Where would YOU serve in WW2? - Page 18

Slipdigit · #**426** (**permalink**) November 5th, 2007, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner

For all the would be tankers: Just remember, at the end of the day, you are just starting. You still have to maintain your tank. This means you get to check the tracks for correct tightness. Make sure all the links and pins are intact and in good conditon, replacing any that are worn or damaged. The engine will need a check and likely oil and gas. Ammunition will have to be replinished. Overall, there are a hundred and one things to do after your day should already have ended.
Then there other things to do each day as well. Eating. Finding a reasonable place to sleep. Getting orders and mission requrements for the next day. Briefings. Standing your turn as guard. You are lucky if it is just a 16 hour day!
Also, tanks are not known for their creature comforts. In the summer they are sweat boxes of heated steel. In the winter colder than a freezer. Then there is the dust that gets everywhere. Mud is worse. Crossing a river or stream means likely flooding the inside of the vehicle to some degree, tanks are not watertight contrary to what the engineers who built them say.
Wearing headphones for hours really wears on you too. Your ears get hot and itchy. They are uncomfortable. The static and cacophony of voices in them drives you nuts. It's even worse when someone gets hit and you can listen to the terrified panic.

Terry, this sounds more or less like a condensed version of Tigers in the Mud, by Otto Carius.

T. A. Gardner · #**427** (**permalink**) November 5th, 2007, 02:01 AM

This was my original post on this subject several years back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner

Alright, I'll bite. Assuming that the clock is rolled back 60 or so years and that otherwise I am still the same person career and experiance-wise I would have certainly immediately been promoted to Lieutenant in the US Navy (as were many career Chief Petty Officers both active and reserve (me) on the outbreak of WW II in the US)and assigned as a division officer aboard a larger unit (most likely a cruiser) for 4 - 6 months and then promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Department Head in Engineering (my background).
If my ship wasn't sunk by the end of 1942 I would even survive the war. I would have ended the war promoted to Commander. After the war (as I would have started out with 24 years of experiance)I would have retired and resumed my civilian career.
Not glamorous but it's what I do well.

It too would have been little fun.

While I would have had a stateroom or cabin on board ship (as a junior officer one with several other officers or as a senior officer one with one other officer or by myself) there would be little creature comforts there. Being at sea is alot like being in jail.
I would have had responsibility for my part of the ship's plant. I would have to spend several hours a day just scheduling work and seeing that maintenance was getting done. The material condition of my spaces would have been critical.
Then there is actual combat. General quarters is mostly a bore. You sit there and do a job you have done a thousand times before. That is, right up until you are actually in the fight. Then it is terrifying. Fire and flooding on a ship is a major, major problem. You have to get both under control NOW or there will be no later.
While as an officer I would not be "on scene" in an emergancy it is really worse sitting in some space only getting messages and sound-powered phone talk to let you know what's going on. The worst is when things on scene go wrong. And, they can in an instant. Been there, seen that.
On top of all this there are wardroom politics to deal with, the crew to deal with, and my fellow (having previously been one) Chiefs to deal with. While my having been promoted from "the ranks" will buy me alot with those below me it hurts politically dealing with my peers and superiors. Never mind my education or other background. The fact I was enlisted and senior enlisted works against me with the "brass." They expect it both ways. I am expected to be an expert at everything technical and a social ass regardless of the truth.
I'm not good enough for the regular officers but am expected to not make a mistake on the job at the same time.
You see, there are really few "easy" jobs in the military....then or now.

Charlotte.E. · #**428** (**permalink**) November 13th, 2007, 09:01 PM

I'd Serve in the Desert Rats at El Alamein the first battle we won!! be part of something brilliant!!

bigfun · #**429** (**permalink**) November 13th, 2007, 11:38 PM

i have been contemplating this for some time, and i would like to be a sniper, but realistically i would have been assigned to infantry.

philippe44 · #**430** (**permalink**) November 14th, 2007, 09:57 AM

in the 2nd Free French Armored Div (2ème DB) under charismatic Leclerc's command in fighting of Dompaire, Paris Alençon Strasbourg
or in this unit

Oddball: " We see our role as primarily defensive in Nature. While our armies are advancing so fast and everybodies knocking themselves out to be heros we are holding ourselves in reserve. In case the Krouts mount a counter-offensive that threatens Paris or Maybe even New York. Then we can move in a stop them"

Kelly: "Who's your commanding officer"
Oddball: "He got decpaitated by a German 88 about three weeks ago. But, don't say your sorry hes been trying to get us killed ever since we landed at Omaha Beach it's Terrible"
CrapGame: "You see he hasn't reported him dead yet I've been collecting his whiskey

JKilts · #**431** (**permalink**) December 19th, 2007, 05:04 PM

I often thought about this. I'd probably choose to serve in the RAF during the Battle of Britain, then transfer to a Naval Officer at Pearl Harbor, then go on to fight in North Africa along side the Desert Rats, continue on to Guadalcanal, then jump in with the 82nd on Husky, Avalanche, then Neptune in Operation Overlord. I'd jump in on Market Garden, continue with the 82nd until after the Buldge, when I would transfer to the 17th for the jump across the Rhein in Operation Varsity. Finally, I would go with the Soviets to fight in Berlin.
Of course I know that it's impossible to do all those transfers even if I did live in that time... and the odds of me surviving all those are?

