Not really, granted they sustained the most amount of casualties of all the U.S. Infantry Divisions on the Anzio beachhead and never gave an inch of ground to the Germans. They always held the line.

Can't say that for the Big Red One, especially after they cut and ran at the Kasserine Pass under Alexander. Not to mention the Big Red One was always in the lime-light and didn't have to undergo the ridicule of many and still do their job in a place like Italy. Besides who was the first into Messina?

Regards,
MARNE </font>[/quote]Reason why I like the 1st. They had to learn under fire. Third had the benefit of learning the mistakes the first had to make.
All US units sucked at kasserine, just too early in the war. 3rd did'nt suck, but they did get their buts handed to them at anzio. Every unit there did. No surprise, they were facing a superior army.


During World War II, the 1st Infantry Division was the first to reach England, the first to fight the enemy in North Africa and Sicily, the first on the beaches of Normandy in D-Day and the first to capture a major German City – Aachen.

The D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 provided the supreme test. In five days, the division drove inland and cleared a beachhead for supplies and troops. Driving eastward across France against fanatical resistance, the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division spent nearly six months in continuous action with the enemy.

After capturing Aachen, the 1st Infantry Division still faced months of bitter fighting at places like the Hürtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. When the War ended, the Big Red One had rolled through Germany and into Czechoslovakia

They pulled the better units for the Normandy offensive and left the mediocre units in Italy.