Commanders,

Welcome back to another WARNO - LANDJUT division preview! Let’s not fuss around and dive straight in with the much-anticipated and hotly awaited U.S. 2nd Marine Division.

Let’s go!

The U.S. 2nd Marine Division’s History

The Jarheads make their triumphant entry to WARNO with the introduction of the U.S. 2nd Marine Division. Before we go into the devil dog details of how the United States Marine Corps’ arsenal and unit roster will look like in WARNO, first, a little history.

The USMC has chiefly been used as an expeditionary and amphibious force (especially in its most recent years), but has also participated in many land battles during its existence, seeing action in a wide variety of major and minor conflicts of the 19th and 20th Century. This included World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and beyond.

The 2nd Marine Division first saw the light as the 2nd Marine Brigade in the 1930s, before being upgraded to division status in February 1941, only a few months before the United States’ official involvement in World War II. The formation famously saw action in the Pacific Theatre, island-hopping through hard-fought victories at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.

After the war, the 2nd Marine Division experienced a scattering of deployments (but not in Vietnam), with one of the most noteworthy ones being to Lebanon from 1982 to 1984. It was here that the formation suffered heavy loss of life during the infamous Beirut barracks bombing of 1983. The division’s Marines also participated in Operation Just Cause, the 1989 invasion of Panama.

The U.S. 2nd Marine Division’s in WARNO

In WARNO, the 2nd Marine Division returns to the States, earmarked for deployment in World War III to either Norway or Denmark. The formation was often trained for arctic warfare, participating in several deployments and training exercises, but by the end of the 1980s, additional NATO forces were being deployed to Norway. With rising tensions, this left the most likely destination for the 2nd Marine Division became Denmark.

Important to note, and giving us some fresh inspiration, is the later (real-life) deployment of the 2nd Marine Division in the Gulf War, where it played a major role in repelling an Iraqi attack during the Battle of Khafji.

The U.S. 2nd Marine Division’s in WARNO

So, how will the 2nd Marine Division look like in WARNO - LANDJUT? New units are both italic and bolded. Everything listed below is work-in-progress and subject to change.

As expected, the USMC fields its own army, with its own Table of Organization & Equipment, vehicles and weaponry, units, and uniforms. Every Marine is a rifleman! In WARNO, the Marines will be featured as naval infantry, all coming with the Resolute trait!

All USMC units will have specific new voice lines. Oorah!

LOG

• An average category, with the division’s command units coming in the form of USMC M1025 HUMVEE CP, the new amphibious USMC AAVC-7A1 and wheeled USMC LAV-C command vehicles.
• Supply units will be the USMC LAV-L light armored carrier and USMC LARC-60 CARGO heavy amphibious barge. The latter contains basically one-third of the supply capacity of a FOB (not included in the battlegroup) ... but mobile.
• The USMC CH-46E medium and USMC CH-53E heavy supply helicopters round out the divisional logistical train.

INF
A very good category. All new infantry units will display the new USMC models.

• The USMC had its own squad organisation. The basic USMC RIFLEMEN unit will be 13 men strong, fielding 10x M16, 3x M249, and a LAW. These will also come in AT-4 and DRAGON II variants. The former squad can only deploy in M35 trucks, while the latter two units will also have the option to be deployed in AAVP-7A1 (with M2HB and MK.19 automatic grenade launchers) heavy amphibious APC.
• USMC RIFLEMEN LEADER are only 3-man strong command squads, with M16, LAW and Smoke grenades. They come in either M988 HUMVEE, USMC UH-1N TWIN HUEY, or USMC UH-1N [RKT] (similar to both the unarmed and armed Canadian CH-135).
• Also deploying in helicopters is a single card of USMC AERO-RIFLEMEN, 8-strong with M16s, 2x M249, and a LAW. They can air assault in UH-1N TWIN HUEY or the CH-46E SEA KNIGHT.
• USMC ENGINEERS LDR. are 12-strong squads with M16, one M240 and LAW, while USMC ENGINEERS are only 10-strong with M16, one M240, and Satchel charges. They deploy in M35 trucks.
• Specialist infantry come in the form of USMC GUNNER, a 7-man squad with M16, 3x M60 and a LAW, as well as USMC ASSAULTMEN,a 4-man anti-tank group with M16 and two SMAW.
• Support weapon teams will be the usual array of USMC M2HB, USMC MK.19, and USMC TOW-2, all deployable in M998 HUMVEE or the funky-looking GAMA GOAT.

ART

• An average category. Mortar calibers are all 81mm, either towed USMC M252 or as a self-propelled USMC LAV-M.
• Heavier artillery units include the USMC M114 155mm and USMC M198 155mm howitzers.
• Self-propelled howitzers are the usual USMC M109A2 and USMC M110A2.
• A special mine-clearing vehicle, surely inspired by a World War II D-Day MRLS barge, is the USMC CATFAE: an AAVP amphibious APC, its open-top troop compartment filled with rows of (21) 280mm thermobaric rockets.