Joe · #**432** (**permalink**) December 19th, 2007, 05:16 PM

Smells a bit like MoH, there!

Damn, I wish I could play airborne, but my bloody graphics card isn't good enough!

Terror of the Skies · #**433** (**permalink**) December 19th, 2007, 06:10 PM

Well had I been born back in the time of WWII, I probably would have volunteered for the Airborne. Nothing more fun than jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, right? I wouldn't care which Airborne Division I went in. As long as it was the 82nd or 101st. Hopefully I would have had what it took to live all the way from Husky to V-E Day.

SittingDuckBE · #**434** (**permalink**) December 22nd, 2007, 02:57 PM

Definitely a member of the AK (Polish Home army, Warsaw Rising)!

SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer · #**435** (**permalink**) December 30th, 2007, 11:38 AM

I probably would of liked to of been a Chindit. Chindit is a corrupted form of the suggested name of the Burmese mythical beast Chinthé or Chinthay, statues of which guarded Buddhist temples.

However, if we put this deluded notion aside for a second I would of probably served in the home-guard, better known as Dads Army. More of a Private Joe Walker character.

Needforspeed · #**436** (**permalink**) December 30th, 2007, 12:29 PM

Fighter ace. Either side.

chiefgeorge · #**437** (**permalink**) December 30th, 2007, 04:41 PM

On a battleship with lots of armor around me and big guns. I got a tour of the New Jersey and watched her put a small island under water. It just disppeared off the radar and the missile battery on it didn't shoot at the planes anymore. Very impressive ships.

rebelyell · #**438** (**permalink**) December 30th, 2007, 07:59 PM

Call me a traitor, but in a SS Panzer Division.

Slipdigit · #**439** (**permalink**) December 30th, 2007, 08:35 PM

Hey, you're a traitor.

You said, "call me a traitor"...

I must assume by your screen name that you are American by birth, Southern by the Grace of God. What part of Dixie do you call home?

macrusk · #**440** (**permalink**) December 31st, 2007, 03:57 AM

Since I would be limited in what roles I would have in WWII based on gender - SOE - Camp X, Communications Role, possibly combat medical role, or a combined War Artist and Historian recording events if I could not be in an active position to make a difference. Oh, and if it couldn't be with the Canadian forces, it would be with the British....

bismark1 · #**441** (**permalink**) December 31st, 2007, 03:58 AM

i would have served in the 21st Panzer Division

Slipdigit · #**442** (**permalink**) December 31st, 2007, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macrusk

if I could not be in an active position to make a difference. Oh, and if it couldn't be with the Canadian forces, it would be with the British....

When I first read this, I though you said that because of your gender, you could not be in a position to make a difference and I was going to call you on it by directing you to this post by me in the other forum in Otto's empire. I reread your post and realized my error in understanding but decided to post Mrs. Gaylord's story here anyway. She was a woman in a man's army, but she made a difference, at least into those lives that she was thrust.

Oh yeah, and by the way, we wouldn't want any stinking Saskatchewaner (is that the word? Or is it Saskatchewiener?) in the US Army.

macrusk · #**443** (**permalink**) December 31st, 2007, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slipdigit

I reread your post and realized my error in understanding but decided to post Mrs. Gaylord's story here anyway. She was a woman in a man's army, but she made a difference, at least into those lives that she was thrust.

Oh yeah, and by the way, we wouldn't want any stinking Saskatchewaner (is that the word? Or is it Saskatchewiener?) in the US Army.

Thanks for sharing her story. It's because of people like her that I included Combat medical role.

It's Saskatchewanian....to make it more tongue-twisting its a Saskatonian (from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)! US would have been my 3rd choice after following the armed forces in which my parents served WW2 - only the Allies for me, but if I wouldn't be wanted (no smiley for scuffing toe in the dirt and sighing!!)

Slipdigit · #**444** (**permalink**) December 31st, 2007, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macrusk

Thanks for sharing her story. It's because of people like her that I included Combat medical role.

It's Saskatchewanian....to make it more tongue-twisting its a Saskatonian (from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)! US would have been my 3rd choice after following the armed forces in which my parents served WW2 - only the Allies for me, but if I wouldn't be wanted (no smiley for scuffing toe in the dirt and sighing!!)

So, if you are from some podunk town way out in the backwoods of Saskatchewan, you are a Saskatchewanian, but if you are from Saskatoon, then you are a Saskatonian Saskatchewanian?

I live in Elmore County. We call ourselves Elmorons.

arneken · #**445** (**permalink**) December 31st, 2007, 03:31 PM

hmmm let's see. I live in Wevelgem. There's a pilotschool sinds the 1920. So I see a lot of Airplanes passing by in my youth. I rectruit and gain my diplom. So if ww2 brakes out. I'll try to defend my country as best as possible with my Fairey Fox. but I'm been overrun by stuka's and messerschmidts.
I flee to England. Join after a few months the RAF. trained to fly spitfires I can finalle engage the enemy in 1942. I crash, after been shot down, in 1944 trying to free my country.

that would be about it.