German Marine Corps

In WWI there Germans had a three division corps of Marines on the Belgian coast I WWII the Germans had single Marine battalion.

WI by 1938, the German Navy had 2 or 3 divisions of Marines?
 

NothingNow

Banned
Why would the germans need to raise whole divisions of naval infantry anyway?
All it would do is make the british government much more wary of German rearmament, which is a very, very bad thing when the Czechoslovaks and Poles were more than capable of mauling the Wehrmacht.

A couple more battalions would be enough for any real contingency at that point.
 
While it doesn't really answer your question "The Little Admiral" by Wade G. Dudley might be something you'd like to read. It's about a considerably more naval minded Hitler (the SS is a marine force or something like that). Don't read it hoping it's the most plausible thing ever though :p
 
The three divisions on the Belgian coast were organized and trained specifically for defending that coast. Largely of redundant naval personnel they were filling a secondary mission the army could have filled just as well.

In 1939 the USN had just two expeditionary brigades of it Marines. Really hard to see what the much smaller German Navy could have done with three divisions.
 
In the days of Imperial Germany, with colonial possessions, Marines make sense; there were Marines at Tsingtao, and a battalion's worth was on their way home from China when WW I broke out. They wound up fighting in East Africa for the duration.

The Kregismarine had no real need for Marines, though they did have Naval Security Battalions that performed guard duty and base defense functions at Naval bases. Reforming a Marine Corps may have been one of Raeder's long-term plans, but like so much of the DKM's ideas, it wasn't to be.
 
Postwar, the German Marines are given credit by legions of adoring fans for inspiring the buildup of the USMC during the war. Much more is written about the amphibious exploits of the German Marines, despite the USMC having much more amphibious exploits than the Germans.
 
You need a navy to have marines. In WW1, Germany has a large surface fleet and hypothetically the ability to stage landings with marines. Also had colonial outposts. That was not true in WW2. Other than ship and base security, what value would marines have for the KM.
 
Marines weren't really that relevant to their war goals for the most part. They put a lot more effort into the Fallschirmjäger, who could (in theory) have accomplished anything they really needed Marines for. I guess German Marines could have helped out in North Africa/the Mediterranean in general.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
WI by 1938, the German Navy had 2 or 3 divisions of Marines?

It makes Sealion no more possible than otherwise. However, it gives greater credibility to Churchill's efforts to spook the British and American people regarding the threat of invasion.
 
Why would the germans need to raise whole divisions of naval infantry anyway?
All it would do is make the british government much more wary of German rearmament, which is a very, very bad thing when the Czechoslovaks and Poles were more than capable of mauling the Wehrmacht.

A couple more battalions would be enough for any real contingency at that point.

Would have been useful in Norway, plus if the Luftwaffe could have panzer and infantry division, Marine divisions would not be unrealistic
 
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