The Marine Corps, while maintaining the Fourth Brigade of Marines, a total of 258 officers and 8,211 enlisted men, that fought in eight battle operations suffering approximately 12,000 casualties, placed and maintained the Fifth Brigade of Marines of the same strength in France; supplied the commanding general of the Second Division, and many officers on his staff; furnished a considerable number of officers to command Army units of the Second and other divisions, and for staff and detached duty throughout the American Expeditionary Forces; participated in the naval aviation activities in France and in the Azores; and during the period of the war succeeded in performing in a highly satisfactory manner the naval duties required of it, including the maintenance of two brigades of prewar strength standing by to protect the Mexican oil fields, and as an advanced base force in Philadelphia; one in Cuba; one in Santo Domingo, and one in Haiti; administered and officered the Haitian Gendarmerie and Guardia Nacional Dominicana; as well as providing efficient Marine detachments for numerous naval vessels, and maintaining garrisons at the numerous navy yards and naval stations in the United States; and in the Virgin Islands; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Islands; Guam; Cavite and Olongapo, P. I.; Managua, Nicaragua; Peking, China; San Juan, P. R.; London, England; Cardiff, Wales; Paris, France; and the Azores; and supplied many officers and enlisted men for special and detached duty at home and abroad. Chapter II. STATUTORY AND ACTUAL STRENGTH OF THE MARINE CORPS ON VARIOUS DATES. STATUTORY STRENGTH. The act of Congress of August 29, 1916, increased the authorized strength of the Marine Corps from 344 officers and 9,921 enlisted men to 597 officers and 14,981 enlisted men, and the President was authorized in an emergency to further increase the corps to 693 officers and 17,400 enlisted men, which he did by Executive order on March 26, 1917.