Indian Marine Corps: An Alternate Indian Military History

[Buddha1942]

Had this idea mulling around in my head
India at present doesn't really have a Marine Corps per se though they do have troops capable of amphibious assault via the 34th Inf Bde XII Corps (India) but they don't have a dedicated marine assault corps.
So in this timeline following the logistics gaps exposed by Operation Lal Dora in 1983 PM Gandhi orders the establishment of a Marine Corps.

Given the military alignments of the time they would be trained by the Russian Marines. So it won't be a autonomous force like the US Marines but more likely a force similiar to the Russian Marines meant to be an auxillary to the Navy/Army.

 

[RealSG]

India does have it's MARCOS which serve the same purpose

 

[Buddha1942]

India does have it's MARCOS which serve the same purpose

The Marcos are more akin to the Navy Seals than like a full branch of the military than the marines. Granted the Marcos are awesome no two ways around that.

 

[RealSG]

India would have to have a more militant outlook and be more involved in global matters to justify the expense especially since the economy was facing several problems and it had not yet liberalised.

 

[GarethC]

What does India need a naval infantry force for? Invading Sri Lanka after the 1985 test defeat? Annexing all those lucrative Maldivian tourist dollars?

 

[RealSG]

Would probably require the Soviet Union to foot the bill for the training for which they can get better-trained allies for missions in places close to India i.e the Gulf countries and Afghanistan.

 

[prani]

Our military is terrestrial, you know experts in fighting in the desert or high altitude or jungle and it's not by accident, the army, always recieves the biggest chunk of the military budget followed by the airforce and finally the navy, without the domestic shipbuilding industry which is fairly above average, India might have had a brown water navy. The main reason for this is because of the American security assurance for freedom of navigation at high seas. Not only india, not many non western nations don't have a navy the size or calibre of the United States because it makes no sense when the American navy is doing the ditry work. But in a timeline where the American assurance is not a given then you might expect nations to build strong navy together with strong naval infantry to assure protection for their merchant fleet and enforce their maritime security and claims.

 

[RealSG]

The Indian Marines need a reason to exist beyond the small failure of Operation Lal Dora. If somebody Myanmar attacks India or works against it's interests,damages it's sovereignty in any way by capturing or killing it's citizens even accidentally, you could easily garner enough public support for such a venture for attacking the coastal Myanmar and Irrawady delta

 

[Buddha1942]

That's why I'm keeping it as at the corps level not a full blown branch like the American military.
Lal Dorna wasn't a small failure Mauritius is one of India's key foreign allies.
Plus well the PM in the initial conception would be Indira Gandhi. To say she was the most militarily aggressive PM has had is an understatement. If any PM would do it would be her.

 

[Monk78]

Had this idea mulling around in my head
India at present doesn't really have a Marine Corps per se though they do have troops capable of amphibious assault via the 34th Inf Bde XII Corps (India) but they don't have a dedicated marine assault corps.
So in this timeline following the logistics gaps exposed by Operation Lal Dora in 1983 PM Gandhi orders the establishment of a Marine Corps.

Given the military alignments of the time they would be trained by the Russian Marines. So it won't be a autonomous force like the US Marines but more likely a force similiar to the Russian Marines meant to be an auxillary to the Navy/Army.

Soviet marine itself was a tiny force even in the heyday of the Cold War , better to have the British or French train them
But in all honesty this is a unnecessary drain on indias budget, maybe the go for a state of the art long range maritime strike plane ?

 

[RealSG]

Would India's forces have performed better in Sri Lanka if the Corps were formed?

 

[Buddha1942]

The Indian Marines need a reason to exist beyond the small failure of Operation Lal Dora. If somebody Myanmar attacks India or works against it's interests,damages it's sovereignty in any way by capturing or killing it's citizens even accidentally, you could easily garner enough public support for such a venture for attacking the coastal Myanmar and Irrawady delta

This was actually what partially started of the idea and why I chose Lal Dora as the sort of starting point. I can mostly see the corps coming into their own in the 2000s with the somali pirates and later.

Would India's forces have performed better in Sri Lanka if the Corps were formed?

This is difficult to say. Yes having a dedicated marine force would have made it easier to say target the LTTE smugglers on the coast and maybe be basicially a MARCOs on steroids.

However Sri Lanka was a difficult situation on all sides. Though given indian amphibious troops were deployed there in IRL, the Corps would be deployed there.

 

[HARRY]

The Indian Marines need a reason to exist beyond the small failure of Operation Lal Dora. If somebody Myanmar attacks India or works against it's interests,damages it's sovereignty in any way by capturing or killing it's citizens even accidentally, you could easily garner enough public support for such a venture for attacking the coastal Myanmar and Irrawady delta

Pirates were the reason the US and Britain have Marines as well as to guard navy bases. If the East India Company who formed the Bombay Marine which became the Royal Indian Navy before indepedence when it was split between Pakistan & India to form their navies had pirate problem where they needed to invade a base they could start a Marine corp or at least the begins of one.

