Why was the US Marine Corps not used for the D Day Landings in Normandy June 1944.?
The short answer is that the Marines had the doctrine and training and expertise needed to pull off operations in the Pacific theater, rather than being shipped to the European theater. The US Navy’s main fleet operations were to be focused upon Japan, and that meant the Marines would be, as well. The Marine Corps was the primary ground force for the operations in the Pacific. Remember, too, that the Marines were then, as they are now, and always have been, a much smaller organizatiion than the Army. As an example, US Army (and Air Force, which was part of the Army then) manpower strength topped out at over 8 million men and women during the war. Marine troop strength topped out just under a half-million in the same time period. There were only 6 Marine Divisions formed during the war, as well as quite a number of defense battlaions, as compared to the literally hundreds of Army divisions. Because the fighting in the Pacific would require a large committment of the Navy, and the Marine