TANK

• An average category as the 2nd Marine Division could only count on a single tank battalion, entirely equipped with the USMC M60A1, in "vanilla" and command variant. Additionally, a single card of Gulf War-era USMC M60A1 ERA was “Marched to War” and can also be found in the battlegroup’s arsenal.
• Tank destroyers include the USMC M1025 HUWEE TOW-2, as well as the USMC LAV-AT: a LAV-25 with the M901 ITV's twin TOW-2 missile turret.

REC

• A pretty good tab, with the division’s LAV battalion right in the middle of all the recon action.
• Infantry-based units include:
  • USMC L.A.I. SCOUTS: a 4-man squad with one M16, one M21 DMR and 2x M249. Deployable in a USMC LAV-25 recon IFV.
  • USMC RECON: a 4-man team with M16 and AT-4. These come in a variety of different HUMVEE and USMC UH-1N options.
  • USMC SCOUT-SNIPERS: a 3-man team with one M16, one M40A1 sniper rifle (not a recoilless rifle, mind you!), and another M25 SWS sniper rifle. The same selection of HUMVEE and UH-1N as the previous unit.
  • FORCE RECON: the elite USMC special forces are featured as a 6-man recon squad with 3x Colt Commando, 2x M249, 1x M25 SWS sniper rifle, Carl Gustav and the Special Forces and Shock traits. They come in a HUMVEE or the CH-53E SEA STALLION.

• Recon vehicles are:
  • USMCM151A2 FAV, an M151 jeep with M60 and M2HB manned by Force Recon personnel, featuring the Special Forces and Airlift traits. It can deploy on its own, or by way of the CH-53E SEA STALLION.
  • USMC LAV-MEWSS, an unarmed recon/jammer variant of the LAV.

• Air recon includes:
  • USMC UH-1N SCOUT with two 7-round 70mm rocket pods.
  • The USMC OV-10 BRONCO, a dedicated recon plane with quad M60 machine-guns, 16x 127mm rockets and .... two AIM-9P air-to-air missiles!

AA

• Rather mediocre with no new shiny toys and only two units. In real-life, neither were part of the 2nd Marine Division but rather the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.
• You get to deploy a limited number of USMC STINGER MANPAD teams, and USMC I-HAWK.

HEL

• Back to a good category. While the USMC was never a user of the AH-64 Apache, instead, the division relied heavily on the upgraded AH-1W SUPER COBRA in four distinct loadouts:
• A RKT variant with the 20mm Gatling gun and 76x 70mm rockets.
• An AA: with 20mm Gatling, 2x AIM-9L air-to-air missiles, and 14x 70mm rockets.
• An AT version: with 20mm Gatling, plus 8x Hellfire ATGM, and 14x 70mm rockets.
• SEAD: with 20mm Gatling, 2x AGM-122 Sidearm SEAD missiles, and 14x 70mm rockets.

AIR

• A pretty good category with the USMC being able to field its own organic aircraft component in the form of the AV-8B HARRIER in RKT (16x Zuni), HE1 (4x Mk.83 454kg bombs), HE2 (12x Mk.82 227kg bombs, or a TRM (6x BLU-95 250kg thermobaric bombs) payload variant. All come also armed with a 25mm gatling gun and 2x AIM-9L.

• The U.S. Navy comes out flying in support of the 2nd Marine Division with A-6E INTRUDER [NPLM] and [SEAD] (already featured with the U.S. 6th Infantry Division (Light)), as well as the upgraded A-6E SWIP [AT] sporting 2x AGM-65E Maverick missiles.
• Lastly, the Navy’s posterboys come out in force with the F-14A TOMCAT in AA1 (4x Sparrow and 2x AIM-9H) and AA2 (4x Phoenix, 2x Sparrow and 2x AIM-9H). Both also have a 20mm Vulcan Gatling gun.

The U.S. 2nd Marine Division is a uniquely distinct American battlegroup, with its own potent mix of infantry, air, recon, and helicopter forces. Logistics and heavier arms, such as artillery and tanks, might be on the light side, which is more than fitting for such an iconic light expeditionary task force.

LANDJUT in brief

The WARNO - LANDJUT expansion will bring 8 new Divisions in a Tribute-style DLC, playable in Skirmish and Multiplayer, with one brand-new nation, Denmark. This means a host of new weapons, units, vehicles, and battlegroups, but no new Operations or Army General campaigns.

Check out the full disclosed LANDJUT Division list below:

• We already (briefly) detailed three previously showcased Nemesis divisions which will be reprised in WARNO - LANDJUT. The West German 6. Panzergrenadier, the Soviet 94-ya Gvardeyskaya Motostrelkovaya Diviziya and the East German 20. Motorisierte-Schützen-Division can be checked out in [url=]this short preview here[/url].

Until Next Time

All right, next week we’ll be back with another WARNO - LANDJUT expansion preview! We’ll take a good look… at a new Soviet naval infantry battlegroup.

Don’t forget to check out the vibrant WARNO community. Find the latest news on the Steam News page or visit the Steam Forums. Get together with other players on either the excellent Discord server, Reddit page, YouTube or our Instagram.

See you on the battlefield, commanders.