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

They paid the price for their decisions. You know. Nobody believes they were the bad guy. I know alot of Nazis feel they were fighting for a noble cause. The same deal for the communists. In the end are any of us truly innocent?

 

Hi;
The SS units were the most feared-Eastern and Western Front. These guys were fanatical, well supplied, good at the game and totally ruthless. Frontline doggies of the US seldom took SS prisoners and the Russian Frontokviks were even less inclined to do so.
JeffinMNUSA

 

I understand your opinion but it isn't convenient to vew history as a straight line. In fact, it consists of periods that abruptively change the path of the subsequent "future" events, sometimes in the most dramatic manner. We cannot view the Great Patriotic War as a continuation of Soviet diplomacy before the June 22th 1941. Before that date, military efforts of the USSR were exclusively the matter of the Soviet leadership. It wasn't the people of USSR who wanted or needed territories of Poland, Finland or Baltic states.

As invaders came to wage a war conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness, the character of Red Army military involvement has turned into a just war: a deliberatopn war against aggressors who came with the aim to kill and exterminate. Great Patriotic War was waged by the people and nations of the USSR against brutal, barbaric aggression. Therefore it should be respected as a legitimate act of defense and self-preservation.

Furthermore, acts of legitimate defense, however harsh, and acts of brutal aggression cannot be judged with the same yardstick.

 

Ok, the Russians were defending themselves against the Germans and I do respect that, as long as you respect the people who suffered from the oppression of the Soviets. The Russians were considered as brutal agressors by the Finns, the Poles, the Estonians, Lithuanians , Latvians , Bessarabians and the Ruthenians. But back to the topic as this has been discussed many times before.

 

I'm going to say the Soviets probably had the greatest respect for the Leibstandarte as they were always making a impact on the Eastern Front even if strategic goals were not met like at Kursk.

 

Of course the German Army did none of the above, the lamp posts and trees of East Prussia swung with unfortunates who were in the wrong place when the Feld Gendarmes/SS/Hitler Youth happened by. I've seen books that suggest the Germans may have carried out up to 40,000 drum head executions in 1945.

Hitler perpetually blamed the German soldiers for failing him.

As for no weapons the 31st SS was sent into action in 1944 with only half it's troops armed (so much for the well equipped SS).

 

As for no weapons the 31st SS was sent into action in 1944 with only half it's troops armed (so much for the well equipped SS).[/QUOTE]

I'm going to say circumstances probably played a role in the failure to properly equip this particular unit.

 

Let’s get back to the question of fear/respect.

It is widely adopted view that during the Uranus operation RA has chosen to attack Rumanian armies at the flanks of 6th army because they were the weakest units at the entire front. In reality, all that indeed did matter for the RA was to achieve the objectives of the entire operation. Nationality/insignia of the confronting enemies were of no concern whatsoever.

Otherwise, if they were indeed so anxious from combat with SS troops, why the hell they continued their advance until they accoutered the notoriously dangerous SS units? Weren’t SS Waffen exactly these brave guys who excelled especially against unarmed children and their mothers?

 

You are confusing the combat arm of the Waffen SS with the Einsatzgruppen squads who committed these war crimes. As a matter of fact, every nation commits them during war. There is no such thing as a clean war.

 

Am I the only who is getting tired of this thread?

 

I'm very disappointed that very few wanted to discuss the topic. All the units that served on the eastern front and very few of them were discussed. Many chose to express their emotions pertaining to the war instead of discussing the subject. If WW2 is such a sensitive subject for some that all they want to do is express their hatred then maybe they should do something else.

 

Good one Erich. No one likes getting shot in the back by their own side.

 

As i´ve said i go with the Waffen-SS and the FJ´s for the most feared units and not to forget the Schlachtflieger who killed a lot of tanks with their Stuka´s and Henschels. Any healthy man fears well trained units more than only the cannonfodder.

 

May I suggest you to:
1. Read commands issued to the entire German army engaged at Eastern Front (hint: Keitel on 13 May, Jurisdiction Order and Commisars Order, AH before Barbarossa)
2. Find out which units were not involved in murders
3. What was the structure of SS and what was the position of Einsatzgruppen

But, what was indeed scary?

Crimes were committed by "civilized" people, with the use of then state-of-art weapons but with prehistoric, barbarian objectives. Who wouldn't be scared to death. Pure Eastern European peasants were on the course of hordes of real "terminators" of their era. Scary.

 

Every nation committed war crimes. Lets not act like the allies were angels. War is never clean.

 

I think the FJs may have been the best infantry of the war.

 

I think so too, but they were misused as a "Infantery" and hasn´t a chance to do their original job which was more effectively than being para´s by foot! And yes there was never a clean war and there won´t be one in future. War leaves always victims with the innocent!

 

The victory was tainted, I would say. The word crime is a bit harsh. The end of war was just.

 

I was recently reading that book on the Waffen SS Para 600 which set up defensive positions on the bridgeheads at the Odor. They repelled several Soviet armored thrusts for two weeks before they were forced to withdrawal due to heavy losses. They started out with a thousand men and had a little over two hundred left when they were forced to leave their positions along the Odor. That was one hell of a effort. I bet the Soviets had alot of respect for them.

 

I´m sure they had respect but this is a good example for the OKW dealed with their special units. If you will remember your time at the Army you will know that the Special units are used to clear a situation and set up good bridgeheads and than other units came and take place at there. Its not logic to sacrifice your best troops. They were brave fighting men but for the ones today they had the wrong uniform, the SS.