Merrill ' s Marauders Merrill ’ s Marauders ( named after Frank Merrill ) or Unit " Galahad " , officially named the 5307th Composite Unit ( Provisional ) , was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit , which fought in the South - East Asian theatre of World War II , or CBI . The unit became famous for its deep - penetration missions behind Japanese lines , often engaging Japanese forces superior in number . Formation and training . In the Quebec Conference ( QUADRANT ) of August 1943 , Allied leaders decided to form a U . S . deep penetration unit that would attack Japanese troops in Burma . The new U . S . force was directly inspired by , and partially modeled on Orde Wingate ' s Chindits Long Range Penetration Force . A call for volunteers attracted around 3 , 000 men . A Memorandum from the Operations Division ( OPD ) of the War Department dated 18 September 1943 ( OPD 320 . 2 ) listed the proposed composition of the new American long - range penetration force , which would be an all - volunteer unit . The Caribbean Defense Command provided 960 jungle - trained officers and men , 970 jungle - trained officers and men came from Army Ground Forces ( based in the Continental United States ) and a further 674 " battle - tested " jungle troops from the South Pacific Command ( Army veterans of the Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands campaign s ) , with all troops to assemble at Noumea , New Caledonia . General Douglas MacArthur was also directed to transfer 274 Army combat - experienced volunteers from the Southwest Pacific Command , veterans of the New Guinea and Bougainville campaign s . A few Pacific veteran volunteers came from stockade s where volunteering earned them their freedom . They were sprinkled throughout the unit and called " The Dead End Kids " after the Hollywood film series featuring juvenile delinquents . The unit was officially designated as " 5307th Composite Unit ( provisional ) " ' with the code name " Galahad " . The men were first sent to India arriving in Bombay on 31 October 1943 to train . Here they were reinforced with Air Corps and Signal Corps personnel , as well as an animal transport company with mules and experienced muledrivers . Officers and men were equipped with U . S . HBT cotton OD uniforms , M - 1943 fatigues , Type II field shoes ( with or without canvas leggings ) , jungle boots , canvas load - bearing equipment , blanket ( one - half tent or " shelter - half " per man ) , poncho , and a machete or kukri for brush clearing . Small arms included the . 30 - 06 M1 Garand , the . 30 - 06 M1903A4 sniper rifle , the . 30 M1 carbine , the . 45 Thompson submachine gun , the . 45 M1911 pistol , the . 30 - 06 BAR , and the . 30 M1919 Browning air - cooled belt - fed machine gun . Mules were used to haul radios , ammunition , and heavier support weapons , including the bazooka and the U . S . 60 mm M2 Mortar ; the latter was often employed without its baseplate in order to speed deployment . The 5307th was originally destined to train in long - range penetration tactics under the direction of Brigadier Charles Orde Wingate , commander of the Chindits . At Deolali , 200 km ( 125 miles ) outside Bombay , the troops endured both physical conditioning and close - order drill , before entraining for Deogarh , India . The unit was to have 700 animals that included 360 mules . There were to be as many more but the ship that carrying them was torpedoed in the Arabian Sea . They were replaced by 360 Australian Waler horse s that had originally been with the 112th Cavalry in New Caledonia who were deemed unfit for jungle warfare . They had traveled to India where they served with the Chinese Army before being assigned to the 5307th . From the end of November , 1943 to the end of January , 1944 the 5307th remained at Deogarh and trained intensively . All officers and men received instruction in scouting and patrolling , stream crossings , weapons , navigation , demolitions , camouflage , small - unit attacks on entrenchments , evacuation of wounded personnel , and the then - novel technique of supply by airdrop . Special emphasis was placed on " jungle lane " marksmanship at pop - up and moving targets using small arms . In December the 5307th conducted a weeklong maneuver in coordination with Chindit forces . However , U . S . General Joseph Stilwell was determined that the only U . S . combat troops available in the theater would not serve under British command . As the only Allied ground commander without a subordinate contingent of infantry forces from his own army , Stilwell was aware that he would have minimal influence upon Allied ground strategy in Burma unless he could gain command of the Marauders . Admiral Lord Mountbatten , the supreme Allied commander of the South East Asia Command ( SEAC ) , was persuaded by Stilwell , deputy supreme Allied commander , that they should serve under the Northern Combat Area Command ( NCAC ) . Stilwell appointed brigadier general Frank Merrill to command them , leading American war correspondents to dub the unit " Merrill ’ s Marauders " . Operations . In early 1944 , the Marauders were organized as light infantry assault units , with mule transport for their 60 mm mortars , bazookas , ammunition , communications gear , and supplies . Although the 5307th ' s three battalions were equivalent to a regimental - size unit , its lack of organic heavy weapons support meant the force had a combat power less than that of a single regular American infantry battalion , a fact that General Stilwell and his NCAC staff did not always appreciate . Without heavy weapons support , the unit would have to rely on flexibility and surprise to outfight considerably larger Japanese forces . Weight was critical to the Marauders , and the need for a compact , lightweight field ration was essential ; unfortunately , the best solution , the dry Jungle ration , at 4 , 000 calories per day , had been discontinued for cost reasons in 1943 . On the advice of Army supply officers in Washington , General Stilwell and his G - 4 staff determined that a one - per - day issuance of the U . S . Army ' s 2 , 830 calorie K ration would be sufficient to maintain the Marauders in the field . While compact , the K ration not only had fewer calories but less bulk , and included some components so unappetizing as to be thrown away by nearly all users . On the advice of British General Orde Wingate , the force was divided into two self - contained combat teams per battalion . In February 1944 , in an offensive designed to disrupt Japanese offensive operations , three battalions in six combat teams ( coded Red , White , Blue , Khaki , Green , and Orange ) marched into Burma . On 24 February , the force began a 1000 - mile march over the Patkai region of the Himalayas and into the Burmese jungle behind Japanese lines . A total of 2 , 750 Marauders entered Burma ; the remaining 247 men remained in India as headquarters and support personnel . While in Burma , the Marauders were usually outnumbered by Japanese troops from the 18th division , but always inflicted many more casualties than they suffered . Led by Kachin scouts , and using mobility and surprise , the Marauders harassed supply and communication lines , shot up patrols , and assaulted Japanese rear areas , in one case cutting off the Japanese rearguard at Maingkwan . Near Walawbum , a town believed by General Stilwell ' s NCAC staff to be lightly held , the 3rd Battalion fought magnificently , killing some 400 – 500 enemy soldiers . The Japanese were continually surprised by the heavy , accurate volume of fire they received when attacking Marauder positions . Its combat - experienced officers had carefully integrated light mortar and machine gun fires , and virtually every man was armed with a self - loading or automatic weapon in which he had trained to a high level of marksmanship . In March they severed Japanese supply lines in the Hukawng Valley . Informed by the British that the situation in Imphal was under control , Stilwell wanted to launch a final assault to capture the Japanese airfield at Myitkyina . Always guarded against the potential for interference by the British , General Stilwell did not coordinate his plans with Admiral Mountbatten , instead transmitting separate orders to his Chinese forces and the Marauders . The men took a brief rest at Shikau Gau , a jungle village clearing where they bartered with the native inhabitants for fresh eggs and chickens with an issue of 10 - in - one and C rations . The Marauders also took the opportunity to sunbathe in an attempt to control the onset of various fungal skin diseases . Now down to a little over 2 , 200 officers and men , the 5307th began a series of battles on the march to Myitkyina . In April , the Marauders were ordered by General Stilwell to take up a blocking position at Nhpum Ga and hold it against Japanese attacks , a conventional defensive action for which the unit had not been equipped . At times surrounded , the Marauders coordinated their own battalions in mutual support to break the siege after a series of fierce assaults by Japanese forces . At Nhpum Ga , the Marauders killed 400 Japanese soldiers , while suffering 57 killed in action , 302 wounded , and 379 incapacitated due to illness and exhaustion . Of the unit ' s 200 mules , 75 were killed by artillery and mortar fire . A concurrent outbreak of amoebic dysentery ( contracted after linking up with Chinese forces ) further reduced their effective strength . Although the Marauders had previously avoided losses from this deadly disease ( in part by use of halazone tablets and strict field sanitation procedures ) , their encampment with Chinese infantry , who used the rivers as latrines , proved their undoing ( the Chinese troops , who always boiled their drinking water , were not seriously affected ) . The disadvantages of supplying Marauders with a single K ration per day now made themselves felt , as the troops became increasingly malnourished ; the onset of the rainy season combined with Japanese pressure and inhospitable terrain prevented many supply drops , exacerbating the problem . Even now , one K ration ( three meals ) per day was deemed adequate by General Stilwell ' s staff , augmented by occasional drops of dry rice , jam , bread , candy , and C rations . When encountering Chinese troops , many men began to barter their K ration cigarettes for rice and other foods . Myitkyina and the end . On 17 May 