-sized units led by naval officers, whereas the Marines were a distinct service within the Navy Department that carried a full complement of heavy weapons (including artillery, tanks, and ground-support aircraft) and were organized into regiments and divisions under their own officers.

The differences are reflected in the combat history of the services. The SNLF avoided assaults on heavily defended positions, attempting instead to leapfrog opposition and land supplies and reinforcements as quickly as possible. This worked extremely well in the early months of the war, when the Japanese had nearly complete freedom of movement and there weren’t nearly enough Allied troops to cover every vulnerable point. The exception was Wake, where the SNLF never even made it into their boats on the first attempt and took heavy casualties in the second. The U.S. Marines landed against light opposition in their first few campaigns in the Solomons, but suffered heavy casualties in the Central Pacific taking heavily defended atolls.

The SNLF did share with the U.S. Marines a reputation for toughness. They were also ruthless, committing a number of atrocities in the Southwest Pacific during the Centrifugal Offensive. These included massacres of prisoners of war at Ambon and Kendari.

References

Kehn (2008)
Marston (2005)

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