What is your favorite division in either army and why?

1st fallschirmjager was a great fighting unit. Jumped into crete right?

 

Yeah they fought on Crete,Sicily,Cassino right through till the end of the Italian Campaign.

I think they spent some time in Russia as well.

 

Yeah they were some hardcore fighting men. Rescued Mussolini with Otto Skorzeny right?

 

I think it was a special forces group that did that raid not 1st para but from what i understand paras were part of the force you see the footage that is available of the raid and they are wearing para helmets.

 

If Germany focused more on training hard men like the Fallschirmjager rather than making fanatics they may have had a better shot at winning the war.

 

I see !! that's why they lost the war

Regards
Kruska

 

there was No 1st Fallschirm Div at Crete sorry, there was a regiment though. the Division incorporating the 1-4th rgt's did not function till 1943, of course we know of them for their famous stands in Sicily, at Cassino and the retreat up the northern gut towards my own Families homestead in the Süd Tirol

 

I say my favorite would be the German 90th Light Division. Performed amazing feats under Rommel in the desert.

 

The Para division on Crete was called 7th airbourne division with three regiments 1st,2nd,3rd.

After Crete the 2nd regiment was taken from the division to form 2nd para division.

7th Airbourne division had another regiment added to it the 4th so they had 1st,3rd,4th regiments and was renamed 1st parachute Division.

Ist Para did fight on Crete just under another name.

 

AFAIK the 7th Flieger division of Crete was the parent unit of 1st FJ but as it's units were split to form the core of the post 1941 paratrooper divisions it's not the same unit. 7th Flieger last saw combat in Russia near Velikje Luki during the winter 1942-43 and transformed into 1st FJ in early 1943 in France, it's 2nd FJ regiment was used to form the core of 2nd FJ division.

 

sorry guys but as you say the 7th flieger was present it is quite incorrect due to veterans and German documentation that the 1st Para fought at Crete it did in the med in 1943 onward and will tell you to this day a very proud lot, was able to interview a special man fighting in Sicily and up the toe of Italy before his transfer out into another Para in Normandie where he was captured, the dear man living on the windy coast of Orygun.

you have rgts and you have Div's it is easy to get them mixed up

 

I got another 12thSS naaaa just kidding the 4th panzer i hate SS units they get all the respect and best equipment and they are not even excellent fighters like the fallshirmjagers they where just fanatics who wouldn't surrender.................

 

I am not sure 'respected' is the best word to describe any SS unit of ww2, most have bad reputations and are far from respected just hated. There was no loss between the allies and the SS whether they were war criminals or not. Sapper(or veteran) himself said that he would never at first punish an SS soldier but had one steped out of line they got no second chances compared to there Heer counterparts.

 

The fallschirmjager were fewer in number and more highly trained than regular SS units.

 

The manner in which "Fanatical" is used with the Germans so much is utter bull. It appears that no matter what division, they were simply fanatics.

It is quite humorous though when you look at how history books will always use the phrase "Fanatical resistance" to describe the Germans; and then we use "Brave and courageous" for the west! These double standards shouldnt be used as much as they are.

 

What I am saying is that Germany should have trained elite, fighting men to wage war rather than to train secret police units to execute women and children.

 

The fanatics I am referring to are the WVHA and other units that ran the death camps.

SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Fair enough, your post was too short to really specify what you meant to say I guess.

 

The manner which fanatical is used for the Germans is not utter bull.

When you decide you are a superior race and have the right to wipe entire races of people of the earth you deserve to have fanatic used to describe you and were all Germans divisions fanatics the answer is no but the movement as a whole was.

You come from Canada why would you want to be named Totenkoph that division the 3rd SS was the worst of the worst those parasites deserved there fate when the americans handed them over to the Russians.

 

I like the 1st Free French Armored Division : they flanked the British in North Africa , fought in Lybia, Tunisia, Italy France Germany and Austria.
After the Battle of Kuffra in Lybia, General de Lattre Tassigny swore he would not stop until he reached the Rhine. In fact they made it as far as the Donau, their Motto is "Rhin et Danube" Delattre de Tassigny would later be a field marshall. He was the French representative at Reims on May 8th 1945. They were the first ones to get to the eagle nest.