WWII USMC Special Weapons Battalion Question

[patches]

I was revisiting an old topic of mine, on an old friend of my Aunt and Uncle and my Parents one James J. McClincy, who was awarded a Silver Star on Guadalcanal as an Anti Tank Gun Crewman and while viewing his citation, we noticed his unit is simply Special Weapons Battalion, B Battery Special Weapons Battalion, and as you'll see says Attached to 1st Marine Division, meaning it wasn't assigned, not a part of the division, would any know what this unit was? it has. at least in the citation no number, is given, indicating there was only one of them, and can't find info of it online, like further service in the war.

 

His Citation

 

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/37626

 

And the old topic.

 

 

 

[patches]

BUMP

[patches]

BUMP

 

No one knows!

[Kurt Barickman]

I have seen similar situations with the 2nd Marine Division during Tarawa over the years.  These were an integral part of the USMC divisions after Guadalcanal I believe because Guadalcanal being the first big battle of WWII for the USMC, you don't have divisions of Marines until WWII. Those I have seen with the 2nd Division on Tarawa list these men attached to other units for that battle because these half track and anti-tanks guns weren't employed in numbers if any for that battle. Unfortunately down south away from the snow for awhile and away from all my USMC material right now. Maybe some other USMC WWII Table of Operations and Equipment gurus can chime in and support or refute what my old memory retains on this topic.

 

My humble two cents.

 

Kurt

[Brig]

Special Weapons Battalion has haunted me for years, I've seen it appear several times and have been unable to figure out what exactly it was

[Salvage Sailor]

From the NPS Source:  FIRST OFFENSIVE: The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal by Henry I. Shaw, Jr.

 

Guadalcanal & Tulagi 

To oppose the Japanese, the Marines had an overwhelming superiority of men. At the time, the tables of organization for a Marine Corps division indicated a total of 19,514 officers and enlisted men, including naval medical and engineer (Seabee) units. Infantry regiments numbered 3,168 and consisted of a headquarters company, a weapons company, and three battalions. Each infantry battalion (933 Marines) was organized into a headquarters company (89), a weapons company (273), and three rifle companies (183).

 

The artillery regiment had 2,581 officers and men organized into three 75mm pack howitzer battalions and one 105mm howitzer battalion. A light tank battalion, a special weapons battalion of antiaircraft and antitank guns, and a parachute battalion added combat power.

 

An engineer regiment (2,452 Marines) with battalions of engineers, pioneers, and Seabees, provided a hefty combat and service element. The total was rounded out by division headquarters battalion's headquarters, signal, and military police companies and the division's service troops—service, motor transport, amphibian tractor, and medical battalions.

 

For Watchtower, the 1st Raider Battalion and the 3d Defense Battalion had been added to Vandegrift's command to provide more infantrymen and much needed coast defense and antiaircraft guns and crews.

 

Bougainville - Marines with a Special Weapons Battalion on Bougainville operating a gun director, also called an auxiliary predictor

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

'... as Commanding Officer of the First Platoon, Battery B, First Special Weapons Battalion, FIRST Marine Division, during an attack by enemy Japanese forces at the mouth of the Tenaru River, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on the night of August 20-21, 1942. Battling fiercely to hold his line which had been penetrated in several places by the Japanese,...'

 

Citation -->  Night Action at the Tenaru River, Guadalcanal

Silver Star & Purple Heart
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Second Lieutenant James F. McClanahan (later Colonel in RVN, CO of 4th Marines)
Battalion: 1st Special Weapons Battalion

 

 

Excerpt:  History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II
Volume 1: Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal
by Lieutenant Colonel Frank O. Hough, USMCR, Major Verle E. Ludwig, USMC, Henry I. Shaw, Jr.
Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps

 

The line was thin. The bulk of the combat forces remained in assembly areas inland as a ready reserve to check attacks or penetrations from any sector. Inland (south) of the airfield, a 9,000-yard stretch of rugged jungle terrain was outposted by men from the artillery, pioneer, engineer, and amphibian tractor battalions. These men worked during the day and stood watch on the lines at night.

 

The workers on the airfield as well as those on the thin perimeter were under almost constant enemy observation. Submarines and destroyers shelled the area at will day or night. Large flights of high-level bombers attacked the airfield daily, and observation planes were continually intruding with light bombs and strafing attacks. At night the enemy patrols became increasingly bold, and troops on the MLR mounted a continuous alert during the hours of darkness. South of the airfield the outpost line had to be supplemented by roving patrols.

 

In spite of this harassment, the perimeter shaped up. The 1st Special Weapons Battalion dug in its 75-mm tank destroyers (half-tracks) in positions inland from the beach, but kept them ready to move into prepared positions near the water. Howitzers of the 11th Marines were situated to deliver fire in all sectors. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the artillery regiment had 75-mm pack howitzers and the 5th Battalion had 105-mm howitzers. There were no 155-mm howitzers or guns for counterbattery, there was no sound-flash equipment for the location of enemy batteries, and the 3rd Defense Battalion had not had a chance to unload its 5-inch seacoast guns or radar units prior to the departure of the amphibious shipping. Air defense within the perimeter also was inadequate. There were 90-mm antiaircraft guns ashore, but the restricted size of the perimeter kept them too close to the field for best employment.

It was a hazardous and remote toe-hold which the Marines occupied, and within the Pacific high command there were some grave doubts whether they could hang on....

 

...The Marines did not have long to wait. Colonel Ichiki had wasted no time preparing his attack, and during the night of 20-21 August Marine listening posts on the east bank of the Ilu detected enemy troops moving through the jungle to their front. A light rattle of rifle fire was exchanged, both sides sent up flares, and the Marines withdrew across the river mouth to the lines of their battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Edwin A. Pollock’s 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. They reported that a strong enemy force appeared to be building up across the river.

 

By this time Ichiki had assembled his force on the brush-covered point of land on the east bank of the river, and all was quiet until 0310 on 21 August when a column of some 200 Japanese rushed the exposed sandspit at the river mouth. Most of them were stopped by Marine small-arms fire and by a canister-firing 37-mm antitank gun of the 1st Special Weapons Battalion. But the Marine position was not wired in, and the weight of the rushing attack got a few enemy soldiers into Pollock’s lines where they captured some of his emplacements. The remainder of the line held, however, and fire from these secure positions kept the penetration in check until the battalion reserve could get up to the fight. This reserve, Company G, launched a counterattack that wiped out the Japanese or drove them back across the river.

 

[Salvage Sailor]

1st Marine Division TOE (1942) Guadalcanal

 

1st Special Weapons Battalion     
     Headquarters and Service Battery     
     40mm Antiaircraft Battery     
     90mm Antiaircraft Battery     
     3 Antitank Batteries (37mm & 75mm halftracked)

 

The Special Weapons Battalions were reduced in strength in 1943 & disbanded in the May 1944 TOE reorganization (details in link)

 

[Brig]

Excellent stuff!

[patches]

Our thanks to Kurt, Brig and Salvage, it explains it all.

[patches]

Found a online image of that off seen in books Marine Stuart on The Canal, the Crewman in Khakis with the Tommygun.