Choose one!

Impressive, and very interesting indeed. I´ve wondered for a long time how many Norwegians fought in the Winter War.

Welcome to the forum Saasta.

 

Thats some incredible info Saasta. Thanks for the post. I wonder how they all got along considering some are from Germany, Britian, Poland, Italy and so on.

I didn't even know they had an army.

 

People spread, but simpathy and probably roots brought them togehter. A war against a completely superior agressor is always inspiring, I don't think the Russians got any foreign volunteers for their army...

By the way, Zhukov_2003, the Baltic states were occupied (had been occupied?) by the Soviets during those days, and a lot of people there wanted to fight the agressors actively. There was a lot of hatred between the Russians and the Baltic peoples. This Winter war gave them a nice opportunity; in fact I'm surprised there were only 56...

During WW2, after the German retreat from Estonia, an ad hoc army of locals tried to stop the Russians in their assault because they knew this would mean occupation once again. They managed to hold off the onslaught for quite a while, actually.

 

One more interesting fact . 140 of 185 wounded Swedish soldiers were considered as wounded because of (bad?) frost injuries...It was very cold winter.

Websites:

http://www.winterwar.com
http://www.mannerheim.fi

 

That www.winterwar.com site is incredible! Check it out, all of you interested members, it's complete and fun and educational.

 

Offense: Rommel
Defense: Heiricci

Why, perhaps you should ask why not?

 

Indeed. These are the perfect guys for the task. Imagine what Rommel could have done in North Africa, had he been givemn adequate supply and replacements?

 

I wonder if Italy had just one tank to produce, the Panzer IV?\

Not taking into account the fuel shortages and the like, I would like to hear opinions on this. Remember just about the tank, nothing else please.

 

They wouldn't have been able to handle this tank, because what was sick in the Italian army was not the materiel (even though it sucked), but the soldiers' and commanders' attitude towards war. They had no feeling of spirit, no good training on new warfare, and no mobile mindset.

 

I will agree with that statement, however there were some divisions of the Italian army that did fight and fought well when led by the Germans.

Take two well equipped Italian armoured divisions N. Africa and Rommel may have had enough to take the Brits out of Egypt?

 

Probably, yes. If he had been given enough fuel to propel these two extra Panzer divisions through the desert..

 

Offense: Holland M. Smith

Defense: Walter Model.

 

Hmm, I don't completely agree with that! Italians troops were not that bad! Considering the conditions they fought under, I'd say, they did do rather well. They fought like the proverbial lions in the USSR fx. However, Italian officers in general were, as you say, usually very bad indeed and a lot of the equipment not up to date (Italy actually sold a lot of their modern gear to generate income)!

Offense: Patton/Guderian.
Defense: Model/Mannerheim.
Offense/Defense: Von Manstein/Slim.

I actually wondered wether to include Giovanni Messe in the Offense section, but stuck to Patton and Guderian. Yamashita and Rommel would have been good choices to, but Patton and Guderian are just, in my humble opinion, a notch or two better! However, the alle time best commander for either an offense or a defense most be Erich von Manstein with William Slim running a relative second!*

Best regards and all!

- Bluenote.

*) Yesyes, I'm a big Slim-fan! He's just so infuriatingly underestimated!!!!

 

Re: the Italians, bad leadership + bad equipment = bad results.

Offense: Patton
Defense: Mannerheim
Overall : Manstein

 

At last!!!! Someone else who recognizes the talents of Sir William Slim!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!

 

Slim was the best General the Brits had in WWII.

 

Erich von Manstein. The most gifted commander during WW2(by much common consensus), certainly Germany's best.

 

Yes!!!!!!! Finally, someone who can recognize talent outside of the ETO!!!!!

 

Please tell me more about this man. I like his name.

Hey Corp, I mentioned Slim as a good commander a long time ago! He was a splendid commander and inspiring too, which is very important.

 

True, you did. But no one else seems to think so. Hence my joy!

Holland M. Smith was a general in the United States Marine Corps. He commanded the ground troops in all of the major American amphibious landings in the Pacific, although his active role was rather curtailed after Saipan. During th battle for that island, he relieved the commander of a US Army division because he felt that the soldiers weren't moving as fast as they could and were causing his Marines to suffer unnecessary casualties. You can imagine the reaction of the Army brass when they found out that one of their generals had been relieved by a mere Marine! Smith single-handedly saved the Tarawa invasion from disaster by insisting that more LVTs be provided for the initial assault troops, because he listened to reports from an expert about a very low tide that sometimes occured in the Gilbert Islands at the season the invasion was to take place. Had he not done so, more Marines would have embarked in conventional landing craft, which could not have reached the beach due to insufficient water over the reef at Betio, forcing the first wave assault troops to wade over 100 yards through chest deep water under fire (a lot of the follow up waves had to do this anyway). His nickname was "Howlin' Mad" Smith, due to his volcanic temper. He wrote a book after the war, "Coral and Brass".