The German Marine Infantry 1849-1919: The History, Organisation, Uniforms & Equipment of the Seebataillone in Germany, China, Africa, the Balkans and ... German Armed Forces and Military History)

For the first time in the English language, the organisation, history and uniforms of the Seebataillone, the Imperial German Marine Infantry are described, illustrated and photographed in this book. In 1849, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia authorised the formation a battalion of Marine Infantry, which was named the Seebataillon shortly after. They were initially intended to defend her ports and to serve on-board ships., however Germany's new outward looking foreign and colonial policy from the 1880's onwards saw the Seebataillone expanded and used as elite rapid reaction forces around the world. They could be relatively quickly deployed overseas in times of war, rebellion or for international peacekeeping duties in much the same way as the modern US Marines or British Royal Marines. In these capacities, they provided Germany’s first armed responses to the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Herero Rebellion in German South West Africa and the Maji-Maji Rebellion in German East Africa. During the First World War, they fought at the Siege of Tsingtao against the Japanese, in the early Balkan campaign against Serbia under Austro-Hungarian command and on the Western Front where they defended the Flanders coastline. The last of the German Marine Infantry then fought as a Freikorps unit in the German Civil War.