Which German unit did the Soviets fear/respect the most?

It looks like the 5th SS Panzer division Wiking would probably be up there but I am just taking a stab at it.

 

250. Einheit spanischer Freiwilliger

 

LMAO

I have thought the question was serious.

 

I would say that the SS units were the most feared units.

 

I can’t see the Russians having any respect for the Devil Germans no matter how good the unit was.

 

What about the DRK?

 

probably not German but their own ~ aka Commisar's

 

Deutsches Rotes Kreuz??? Didn´t knew that they were so horrible!

 

A few schwestern

 

Let us think a little bit:

1. Cowards cannot win and
2. Russians have won

Any conclusions?

 

Skipper, ok i would fear those Karbolmäuschen!

Tamino this will bring me to a funny conclusion: all russians are heros! Or....?

 

No, just recently i have read an article concerning "heroism" in the WW2. The article indicates that the war did not depend on "heroism" but capability to produce more weapons than the opponent.

Regarding fear:

I remember a Russian WWII veteran in some documentary saying something like this: »It was so terrible that for two days my teeth were trembling from fear but noone of us has retreated«.

People were afraid, all of them! Especially Germans when the outcome of war became apparent.

A German soldier said: "If it is so, then the next ´Stalingrad` will be in Germany. Terrible."

 

I didn´t... SS Panzer division Wiking? ... very cute boys in 1941 ... except 430 Finnish war veterans. I guess Adolf loved them ...I do not think appropriate to ask if the Russians feared a German division. They overwhelmed them all. LMAO too.

 

Tamino, there is a saying about one kind of heros. "A hero is a dumbhead laying at the graveyard with his hands crossed at his belly and a grin in his face!" This means the ones that give away their lives for needless things or only to get a medal. Real heros are made by the situation in that a man can get.

Often the real reason for heros was the will to survive. And during the war at Russia and at most during the years of retreat many must´ve had those will to survive.

To me the WW2 showed a different type of winner. It wasn´t like during earlier wars where the well trained men and officers were a reason of winning a war. No this war was won by the ones who had more ammo, men and supply material. In the Russians case they had less guns, only every 5th had a rifle during the first years, but they had the men. Grandpa said that they can´t shot enough of them down, there were always more of Russians as they had ammo to kill them.

But back to the topic. To me the Russian soldiers would only had a reason to fear well trained special units. And this only at weak sections of their frontline. So to me the SS and the early FJ units were a reason to fear. But at the end they had no stand against the extremely high number of russian soldiers. And they had some very well trained units too, and they had a sense for improvisation. Not to forget the best and strongest allied, they defended their own country!

 

If you think about it from a soldier’s point of view of the war, wouldn’t you fear whatever unit was in front of you?

 

Indeed!

If you are in front of an army with more and better weapons, there is nothing you can do. You will die, either as a “hero” or as a “coward” but you will die. But once you get more and better weapons then your enemy is doomed, he will die. As long as Axis industry out produced Allies, Germans and their Blitzkrieg were brilliant but when Russian Army got more and better weapons they have beaten Germans dearly. That’s how it was.

Fear from enemy who has more and better weapons. It has nothing to do with insignia on his uniform. I don’t think Russians haven’t even bothered who their enemies were.

I think even Clint Eastwood had a spaghetti-western on the subject: a gun or a rifle?

 

I am not so sure about that.
I don’t think it was better weapons that helped the Russians as it was availability of man power and producing simpler to manufacture items such as the T34. The only great technology in the T34 was its sloped front armor. The advantage that Russia had was they produced them very quickly and drive them straight to the front sometimes without even painting them.

The Germans still had the better tanks, but they were too complicated to manufacture in large quantities. When the Germans invaded France the French had better and more tanks then the Germans and a larger military. What the French did not have was good defense tactics. They were also hindered by Belgium forbidding recon flights over their territory so they could maintain their neutrality.

Another example is the Italian’s attempt at invading Greece. Italy brought 565,000 men, 463 aircraft and 163 tanks while Greece had 430,000 men and only 20 tanks with no Air Force. The Italians came with more and better equipment then the Greeks but ended up with their tails between their legs. Greece did fall but not until the Germans came with an even much larger force.

 

Thanks for a great post!

What you've just said is entirely true and thank you for saying that. If I have said so, my friend Gebirgsjaeger might have claimed that I am biased towards Russians anyway.

The presumption in the very tittle of this thread is that Russian soldiers were scared from Germans, or more directly – they were »cowards afraid of their commissars«. Allegedly, Stalin said »It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Red Army«. That is entirely wrong.

At the beginning German armies were overwhelmingly better equipped and were winning just because of their supremacy in weapons and more able commanders. It is a Russian soldier who has saved Russia from much better equipped aggressors. However, to win a war they needed more weapons and they got it. As soon as Russians have got some weapons, even though less and of lower quality, they have beaten Übermenchen dearly.

I'd say: it takes brave men do beat Übermensh army so dearly.

 

This remind me of the T-34 with caused panic among the Gemrans when the Russians first used it the German 37mm could hardly get through the steel it they kept coming forward until 88s were finally turned horizontally and halted the tanks in amuch more efficient way.

 

I have to comment on the remarks about the Germans having better tanks early on. I have commented on this before and they certainly did not. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union a high proportion of their tanks were PZI's (877) and II's(1074) and although there were PzIII's (1090) most were short 50mm or some 37mm and the 75mm armed PZIV's (517). The rest were 35 and 38T's which although a decent tank only had a 37mm gun. None of these were a match for the T34 or KV1 and in a one to one the were no better armed than the BT's and T26's.