307 Marine Battalion (Batalionul 307 Infanterie Marina - BIM)
Marine infantry represents a weapon which is specific to all the armies of the countries having an exit to the sea or interested in maritime coastal areas. The 307th Marine Battalion (Batalionul 307 Infanterie Marina) is the light infantry / reconnaissance / special operations unit of the Romanian Navy. Its operational capabilities are similar to those of the United States Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalions, which have provided member exchange programs and instructors to their Romanian counterpart. But the Romanian naval infantry is not properly speaking a Marine Corps, since the Romanian Navy has no amphibious ships or craft.
At present, the structure of the 307 Marine Battalion is laid on the specific structure, doctrine and operational requests: the battalion is made up of marine infantry subunits (marine snipers), research, snipers, launchers, anti-armored craft, engeneer [sappers], communications, logistics and support ships subunits, the 307 Marine Battalion is subordinate to the Navy Staff.
The 307 Marine Battalion has the following type of missions: deterring and annihilating terrorist actions in the Danube Delta area, the lagoon and river area, surveillance and protection of the routes of naval communication, transport missions, participating in peace operations, search and rescue missions at sea, monitoring the responsibility zone by NBC surveillance, primary medical assistance in situations of civilian emergencies, limiting and removing the effects of disasters or other crisis situation.
The battalion equipment includes: assault rifles, machine guns, launchers, light assault crafts, armored amphibious transporters and river carriers. The organization, operating environment and amphibious specificity of the missions carried out by the 307 Marine Battalion renders this structure of the Romanian Army unique both among the Naval Forces and the Romanian Army upon the whole.
In Romania the first combat elements, that foresaw missions specific for defense of coastal and Danube Delta areas, first appeared at the beginning of the third decade of the 20th century, with the establishment of the Fixed Logistic Support for Maritime and River Defense, a subordinate of the Royal navy. During the crisis at the beginning of World War II, on April, 1st, 1940, by High Decree no. 635, they put up for the defense of the seashore, as subsidiary of the Navy Corps of Engineers and the Coastal Artillery Division, the Marine Battalion the first and only unit of the kind in the Romanian Army. As of 1945, the intervention of the Allied Control Commission from Romania triggered the diminishing of marine infantry to 1000 conscripted personnel, in 1945. In 1948 it turns into a Marine Infantry Group and in 1958 it is dissolved upon request from the Soviet counselors.
On November, 29, 1971, the 307 Marine Battalion was created as an elite battalion inside the Marine Brigade, relocated in the casern in 2 MAI, South of MANGALIA. On this account the same date became the Day of Marine Infantry in Romania. After the instruction camps from the summer of 19721973, organized at BABADAG, the idea shaped up that the combat area for the 307 Marine Battalion should be the Danube Delta and the Lagoon Complex RAZELM-SINOE.
The experience gathered during the instruction camps on land and on water reinforced the necessity for a new casern for the battalion in BABADAG. Thus, in 1975, the battalion was relocated to BABADAG, TULCEA County, in an area extremely appropriate for carrying out missions and trainings specific to the weapon. The 307 Marine Battalion is destined to carry out military operations in an amphibious river and lagoon environment, the security of objectives in the coastal area, the Danube Delta and the support of local authorities in case of civilian emergency.
Despite its rather recent creation the 307 Marine Battalion has numerous participations in international missions; ever since 1995, marine subunits have participated in multinational exercises, common to similar structures from USA, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy as follows:
- 1995 Amphibious Romanian-Dutch Exercise in BABADAG
- 1998 - NATO "RESCUE EAGLE 98" Exercise in BABADAG.
- 1999 - Amphibious Romanian-Dutch Exercise, on Texell Island in Holland,
- 2000 - NATO "COOPERATIVE PARTNER 00" Exercise in Ukraine
- 2000 - NATO "LINKED SEAS 00" Exercise in Portugal,
- 2000 - NATO "RESCUE EAGLE '00" Exercise in BABADAG
- 2000 - Amphibious exercise with the Dutch Marine Infantry in BABADAG
- 2002 - NATO "COOPERATIVE PARTNER '02" Exercise in BABADAG,
- 2002 - NATO "STRONG RESOLVE 02" Exercise in Poland
- 2005 - Romanian-American Exercise "LYMAN TEACHER 05" in BABADAG
- 2005 - Romanian-American Exercise "ROMEX 05" in BABADAG
- 2006 Multinational Naval Exercise "COOPERATIVE MAKO 06" in CONSTANTA Harbor
- 2009 - Amphibious Romanian-Dutch Exercise, "COOPERATIVE LION 09" in the Northern Littoral Area from CONSTANTA and the river area from RASOVA, CALARASI County.
For the professional level of the missions carried out and the exemplary military conduct proved during these missions, the Romanian marines were presented with honorary medals and insignia by the commandants of the multinational forces, the commandants of the superior echelons form the Romanian Army as well as the Ministry of Defense. The Romanian marines were constantly appreciated for the professional manner they made use of in carrying out missions both by the homologous personnel of the multinational force and the local population from the theater of operations.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
