What is your favorite division in either army and why?

Hi Steve,

thats possible he was at there. Sorry, but was the 36th. the "Texas Division"?

Regards

Ulrich

 

Yes, it was the Texas Division. He was with the 141st Regiment and was involved in the Rapido River fiasco. One of my favorite subjects is General Kesselring. He was an excellent leader.

 

Wow, the 141th. had extremly losses as far as i know they had only 40 survivors. The whole action was misplanned. The area was under German artillery and mortar fire and the minefields did their part and the Rapido with its flood too. Your own artillery didn´t know where the own troops are The 143rd. had it a bit better for the reason that the commander ignored the order to stay at there. But only as long as Mayor General Walker gave the next fatal order. It must have been the hell. My Grandpa wasn´t there, he was a few kilometers upwards the river Sangro, it was the 44th. Division nicknamed " Hoch- und Deutschmeister" and the 129th. Panzergrenadier Regiment.

Regards

Ulrich

 

Ulrich,

Your knowledge is excellent !

General Walker was against the crossing from the start. He was ordered by General Clark and his yes man General Keys ( Corp Commander ). Maybe the 2 worst Generals in WW 2 ??

In January I posted "The Rapido River Fiasco" under the General Forum. Many members thought is was helpful.

Did your Grandfather face the 34th ID ??

Best Regards

 

Hi Steve,

thank you. General Clark the "Sunny Boy" of the press. Not bad but i heard that he sometimes acted like a Hollywood Diva? I´ll read your post later this evening.
No he told me of the 2nd New Zealand Divison and the Brits. He had some bad close combats with them from pistol down to the knife.

Regards

Ulrich

 

Hi Steve,

good reading your post to the Rapido Fiasco. When and where did your uncle got KIA?

Regards

Ulrich

 

My uncle was KIA on 12/12/1944 during fierce hand to hand fighting. His final battle took place in the Voges Mountains of France, just north of Mittlewihr, in Alasance. The battle of the Colmar Pocket.

 

Ulrich,

So that was the second attempt of the Allies. Your Grandfather saw some terrible battles.

 

Hi Steve,

Thank you! It was a hard battle.

Regards

Ulrich

 

Its difficult to have just one "favorite division" and on either side.

I can narrow it down to these though-but for different reasons.

German Army:

1st and 5th GJ Divisions. I have a grouping of 20 photos taken by the photographer of the 79th GJ Arty Rgmt. I cant remember if they were ever posted on this site or not? I also have a Regimentstagesbefehl from that AR as well and talks about Major Baron Peter Le Fort, and a few of his men.

7th and 24th Panzer Divisions. 7th because it was commanded by Rommel early war. The Leaping Horsemen-(24th Panzer Division to those from the Republic of Loma Linda, Kalifornia) because of the action they saw @ Stalingrad. I have one insignificant photo of some vehicles from the 24th Panzer.

The Grossdeutschland Div. I have a nice pair of Olts boards from the 1st Pz.Btn of that Div. These were bought froma large European collectors collection and whom got these from an RKTs family.

The 44th, 72nd, and 76th IDs-because they fought the good fight and were destroyed at Stalingrad.

I have pairs of shoulderboards from teh 98th and 100th GJ regiments which were bought from the families of the RKTs who once wore these boards. I also have boards from the family of the RKT who wore them who was in the 81st Inf Rgmt. I forget what ID that Rgmt was in?

5th SS Pz Dic, 9th and 10th and 11th W-SS Divs and the 27th SS Div/SS Sturmbrigade (actually just a Brigade) because it was the unit Remy Schrijnen served valiantly in.

On the American side: Some of my Favorite Divisions include: 1st (Big Red One) 2nd (Indianhead) 3rd (The Blue and White Devils and or the Rock of the Marne) and partly because Audie Leon Murphy served in that Div, 4th (Ivy Leaf) 25th (the Bloody Bucket or Keystone) 27th (Tropic Lightning) 34th and 36th (T-Patchers-Texas ID) the T-Patchers for obvious reasons and because Sgt.Maj Gregg Wiley served in that ID. I knew he and his wife personally. 1st - 4th Armored Divs, (Hell on Wheels to Deeds Alone) 81st and 101st Airborne Divs (Screaming Eagles) 1st, 2nd and 3rd Marine Divs.