1944 , after a grueling march over the Kumon Mountain range ( using mules for carrying supplies ) to Myitkyina , approximately 1 , 300 remaining Marauders , along with elements of the 42nd and 150th Chinese Infantry Regiments of the X Force , attacked the unsuspecting Japanese at the Myitkyina airfield . The airfield assault on 17 May 1944 was a complete success ; however , the town of Myitkyina could not immediately be taken with the forces on hand . An initial assault by elements of two Chinese regiments was repulsed with heavy losses . NCAC intelligence staff had once again badly underestimated Japanese troop strength in the town , which had steadily been reinforced and now possessed a garrison of some 4 , 600 well - armed and fanatical Japanese defenders . Weakened by hunger , the 5307th continued fighting through the height of the monsoon season , worsening the situation ; it also transpired that the area around Myitkyina had the largest reported incidence of scrub typhus , which some Marauders contracted after sleeping on infected areas of untreated ground , earth or grass . Racked with bloody dysentery and fevers , sleeping in the mud , Marauders alternately assaulted , then defended in a seesaw series of brutal conventional infantry engagements with Japanese forces . In a 1945 interview , Captain Fred O . Lyons , a Marauder officer , related the nature of the struggle : By now my dysentery was so violent I was draining blood . Every one of the men was sick from one cause or another . My shoulders were worn raw from the pack straps , and I left the pack behind . . . The boys with me weren ' t in much better shape . . . A scout moving ahead suddenly held his rifle high in the air . That meant Enemy sighted . . . Then at last we saw them , coming down the railroad four abreast . . . The gunner crouched low over his tommy - gun and tightened down . Then the gun spoke . Down flopped a half - dozen Japs , then another half dozen . The [ Japanese ] column spewed from their marching formation into the bush . We grabbed up the gun and slid back into the jungle . Sometimes staggering , sometimes running , sometimes dragging , I made it back to camp . I was so sick I didn ' t care whether the Japs broke through or not ; so sick I didn ' t worry any more about letting the colonel down . All I wanted was unconsciousness . After reinforcement by an airlanded Chinese army division , the town finally fell to the Allies on 3 August 1944 . The Japanese commander escaped with about 600 of his men ; 187 Japanese soldiers were captured , and the rest , some 3 , 800 men , were killed in combat . In their final mission , the Marauders suffered 272 killed , 955 wounded , and 980 evacuated for illness and disease ; some men later died from cerebral malaria , amoebic dysentery , and / or scrub typhus . Somewhat ironically , Marauders evacuated from the front lines were given jungle hammocks with protective sandfly netting and rain covers in which to sleep , equipment which might have prevented various diseases and illnesses had they been issued earlier in the campaign . The casualties included General Merrill himself , who had suffered a second heart attack before going down with malaria . He was replaced by his second - in - command , Colonel Charles N . Hunter , who later prepared a scathing report on General Stilwell ' s medical evacuation policies ( eventually prompting an Army Inspector General investigation and congressional hearings ) . By the time the town of Myitkyina was taken , only about 200 surviving members of the original Marauders were present . A week after Myitkyina fell , on 10 August 1944 , the 5307th was disbanded with a final total of 130 combat - effective officers and men ( out of the original 2 , 997 ) . Of the 2 , 750 to enter Burma , only two were left alive who had never been hospitalized with wounds or major illness . None of the horses and only 41 mules survived . Legacy . In slightly more than five months of combat , the Marauders had advanced through some of the harshest jungle terrain in the world , fought in 5 major engagements ( Walawbum , Shaduzup , Inkangahtawng , Nhpum Ga , and Myitkyina ) and engaged in combat with the Japanese Army on thirty - two separate occasions , including two conventional defensive battles with enemy forces for which the force had not been intended nor equipped . Battling Japanese soldiers , hunger , fevers , and disease , they had traversed more jungle terrain on their long - range missions than any other U . S . Army formation during World War II . The men of the Merrill ' s Marauders enjoyed the rare distinction of having each soldier awarded the Bronze Star . In June 1944 , the 5307th Composite Unit ( provisional ) was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation : On 10 August 1944 the Marauders were consolidated into the 475th Infantry . On 21 June 1954 the 475th Infantry was re - designated as the 75th Infantry ; thus Merrill ' s Marauders is the parent of the 75th Infantry Regiment , from which descended the 75th Ranger Regiment . The commander of the 2nd battalion of the Marauders , Colonel George A . McGee was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame for extraordinary valor and exemplary service .