View Profile
View Forum Posts
Private Message
Visit Homepage
U.S. & British paratroopers in Normandy
British taking Pegasus Bridge...
U.S. & British paratroopers in Normandy
British taking Pegasus Bridge...
Rangers @ Point du Hoc
Those men were some brave, tough SOBs for scaling those cliffs under fire.
Marine Raiders and Paratroopers holding the line at Guadalcanal
*WARNING* GRAPHIC
http://www.daveswarbirds.com/guadalc...sons_Ridge.jpg
Marines survey the bodies of Japanese soldiers covering the battleground of Edson's Ridge.
http://www.daveswarbirds.com/guadalc...amethrower.jpg
A Marine displays the head and bones of a Japanese tank crewman on top of a knocked out Japanese tank.
According to the caption, the tank was hit by a flamethrower, though this weapon did not see much use at this early stage of the war.
Toughest units of the last 300 years? Any unit that fought the battle of Ortona, Canadian or German. That was the most brutal fight of the western theatre.
Funny story related to the end of the battle(well funny in the fact that its Ironic) German forces managed to lure 25 Canadian soldiers into a building where they promptly destroyed it...killing 16 of them. In a reprisal Canadian engineers wired the German command center some few blocks away with explosive and detonated it...killing some 80 German soldiers. The next day German soldiers were no where to be seen as they withdrew from the city.
Ortona was also referred to as "Little Stalingrad" so, the second most viscious urban battle of the war...any unit who served in Ortona.
Ähem...@ TF160Soar
One of those pictures of "101st airborne at Bastogne", the 7th from above, shows a German soldier.
It is NOT an allied soldier wearing a German helmet for fun !!!
A bit more carefulness please
Indeed, typical US helmet, machin gun ammunition boxes and other equipment.Originally Posted by TF160SOAR
Also note the SS runes on his collar!!
I'm honestly amazed that no one has yet mentioned the 1st Marine Division (USMC) and the 41st Independent Commando unit (Royal Marines) during the Chosin Reservoir campaign in 1950. I'm almost certain there were also attached units from the US Army but I'm afraid I don't know who they were.
The Germans were tough SOBs! I coudln't leave 'em out!Also note the SS runes on his collar!!
Westerplatte crew 205 men (civilans and soldiers) who defended polish military outopos at Gdansk for 7 days when they were bombarded by battleship, destroyers, artilery, luftwaffe, and attacked by couple of thousend germans (around 5000 were involved) they surrendered after 7days when ammo and food run out and there was no chance for relief.... they tried to hold beachhead for our "alies" from GB and France so they can deploy on the shore, they had only one 75mm canon couple mortars and couple of MG they sufferen only 15 KIA ... and surrendered with honors
Any soldier who fought in a battle and didn't chicken out deserves to be called tough.
My vote goes to
The Defence of Brest Fortress
Civilians can be tough also - one of my grandmothers survived 900 days of blockade Leningrad.
I dare you to find tougher man.
Stalingrad was the hardest clash of troops in IIWW, but for civilian people sure the Leningrad siege was the hardest tragedy of that conflict in all fronts.
Edited: I liked a lot all the pictures pasted in this thread, I knew some of them, but many others not. And I visited twice the northern shore of Normandy, and I was in la Point du Hoc, both times in august and, ohhh, what a windy and rainy days they were! I tried imagining mysefl climbing those cliffs under fire and frankly, I couldn´t. Brave guys.
If I had to make a selection.....
1. 22nd Special Air Service Regiment(UK)
Served in WW2(beat the **** out of Rommel and his Afrika Korps), Oman, Malaya(modern-day Malaysia), the Falklands, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq.........
2. 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta(US)
D-Boys really kick ass, a fact that we all acknowledge.
3. Imperial Japanese Army(Japan - WW2)
How many soldiers charge at tanks with bombs strapped around their asses?
4. ROK Marine Corps 2nd Battalion "Blue Dragon"(South Korea - Vietnam War)
You should really read about these crazy ****s.....One ROK Marine company actually stopped the advance of a VC division and annhilated them, with only a casualty of less than 20.
5. Sayeret Matkal(Israel)
The heroes of Entebbe, and one of the most highly-illustrated CT units in Israel.
6. French Foreign Legion(France)
The real stuff.....Fought like hell in Vietnam
.
7. Waffen SS(WW2 - 3rd Reich)
8. Seleus Scouts/SAS(Rhodesia - modern day Zimbabwe)
Really kicked the **** out of African guerillas-mostly mercenaries.
9. ANZAC(Australia & New Zealand - WW1/WW2)
Most heroic in Gallipoli landing, kicked ass in North Africa and Korea.
10. 101st Airborne(US)
WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War.........
I think its about the fact that an army is outnumbered, outgunned, etcetera! Like the 101st in Bastogne, the Russians in Stalingrad (although they weren't outnumbered at all, they got slaughtered by the Germans, two men for each gun, etc.) or all the German men, betrayed by Hitler without any winter clothing and back-up!
"D-Boys really kick ass", that ain't mean nothing. I think the Russians, Germans and Paratroopers were the best because they fought off the hunger, cold an the enemy with no back-up, enough ammo and clothes.
Another example are the 116th and 16th Reg on Omaha Beach. Hours stucked on a beach with no airsupport and no support from the sea, companies with an strenght of half an platoon or less.
British newspaper about how the finns destroyed Soviet tanks during the Winter War 1939-40.
Molotov Cocktail, got its name during the Winter War because the russian prime ministers name was... Molotov, it was however used already during the spanish civil war, maybe earlier. Due to the lack of proper anti-tank weapon during the Winter War Oy Alko Ab bottled 500 000 Molotov's Cocktail. The fuel could be wood alcohol or gasoline or both. Tar was necessary for the smoke and to give a better grip. Later on also "blinding bottles" were made, the bottles were filled with a kind of tarry liquid that made blinding smoke when it burned..
Finnish piled up charge, weighing 4-10 kg. Effective against tanks, bunkers, gun enplacements and so forth, but taking a quite strong and curageous soldier to throw them.
Reply With Quote
