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

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"ROCK OF THE MARNE"
Sgt. James Dunigan III
Able Co., U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division(Reenacted)

45th Infantry - The Thunderbirds

Activated: 16 September 1940.
Overseas: 8 June 1943.
Campaigns: Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, Central Europe.
Days of combat: 511.
Distinguished Unit Citations: 7.
Awards: MH-8 ; DSC-61 ; DSM-3 ; SS-1,848 ; LM-38; SM-59 ; BSM-5,744 ; AM-52.
Commanders: Maj, Gen. William S. Key (September 1940-October 1942), Maj. Gen. Troy H. Middleton (October 1942-December 1943), Maj. Gen. William W. Eagles (December 1943-December 1944), Maj. Gen. Robert T. Frederick (December 1944-September 1945), Brig. Gen. Henry J. D. Meyer (September 1945 to inactivation).
Returned to U.S.: 14 September 1945.
Inactivated: 7 December 1945

__________________
Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.

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.

Hey FN74,

The U.S. 1st Infantry Division while yes, the first in England didn't have a clue as to how to conduct military operations on their own. The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division along with a small detachment of Marines of the 1st Marine Division enroute to Op. Torch, were tasked with teaching the U.S. 1st, 9th, and 34th Infantry Divisions the art of amphibious landings.

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division learned how to conduct amphibious landings from the 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton durind the mid-late 30's. They had trained along side one another many times before the war. The two divisions believed that if war came they'd be sent to the Pacific Theatre of War. However, with the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division being trained also they sent the Marines to the Pacific and the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division to Europe to have one amphibious tactic-wise division to teach others in both theatres.

As for the 1st being the first into action during operation Torch?...That act is bestowed actually, to the U.S. Marine Corps. They were the first to fight the enemy in North Africa. A company of Marines were tasked with capturing a key airfield near Casablanca in the early morning hours of Nov. 8th. The Marines landed at 0400 and the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division landed at 0500 the first U.S. Infantry Division to come ashore. The U.S. Western Forces under Gen. G. S. Patton, Jr. were the first to land due to an added individual of significant importance. Darlan' Overall Commander of the Vichy French Armed Forces and a VERY good friend of Petain and Hitler.

As for the U.S 1st Infantry Division being brought to England after Sicily because it was a "better" unit that the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division aswell as other has nothing to do with it by far. The U.S. 1st and 9th Infantry Divisions were sent to England after Sicily because the U.S. 1st and 9th Infantry Division were used up in Sicily. So, the 1st and 9th Infantry Divisions were sent to England for rest, recuperation and extensive training to bulk them back up for the eventual Invasion of France.

In the meantime, while they were resting, those "mediocre" units (like the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division)as you called them were fighting their butts off up the boot of Italy against tough resistance and terrain. The U.S. 1st Infantry Division is probably blessed they didn't have to fight in such conditions. They had to contend with units like the Herman Goering, 29th Pz. Gren., 44th, 71st, 356th, and the 362nd Infantrie Divisions just to name a few.

As for the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division they were the U.S. Army's universal guinea pigs. Anything "new" the U.S. Army wanted to try the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division was the "go-to" division. From Salerno to Mignano two months in the line solid. From January 22nd-June 4th, 1944 Anzio to Rome. Eight months out of nine in the line solid. Then on August 15th, 1944 Invasion of Southern France. Two weeks later Besancon on the edge of the Vosges Mountains, by November Strasbourg. So, out of a year of action...ten months had been spent in the line. Yeah..."mediocre" is a VERY LARGE under statement. Outstanding and remarkable is more like it. July 1944 would be the last time the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division would receive R and R. They fought the rest of the war they were never taken out of the line again.

Regards,
MARNE

__________________

"ROCK OF THE MARNE"
Sgt. James Dunigan III
Able Co., U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment
U.S. 3rd Infantry Division(Reenacted)

Hi Gordon

Just spotted this thread.

What unit was your dad in ?

Although I often refer to myself as "ex4thhussar", in my earlier army life I was in the 49th LAA which was a longstanding unit of the Div until it was disbanded in December 1944.

Cheers

Ron

Ron:

could you please explain the LAA to me from your former unit ?

Erich ~

1st Waffen SS Division "LSSAH". Waffen SS divisions in general but all wanted to be in the LSSAH due to the prestige as well as having good ole Sepp as its commander and later its patron. It was Hitler's fire brigade so its members had to be tough. I have always strived to be in with the elite so might as well go with the LSSAH.

The Spanish Blue division is another I would have liked to fought in.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Man there are so many to name... im going to have to think about this one.

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

1st Waffen SS Division "LSSAH". Waffen SS divisions in general but all wanted to be in the LSSAH due to the prestige as well as having good ole Sepp as its commander and later its patron. It was Hitler's fire brigade so its members had to be tough. I have always strived to be in with the elite so might as well go with the LSSAH.

__________________

American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Erich

Sorry.... Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, also referred to as Light Ack Ack.

The guns were invariably Bofor 40 mm and they were intended to protect infantry and armoured units against German Aircraft

Ron :

thank you for the explanation.......makes perfect sense to me now

Erich

Well as you can probably tell from my website, it's the 101st Airborne division. Specifically the 3rd Battlion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. More specifically "I" Company.

But since the 101st didn't fight in North-Afrika or the Mediterranean, than I'll mention my favorite on the Axis side. My favorite Axis unit is actually a regiment, not a division. The 5th Panzer Regiment, who became part of the 21st Panzer division in the North Afrika campaign.

I have met one veteran of that unit, and he was a tank commander. Unfortunately he personally never made it to Afrika due to wounds sustained beforehand. He does have a funny story about meeting Rommel before his regiment was shipped out though. He was captured by the Allies in Normandy after his unit had been reformed there.

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John Klein
www.ww2airborne.com

4th Armored Division

official nickname......."Name Enough" (says it all)

unofficial.............."Roosevelt's Butchers"
(from the Germans)


oops Med, in that case.....11th Armored

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"Danger Will Robinson!"

Actually the 34th ID was the first to arrive in the U.K., not the 1st ID. The Big Red One was still in Fort Devens, Mass. when the Red Bulls were walking down the gangplank in Ireland.

The 82nd Airborne was definitely my favorite division in the Med. (I'm the son of a paratrooper), but if we're talking straight leg infantry it would be the 36th ID for no other reason than me being from Texas. I would also give an honorable mention to the aforementioned 34th for the fact that they endured more time in combat than any other American unit in the entire ETO.

I don't really know just a whole lot about armored divisions in that theater or one or more of them might have made my list as well.

-French 1st DFL and 3rd DIA and 2nd armored division
-American 101th airborne, 1st infantry division
-British 4th indian division (impressive)

I don't what to choose, i'll say:

1st DFL: This division included the 13rd DBLE of Narvik and Bir Hakeim. They then thought at El-Alamein while other brigade fought in East africa. Then the division fought in the CEF in Italy.
After that was the battle for provence, an the Vosges before the heroic defense of Strasbourg. Then it was the Colmar pocket with was finally collapse and the difficult battles in the Alps.
The division lost 4000 KIA and much more wounded.

I don't if it is an objective choice but it is my choice.

Other units I like are the GTM (groupements de tabors marocains) which aren't divisional.

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The US 36th ID (Texas National Guard) since my father served in it.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!