The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF ; Japanese: 海軍特別陸戦隊, romanized: Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai) were the marines of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were a part of the IJN land forces. They saw extensive service in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The SNLF should not be confused with the Naval Landing Forces, which were primarily ad-hoc units of naval personnel formed into naval infantry and paratrooper units whom rarely performed proper amphibious operations and were primarily utilized in a defensive role ashore.
The SNLF gained the distinction of being the first foreign forces to establish a foothold on American soil since the War of 1812, when troops of the Maizuru 3rd SNLF landed on Kiska Island, Alaska without opposition on June 6, 1942 and occupied the island as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. After a year of occupation, with reinforcements from thousands of Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) soldiers, they completely evacuated on July 28, 1943 two weeks before Allied forces landed.
In a well known last stand in 1943, approximately 1,700 men of the 7th Sasebo SNLF and 2,000 base personnel (mostly the 3rd Special Base Force) at the Battle of Tarawa accounted for over 3,000 U.S. Marine Corps casualties.
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