If you are a WWII soldier

What would be your least desirable job?
A German U-boat crew with a 80% chance of perishing in the bottom of the atlantic, or a cramped B-17 belly-gunner flying 30,000 feet while being protected by a see-thru plexiglass, what about a Russian foot soldier being send on a massive human-wave attack against German MGs and tanks, or a tank-hunting unit going after the Tigers and Panthers, or a British or American paratrooper jumping out into the unknown of Normandy....

Should you have to fight, which general are you willing to fight for?

If you can choose where and when, which theatre of war, and which battle (sea, land or air) will you like to be in?

If you can choose your own weapons as a infantryman, which weapon(s) would you carry?

I am sure all of us at some point imagine what it would be like if we were to go back in time.

 

i would be a tommie solider with a lee enfeild.303 rifel and a bar in eto under monty

 

If I had to be a WW2 soldier, I'like to be under command of general Leclerc when he liberated Paris.
My favourite weapon would be the M1.

 

If i was a German foot-soldier at normandy or Russia i would deffidently prefere to have a K98k with a ZF42 5x scope, thus i could engage my targets while staying out of reach for enemy snipers, or an Stg.44 so i could engage targets with deadly automatic fire at normal combat ranges.

If i was a U.S. foot-soldier i would deffidently prefere the M1 Garand, and a Colt. 1911 as my trusty sidearm .

If i was a Soviet foot-soldier i would prefere the SVT-40.

Regards, KBO

 

I think that I would least want to be in the Kriegsmarine. Unlike e.g. a soldier or even an air crew member, if you are lost at the middle of the sea, you have little chance of being saved.

 

And if you think you could avoid all the action by getting port duty, you'd be bombed for four years after which you'd be rounded up for infantry duty anyway!

I think I would prefer the airborne over all others; you'd be among trained men of high standard and morale, and you wouldn't have to fight much as most airborne operations are special (i.e. not often) and of the "hold until relieved" kind; expected to be short.

 

I for one would be a Hellcat pilot off of the Enterprise...

 

U-boat or any other sub would be my least favorite. I don't like being under water!

I think I would like GEN Bradley the best. He always seemed like a soldier's general. Not much ego, no dash, just common sense.

As for weapon, it would depend on my job. If was in battle a lot, I'd want a Garand. If not, I would choose the M1 Carbine. Garands get heavy if you ain't shooting them.

 

I would definitively not like to be a Japanese infantryman in the last year of war (the only aim was death for the emperor) or member of Soviet "straf-battalion", which had the same chance.

 

I think I'd like to be a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, commanded by Matt Ridgway and James Gavin, two of the most brilliant generals in the US Army.

 

One battle taht I would love to participate in has to be Kursk. Imagine fighting in the midst of 5,000 tanks and 2.5 million men.
Since I am terrified by height and water, I would prefer to be a humble foot soldier. Armed with my trusty Chicago Typewriter (a.k.a Thompson) and the rugged yet powerful 1911.
As someone mentioned earlier, being a Hellcat pilot flying in the Pacifics is also tempting, since its killing ratio was so ridiculous, your chance of survival is probably fairy good.

 

Yes, but then a carrier would be the perfect combination of height and water...

Kursk would be awesome in scale, but mostly for the commanders; for the footsoldiers I bet it's just another offensive, a slaughter for both sides.

 

post subject

LIANG, am I reading you correctley? you would love to participate in a tank battle? Have you ever thought that you might be one of the people that are incinerated in a flaming tank, you might be lucky and be one of the survivors that have to scrape out some of the bits of your mates!
Can I suggest that if you are not too old or physically incapable you might consider joining the army and try it for real!
I can assure you, it is not a game!

 

I only said I like to be in the midst of the fighting in kursK, not inside a tank. Although I still haven't figure out which front line position I would like to be in.
And no, I won't wish upon anyone to fight in any army at any war. I had struggled just to make it thru the 1-mile obstacle course during my high school ROTC experience. I can only imagine the hardships and terrors a modern soldier has to endure nowadays.

Go Red Sox! Nomar who??

 

I would have been a loader in a heavy artillery battery, preferably British or American (heck - Americans got better rations, I'll defect!).
Ok, so I'm a coward!
It is the best option for a lesser chance of dying horribly or seeing your friends die horribly.

 

That's not a bad option, unless you suddenly become the target of an enemy counter-artillery strike (especially from the dreaded Katyushas).

Go Red Sox! Who your dady!

 

Haven't you heard the stories of permanently deafened gunners? Of the noise of a barrage and the air pressure shifts being too much for your eardrums? Of blood seeping out of them? No way I'll ever be a gunner!

 

I actually know a guy who was invalided out of the artillery because he went deaf.
However, better deaf than burnt alive.

 

Combat Engineer, its just in my blood to be first in and last out. The same goes with the ladies .

 

I don't really know what I would prefer, permanent loss or death... It's a tough moral question. In any case suffering in war is almost a guarantee; that's why the real question of this topic was: what would be your least desireable job!