Marine Regiment OOB

[luer]

Hi,

I have a question regarding the Marine Regiment.
Does anybody when it was formed ? Axworthy says only that in 41 it had been only recently formed.

Additionally, is there anything known about the structure of the Battalions ?
At the moment, I would guess there were 3 Marine Inf Companies, but was there also a Heavy Company ? I found the info that 17th Btl had a few 47mm Anti tank guns in June 41 (15th Btl apparently hadn't), but that is really all I could find.

Anybody can help ?

I need this information for the Romanian OOB of the upcoming PC game Combat Leader (Matrixgames).

Thank you very much,

cheers, luer

[Victor]

All I could find was three Marine Companies per Battalion. The 47 mm AT guns could have been part of the fortifications on the Bessarabian coast.

[luer]

thank you Victor, that's a good piece of information, so I will not go further than company level.

I had the same guess with the 47's, so they will not become integral parts.

Cheers, Luer

[Victor]

Also keep in mind that the equipment the Marines had was pretty old (Mannlicher rifles and Schwarzlose MGs)

[luer]

yes, already done, they got old rifles and MGs.

What would you say, or guess, the HMGs organised in a Heavy company ? Or rather in Heavy platoons per company ?

thanks, luer

[Victor]

There were no heavy weapons companies.

[luer]

thanks. L.

[Michi]

On the Marine Regiment I have following infos:

The three battalions of the Romanian Marine Regiment guarded the Danube Delta. The regiment was comparatively recently formed and was poorly equipped with obsolete weapons surplus to army requirements. The Soviet Danube Flotilla would have to pass the positions of its 15th Battalion at Chilia Veche and its 17th Battalion at Periprava if it was to secure its retreat to the Black Sea. On 26 June 1941, in their only successful attack on to Axis soil in 1941, the Soviets crossed the Danube and enveloped Chilia Veche.
The 15th Battalion was ill prepared, as it had no artillery capable of penetrating the armour of the Soviet gunboats and many of its positions had been flooded by an unusual rise in the Danube. Most of the battalion was wiped out.
The Soviets tried to follow up with an assault on Periprava, but 17th Battalion had some 47mm AT guns and they were thrown back. This repulse was significant because, when the Soviet Danube Flotilla finally withdrew on 11 & 12 July 1941, it had to pass under the guns at Periprava.
While the armoured gunboats attacked Periprava, the larger monitors passed behind them under cover of smoke and escaped along the coast to Odessa. The Soviets are believed to have lost four gunboats, including BKA-111, BKA-113 and BKA-134.

[Victor]

The 17th Marine Battalion apparently destroyed 6 armored gunships, one barge and one tug, damaged two monitors and captured an entire artillery battery, during the fights in June-July 1941 in the Danube Delta. It is also true that it had the support of the artillery of the 10th Infantry Division and of the Tulcea Tactical Group.

[Cristian Craciunoiu]

What was more interesting in my opinion was that the Tulcea tactical Group used a company armed with floating 47 mm Breda guns on rafts. They were responsible for the destroy or bad damage of 2 Soviet Bk and the retreat of the whole brigade.