USMC
Raider History
Organized in January of 1942, the Raider Battalions were developed as a Marine Corps special mission force, based on the success of the British commandos and Chinese guerillas operating in northern China.
Disbanded two years later, Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson and almost 5,000 Marine Corps Raiders were legend in the South Pacific.
From Guadalcanal and the Makin Atoll to Bougainville and New Georgia, lightly armed and intensely trained Raiders had a three-fold mission: spearhead larger amphibious landings on beaches thought to be inaccessible, conduct raids requiring surprise and high speed, and operate as guerilla units for lengthy periods behind enemy lines.
Edson's Raiders, the 1st Raider Battalion, were tested first during the August 7, 1942 Guadalcanal landing, striking at Tulagi, an island across the channel from the main landing force.
Ten days later a force of 221 from the 2nd Raider Battalion, called Carlson's Raiders for its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson, landed from two submarines on Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll. The raid inflicted heavy damage and forced the Japanese to divert troops from reinforcing Guadalcanal.
Edson and his Raiders, in conjuction with the Marines 1st Parachute Battalion, left their mark on the Guadalcanal campaign during the night of September 13 - 14. The intense and vicious close quarters fight is known as the Battle of Edson's Ridge, or Bloody Ridge. Among those decorated for heroism was Edson, who received the Medal of Honor.
The 2nd Raiders, refitted, rested and rearmed, landed on a remote Guadalcanal beach led by Carlson and conducted their famous Thirty Days Behind the Lines operation from November 4 to December 4, 1942.
The 4th Raider Battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel Michael S. Currin, moved up the Solomon Island chain after the capture of Guadalcanal and slipped ashore on New Georgia in late June 1943. For two months the 4th Raiders and their colleagues from the 1st Raider Battalion, joined by other Marine and Army units, fought a series of actions in the dense jungle and deep swamps. In August 1943, Bairoko Harbor, New Georgia was the final action for these men as members of the 1st and 4th Raider Battalions.
Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands, at nearly 30 miles wide and 125 miles long, was the assignment of the 2nd and 3rd Raider Battalions as they led the way for the November 1, 1943 invasion. The units, led by Lieutenant Colonels Joseph S. McCaffrey and Fred S. Beans, fighting beside Army and Marine Corps troops, suffered heavy casulties during their more than two months ashore on Bougainville. By mid-January, 1944, the Raiders were withdrawn and less than a month later the elite Raider Battalions were disbanded.
The 1st, 3rd and 4th Raider Battalions became the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 4th Marine Regiment when that regiment was re-established on February 1, 1944, bearing the name and honors of the original 4th Regiment lost in the Philippines in 1942. The 2nd Battalion became Weapons Company, 4th Marine Regiment.
The legacy of the short-lived Raider history lives on in the perpetual memorial of the former USS Edson, the destroyer bearing the name of the first Marine Raider. Twenty-two other U.S. Navy ships are named for men of the 1st Raider Battalion who were killed in action.
Dan Marsh's Marine Raider Page