 

[Rajveer Naha]

To meet the OP requirements we can simply go for a force of 30000 personnel like the South Korean Marines. It would be useful for coastal operations and minor special operations and peacekeeping but in a war it would of limited value. Against China it is useless against Pakistan it can only be used after the PAF is worn down and air superiority is established and the Pakistani Navy is destroyed, which would take months.

A more modest force of about 15000 is better as it can do the non war roles just as well and is available for rapid deployment in the Indian Ocean Region.

This plan would also need a fleet of Amphibious assault ships and a capability to deploy at least 5000 men in a wave(China can deploy 13000).

But as per me the OP should be better served by a major airborne force. India currently only has the Para commando regiment which is a brigade sized unit. But it wouldn't hurt to have two divisions of normal airborne troops. They could be extremely useful in a war against Pakistan. They could be used to cause confusion behind lines, seize strategic bridge heads, etc.
But it would cost significantly more due to a massive airlift capacity needed to sustain them.

 

[RealSG]

A force of about 10,000 in starting would be ideal, small enough to be usable yet also not too large to drain the budget, they can probably gain more experience fighting against piracy and help protect important routes.

 

[Monk78]

To meet the OP requirements we can simply go for a force of 30000 personnel like the South Korean Marines. It would be useful for coastal operations and minor special operations and peacekeeping but in a war it would of limited value. Against China it is useless against Pakistan it can only be used after the PAF is worn down and air superiority is established and the Pakistani Navy is destroyed, which would take months.

A more modest force of about 15000 is better as it can do the non war roles just as well and is available for rapid deployment in the Indian Ocean Region.

This plan would also need a fleet of Amphibious assault ships and a capability to deploy at least 5000 men in a wave(China can deploy 13000).

But as per me the OP should be better served by a major airborne force. India currently only has the Para commando regiment which is a brigade sized unit. But it wouldn't hurt to have two divisions of normal airborne troops. They could be extremely useful in a war against Pakistan. They could be used to cause confusion behind lines, seize strategic bridge heads, etc.
But it would cost significantly more due to a massive airlift capacity needed to sustain them.

You think airborne units will survive against a major army with tanks APC and artillery?

 

[Monk78]

A force of about 10,000 in starting would be ideal, small enough to be usable yet also not too large to drain the budget, they can probably gain more experience fighting against piracy and help protect important routes.

10000 is a very big force , almost as big as soviet marines

 

[Rajveer Naha]

You think airborne units will survive against a major army with tanks APC and artillery?

No they won't an armoured unit always massacres the paratroopers in open battle. Paratroopers can rapidly seize and hold a position or link up with the other land units. I am not suggesting that we repeat Crete by fighting with airborne troops alone but that they would be a valuable asset in the Punjab front they can aid in capturing bridgeheads across the various canals and rivers and some critical infrastructure ahead of the advancing columns. In the Sindh front they can be used in the Rann of Kutch and the Indus Delta where using armour is difficult

I doubt that the leadership would be using them as cannon fodder as you suggest.

10000 is a very big force , almost as big as soviet marines

But a third of the present South Korean Marines. That is something which is sustainable although not in the 80s.

 

[Monk78]

No they won't an armoured unit always massacres the paratroopers in open battle. Paratroopers can rapidly seize and hold a position or link up with the other land units. I am not suggesting that we repeat Crete by fighting with airborne troops alone but that they would be a valuable asset in the Punjab front they can aid in capturing bridgeheads across the various canals and rivers and some critical infrastructure ahead of the advancing columns. In the Sindh front they can be used in the Rann of Kutch and the Indus Delta where using armour is difficult

I doubt that the leadership would be using them as cannon fodder as you suggest.

But a third of the present South Korean Marines. That is something which is sustainable although not in the 80s.

In all fairness Wehrmacht didn’t really have marines or armor there so as insane as it was the paras were the only choice.
I see your point regarding their use the question is how soon can they achieve this and how long can they hold until Indian armor arrives. If it goes wrong it will look more like Arnhem than Crete.Also how many reserve armor or motorized units can the Pakistani afford to direct against them.
Can they be used as alpine troops as well ? And how do you propose they can be air dropped deep into Pakistani territory without complete air superiority ?
Thanks

 

[RealSG]

Marine Corps only make sense if India focuses on it's naval assets more which has started only recently. It was not popular before as both Pakistan and China needed the Army and the Airforce which meant that the navy got the short end of the stick for some time. There must be an external threat for India to respond to.