Favourite unit

Ok-pick just one. What is the unit that you like to learn the most about-commanders, decorations, battles, anything.
Mine, above and beyond would be the 101st Airborne 'Screaming Eagles'.
It will be great to see what some of you come up with. Also give reasons why you chose thsi unit as your favourite...

 

Unit? No matter the size?

So, my favourite is definately the VI Armee. I just love it, all its history, since its entry into Poland (named X Armee then) until its final destruction at Stalingrad in 1943. It was the most elite force in the Wehrmacht as well as the largest and most powerful force there was in the German side. Beside, I like its commanders, from the colourful and brave Von Reichenau to the shy Paulus.

 

German Reserve-Police-Batallion 101 and 11.

 

Depends when and where!

7th (Armoured)Division in the Desert, 78th (Battle Axe) Division in Italy and 11th (Armoured) Division in NW Europe.

If I had to chose one, it would be the latter; truly an elite division of the British Army in WW2.

 

617 Squadron

 

Hard to choose but, i'll go with the 116th Panzer Div (Windhunds) because a friend of mines fAther served as a commander of a P.G.Squad in the Div.

 

1) Afrika Korps
2) LSSAH
3) SS Das Reich (of course! )

 

Let's C .......hmmmmm any Luftwaffe units ?. No not this time.

Most probably the 503 Schwere SS panzer Abteilung during 1945. The unit wiped out to the last in Berlin. Would love to interview a couple of the living aces and have one adresse and a couple of Kommandeur pics / would think it would be grand to view their logbook if it is even in existance with it's day by day "kills" ratio. Over 400 Soviet tanks during the 5 months of fighting in the Ost. Only brief exerpts compared to 501st W-SS Pz. Abt.

E

 

Brandenburg division!

 

GFM Walther von Reichenau was, maybe aside Schoerner and of course Goering , the Field Marshall who was the most devoted to the National Socialist idea at all. As the CiC of the German 6th Army in Russia he did not only ordered his men to be the "bearer of ruthless national ideology" and to "have full understanding for the necessity of a severe but just revenge on subhuman Jewry", he was also an active protagonist in the mass killings of Russian civilians during 1941/1942.

His personal responsibility for atrocities and war crimes are well documented. See f.ex his "principal decision" that the 90 Jewish children of Belaja Zerkow should be executed by the Sonderkommando 4a or his responsibility for the execution of 33,771 civilians at Babij Yar. These are just two examples.

Guess that makes him "brave" so some people.

If he hadn't died in January 1942, he would be sure charged as a major war criminal after the war and hung., no doubt.

Cheers,

[ 04. November 2002, 04:51 AM: Message edited by: AndyW ]

 

Mine has always been the 101st Airborne. I had always like the idea of airborne warfare, and after reading about the unit's actions in the European Campaign, my interest grew further.
Then Band Of Brothers spurred my interest along even further, and now I am learning about the commanders of the 101st, right down to section commanders...

 

I always liked the 82nd and the 509 more that the 101st - they have a longer hitstory and get much less credit. Which leads in to my favorite unit.

If I had to chose one, it would be the 9th Div. for personal reasons, but I like the older ground-pounding US infantry units - the 1st, 3rd, 9th, 36th, and 45th Divisions. Lots of stars on those campaign ribbons. In the Pacific the same - 7th, 25th and a few other divisions.

I'm sure every army had it's long campaigners, but the only specific ones I know are the US ones.

 

The more I read on them the more I think they achieved, like you guys probably know about me! Anyway, never underestimate your opponent but these guys really made wonders if anyone in WW2 I think. And that´s Hitlerjugend. And look at some of those commander names as well...Ring the bell?

SS-Brigadeführer

Fritz Witt

Kurt Meyer

Hugo Kraas

Fritz Kraemer

SS-Standartenführer
Wilhelm Mohnke

SS-Obersturmbannführer
Hubert Meyer

Max Wünsche

Gerd Bremer

Martin Gross

Bernhard Krause

Richard Schulze

Bernhard Siebken

Oskar Drexler

SS-Sturmbannführer

Hans Siegel

Arnold Jürgensen

Karl-Heinz Prinz

Herbert Kuhlmann

Erich Olboeter

Hans Waldmüller

Siegfried Müller

 

Agreed Kai. The 12th SS Hitler Jugend would be my pick. We all are familiar with its performance in the Normandy campaign and Ardennes but what about during its formation and training as well as fire fights at the end of the war after the Ardennes.

 

The Phillipine Division, US Army. At the time of the Japanese Invasion, they consisted of:

Typical Organization (1941)
31st Infantry Regiment
43d Infantry Regiment (Philippine Scouts [PS]) -- Inactive for many years, the 43d Infantry (PS) was reactivated with two companies, C and E, at the start of the war with Scouts from the 45th Infantry (PS) on duty at Zamboanga
45th Infantry Regiment (PS)
57th Infantry Regiment (PS)
12th Field Artillery Brigade, HHB
23d Field Artillery (PS) (one battalion)
24th Field Artillery (PS) (two battalions)
12th Quartermaster Regiment (PS)
12th Signal Company (PS)
14th Engineers (PS)
Headquarters
Headquarters and Headquarters Det
Headquarters Company, Philippine Division
12th Medical Regiment (PS) (partial)
12th Military Police Company (PS)
4th Veterinary Company (PS)
12th Ordnance Company (PS)
Overseas Wartime Assignments
U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) -- 8 Dec 41
Bataan Defense Force -- 24 Dec 41
U.S. Army Forces in the Far East -- 6 Jan 42
II Philippine Corps -- 26 Jan 42
I Philippine Corps -- 7 Apr 42
Commanders
Maj. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright: Nov 41
Brig. Gen. Maxwell S. Lough: Dec 41

(PS) means Phillipine scouts, the best of the best in the american army at that time.