Russian: 62nd ID-because they were some tough SoBs and fought valiantly @ Stalingrad-among others.

French-their 2nd Armored Div.

The Brits-the Blokes who made up the Desert Rats. The Brit 1st Para Div. and others for other reasons.

The Irish Armored Bde under the command of Col (cant spell his name correctly so ill leave it out for now)

The men under Orde Wingates command. Gen Wingate is my favorite Brit General of the war. Damned shame he died so early on. :-(

Most especially, the Durham Light infantry and because another brave man I knew and was friend swith for too short a time) was in: by the name of Captain Richard Wallace Annand :vc: DLI.

Just too many to choose from to have one single favorite.

PS, Rest in Peace: Remy :rk:, Audie :moh:, Gregg and Richard :vc:. I miss all of you. :-( Three of these four men I knew and I was grea friends with two of them and just starting to get to know another-before they all passed away.

 

The US 45th. My Dad's uncle served in that division from Sicily thru VE day.

The "Two Stevans" (Ambrose & Speilberg) have done such a good job convincing people that the 101st won the war that folks seem to think the unit should be listed in a North Africa and the Mediterranean forum.

 

Did he fight in cassino Town against the New Zealanders.?

 

Hi Steven,

He fought twice against the New Zealanders. First in Africa and then somewhere near the Railwaystation in Cassino if i remember the place correct. He said that it were some hard fights and he was lucky that they sent him to France to the 2.FJR. A bit later it wasn´t much healthier at there too.

Regards

Ulrich

 

Hi Ulrich, I was just wondering: What weapons did your dad operate? (Handheld or otherwise) and what interesting vehicles did he ever see?

He sounds like he was a great person to talk to! Sad to see more nice guys leave our world behind.

 

Hi Dustin,

my grandpa told me that he had a P38, P08, K98k, FJG42 and at his last command they had the "Leichtgeschuetz". For the close combats he told me that he used the P38 and a knive. He told me once that he was at a "Kraftfahr-Versuchsanstalt" ( a place where they developed cars and so on for the Army) and there he had seen an Truck with two engines to move tanks. Yes he was a great man and i liked to talk with him. Only problem was that he needed time to talk of the war and as he did, he passed away and i had so many questions. Where have you seen service?
And many thanks for your service.

Regards

Ulrich

 

Was he fighting at St Lo in Normandy?,what were the para divisions that fought for the Germans in Normandy.

My grandfather fought with the 2nd New Zealand division he enlisted in 1939 served with the 22nd battalion going to Greece and Crete and went from Crete to North africa was there till jan 1943.

 

Hi Steve,

no, he wasn´t there. He was between Brest and St. Malo. After he was able to escape from Brest he did all the way back to Germany with all of the battles between. Did your grandfather told you his experiences with the German Para´s in Africa, Italy and France? If so and if you would like to share his stories i were curios to hear them.

Regards

Ulrich

 

He only faced the Para on Crete and didn,t talk about it a whole lot.
He was in the transport platoon for the 22nd Battalion involved with motorcycles and trucks and worked as a mechanic as well but on Crete we had no vehicles they were all lost on greece so he fought as an infantryman and was based at Malame Airfield.

I only remember as a kid him telling me how bad the bombing was on Crete the Germans had air supremecy and were at our guys from dawn till dusk.

 

Steve,

thanks for the information. It must´ve been horrible at Crete! I dont know any vet that would talk about it.

Regards


Ulrich

 

I do remember a story he told me about when he was in the desert and he was unloading his truck and he got some stuff from it walked away put the stuff down turned around to go back and it blew up he didn,t say what hit the truck but it goes to show how close you are in war from making it home and not making it.