Why is so little known about them? They played a major role in the invasion of Poland but history has forgotten them.
since you mention Poland, I assume you mean the marines, not the later war naval infantry divisions (which were similar to the Luftwaffe infantry divisions). I think it may be an exaggeration to say they played a major role in the Polish campaign - all they did was attack a port and have trouble taking an army depot (which perhaps belies their elite status but the terrain and perhaps a lack of heavy equipment was against them) . This was only a single battalion of men, so I wouldn't expect too much to be written about them. If you look at the Axis history forum and Wikipedia you can find the following: The first Seebataillon was organized on 13 May 1852 as the Royal Prussian Marinier-Korps at Stettin. In the first World War, there were three battalions, and they took part in the occupation of Kiautschou in China and garrisoned Tsingtao. They were trained as infantry in amphibious operations and had an exchange of officers with the regular army. They were part of the navy and wore navy uniforms. The Marine-Stoßtrupp-Kompanie was formed in March 1938. It initially consisted of two infantry platoons, one engineer platoon and one weapons platoon with a total strength about 250 men. It was regarded as an elite formation. On 23 March 1939 Marineartillerieabteilung III from Swinemunde provided a landing force to occupy the port area of Memel when it was taken from Lithuania. The 1st Minesweeper Flotilla transported the unit (consisting of 225 men) from Memel to Danzig on about 25 August 1939. They were transferred secretly to the waiting German WWI era Battleship Schleswig-Holstein and attacked the Westerplatte on 1 September 1939. This was the first battle in the invasion of Poland. It involved an attack on the port and a surprise attack on a defended and partly fortified army depot. In 1940 the unit was expanded to six companies as Marine-Stoßtrupp-Abteilung. The formation participated in the attack on Norway, and the occupation of Normandy. It was readied for the assault on the Channel Islands 30 June 1940 but since they were taken without fighting it was stood down. A section was airlanded on one of the islands though. It was later renamed Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 531. The unit later fought near St. Petersburg at the Oranienbaum pocket 1941-1944, at NARVA in 1944, in Operation "Tanne Ost" in 1944, the defence of the Island of Oesel 1944, and finally in 1945 in Gotenhafen and the peninsula of Hela I would like to know where the unit was after the Channel Islands invasion - [SIZE=medium]this unit is not mentioned in any Sealion plans, but - being located in France at the right time and Germany’s only troops trained in amphibious operations - it may be assumed that it had a role (even if only as crew for the ships/barges/coasters).[/SIZE]
There isn't much to find on them, because they didn't do all that much. Germany never took part in any large amphibious operations. The primary objective of naval infantry was the defense of ports and other naval facilities. Is there anything specific you wish to know about them?