I chose them because they fought, without rest, reprieve, or reinforcment. For 6 months they fought the Japanese invader. It was the remnants of this division, that on May 6, 1942, 5 months after the invasion began, Surrendered at Malinta Tunnel, Corregidor, after defending the Island for 12 hours. That was when General Johnathan M. Wainwright, former CO of the division, before he commanded I Corps, now commanding USSAFE (United States Army Far East) Gave his last words over morse code to Honolulu:

"... And it is with head bowed in deep sadness, But Not In Shame I go off to meet with the Japanese Commander.

CvM

PS it was a guy in the PS that wrote that little number of mine below

 

The German Special Commandos are also interesting and I did find some info on them:

From the very start of W.W.II it was apparent to the German High Command that there was a need for special forces to make the tactics of Blitzkrieg a success. Rail junctions , Bridges, crossroad's and tunnels which who's capture is vital to any advancing army need to be guaranteed their seizure before they are destroyed by the retreating army which would hold up the advance. Special commandos would be needed to fulfil this task and the Abwher (German Intelligence Service) had produced a force capable of fulfilling this role. The Brandenburgers were to be a force of highly trained commandos who would capture these key strategic points by whatever means necessary and would set the standard for all modern special forces to come.

There wasn't a part of Europe that the Brandenburgers were not familiar with the local customs and language. No1 and 4 companies contained men who spoke Russian, Ukrainian Latvian Estonian and Finnish. No2 Company contained men who had lived in the German colonies in Africa and spoke local dialects well as English, Portuguese and French. No3 made up of Volksdeutsche from Czechoslovakia who spoke there native tongue. These individuals, who were all volunteers, had to be self reliant, intelligent and prepared to use unorthodox methods to accomplish their mission should the need arise.

.
On 13th September 1944 the Brandenburg Division (with the exception of the 3rd Regiment which remained as a mountain unit in Northern Italy) was transformed into a panzergrenadier formation and was amalgamated with the Großdeutschland Panzergrenadier division and formed into a panzer corps. Brandenburg's panzer battalions did not see action with GD but instead went on to form part of Kurmark Panzer Division and another was destroyed by the Soviets in the fighting for Belgrade.

The men of the early Brandenburg units will perhaps forever remain anonymous but there contribution to those early campaigns was vital and set the standard for many of today's elite forces. In many historical writings, the Brandenburgers are often confused with "Strafbatallion 500" and "Strafbatallion 900 (Dirlewanger)" - the Brandenburgers did not obtain their recruits from German corrective or penal institutes. It also need be noted that Skorzeny's Jagdkommando's (Jagdverband der SS) were not fighting as Brandenburgers - they were fighting as an SS unit which contained men and officers who previously had been Brandenburg commandos (approximately 1.800 Brandenburgers transferred to the SS when the Brandenburg Division was incorporated to the Panzerkorps "Großdeutschland").

Knight´s cross holders:

Eckart Afheldt
Albrecht Bauer
Wilhelm Brockerhoff
Erich von Bruckner
Adrian von Foelkersam
Heinrich Garbers
Siegfried Grabert
Karl Edmund Gartenfield
Kurt Häling
Erich Haut
Hans-Wolfram Knaak
Friedrich von Koenen
Erhard Lange
Werner Lau
Hellmut von Leipzig
Friedrich Muller-Rocholtz
Karl-Heinz Oesterwitz
Ernst Prohaska
Heinz Piekenbrock
Alexander von Pfuhlstein
Erich Roseske
Theodore Rowehl
Konrad Steidel
Franz-Karl Speivogel
Herman Shulte-Heuthaus
Werner Voshage
Wilhelm Walther
Max Wandery

http://www.forces70.freeserve.co.uk/Brandenberg/BRANDENBERG%20HOME%20PAGE.htm

 

Always putting words in other's mouths. Things that were never said.

But I was referring to Walter von Reichenau as a brave soldier and a genious officer who lead his troops always from the front, his men adored him and an oftenly he acted as an average infantry soldier, being the first man in the attack wave. Was he a nazi or not, I do not care. Did he kill Jews, did he like art, was he admiror of Hitler? I don't know and I don't care. I care that his Army was the strongest, largest and most elite unit in the Wehrmacht and that he lead it to awesome victories. That's it.

 

I think you should care whether or not he killed Jews Friedrich!!!

 

Freddie Goughs recce squadron at Arnhem, lots written, but would really love to see a unit timeline or battle report for their action.

 

My favourites list...

In no particular order...