Where would YOU serve in WW2?

As a proud Australian I would have to say 'Z' Special Unit



But I have heard enough stories over the year from family members to prefer the Royal Marine Commando, specifically 4 Commando Brigade serving in Normandy.

 

Hehe.. *Heartland* u got the swedish Bofors AT-4... Probably would you fight at the finnish frontier my friend .. good at ski? ..

I would join the German resistance of course.. or the one of the 40000 of 62 russian army.. (First defender of stalingrad)

"Not a single step back"

 

After rethinking this, I do believe that I would rather be an Admiral's Aide. After all, great parties with beautiful and eligable Women, great food and plenty of Grape. ;-D

 

A Panzer crew of the Afrika Korps

 

Marienburg, West Prussia, 1945. (Where I get the moniker from.)

Marienburg, a huge medieval castle of the German Teutonic Order, built in 1309 and seat of the Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights who started the whole German "Drive to the East" with their Prussian Crusade. The irony of defending such a place against the forces of the east would have made the defence of the place all the more interesting. Plus my family is originally from a town only a few miles away from the old castle! If you're going to go down in flames, make it dramatic.

 

I'd like to be posted with a coastal artillery unit on Oahu. Not much of a chance to see any action after December 7, 1941, but the fringe benefits of all the nearby, Wahines (native women)would make it more than worthwhile!

 

This topic makes me laugh a little...

Anyone in their right mind wouldnt want to be in a war at all... Especially not some of the choices some people put. Why would you want to get killed?

You would really want to be shot at, blown up or otherwise in danger at your own violition?

Cant imagine many veterans would share your sentiments.


Personally, I would elect to serve in a weather monitoring station in Greenland. Only about 7 Germans ever got around there...

 

Where would I liked to have served ?

When I was being shelled at Cassino ? ...... I would liked to have served anywhere near my home in London.
When I was being dive-bombed at Termoli ? ..... I would have liked to have served anywhere near the beach in Brighton
When I was snowbound in Carovilli ? ........I would have liked to have served in somehere like Cape Town

All in all, most of the time I would liked to have served somewhere else but I suppose that merely makes me normal

 

Being a Canadian I assume I'd be somewhere in the infantry. Hopefully as a officer and such!
But to spice it up I'd like to be a Resistance Fighter in one of the occupied countries/become a Partisan

Here are some Soviet Partisans in Belarus 1943.

 

Interestingly, it wasn't until World War I that your sentiments started to reflect the majority view. While today nearly everyone feels as you do throughout human history until only a century ago the vast majority of civilizations glorified war. For the Vikings to die safe and warm in one's bed was the worst kind of death imagineable; it completely lacked glory. In Aztec society one could not progress in status without engaging in warfare. Warrior was a respected title.

Ever stopped to think about why evolution has turned the human male into a creature significantly bigger than the female? Why all that upper body strength? We've been bred to be warlike and tough. Sports are simply avenues to release the natural tension in the male that used to be released through violence. War has been a fundamental part of human society since the beginning and most of the earliest history of humans deals with warfare.

We're all going to die at some point in our lives (normally at the end!). Yes, war is terrible and involves a hell of a lot of suffering. But all that risk and pain is what made the victories so glorious to past peoples. There is very little glory or true excitement in the modern world. Everything is just titilation. We only see war in movies and the war movies we see today are entirely seeped in the anti-war sentiment so prevalently today. War isn't always the unremited hell that is portrayed in modern movies. It certainly wasn't the wonderful past time that ancient people's portrayed it but don't fool yourself into believing completely the modern tales about warfare.

 

Excellent!! I forgot all about that.... Just finished a great book on Partisans in Belarus... These worriors scared the heck out of the Germans especially when the Germans would be walking near the woods. As some wehrmacht soldiers wrote in their journals, " They appeared out of no-where and disappeared just as quickly, leaving several dozen dead at a time".

The Germans called them terrorists and bandits...... Funny isnt it??
Can we think of anywhere else in the world where this is the case today??

 

yes. Though I say there fighting for freedom. then agian some argue with the things in Iraq. *shrugs*
Though I wouldn't mind being in a large battle.. if I didn't get hit that is.. :/

 

"War has been a fundamental part of human society since the beginning and most of the earliest history of humans deals with warfare."

And your point is what? Just because the human race has endured centuries of warfare does not make it a noble or glorius pursuit, nor is it one that should be taken lightly with topics such as this. To me it belittles the sacrifice made by those who did fight in a war.

I dont want to be in a war.

I also find it rather sad to choose what you would want to be in. I find it somewhat distasteful and disrespectful to those who did fight.

To me it all sounds like boyhood bravado.

Why on earth would you want to be a partisan or a German on the Eastern Front?

If you do want to then why not join the army or head off to a warzone?

"It certainly wasn't the wonderful past time that ancient people's portrayed it but don't fool yourself into believing completely the modern tales about warfare."

I prefer to talk to the men who took part in it. None of them see any glory in it, and your assertions seem better placed for propaganda or boys own comics. They did what had to be done. I doubt many wanted to go and fight, they did it because they had to.

In my opinion topics like this belittle those men and make history into a movie sideshow and to me, would not seem a topic that sits with the overall professionalism of this forum and its knowledgable membership.

 

Chill out there mate,
The topic's been running since 2002, and of course it's a daft one, but It's just a bit of stupid fun on the whole. It also includes answers like Ron's (#245) which send shivers up the spine... noone's being disrespectful (Except maybe the tit that wanted to be in Dirlewanger's mob a while back... and naturally he's banned now).
Tricky balance to make between pompous and interesting on any war-related forum and threads like these tend to 'warm up' the discussion, indicate where someone's coming from and provide an easy 'in' for new bods, the lifeblood of forums. (It can be hugely intimidating for many people 'wading in' for the first time) You'll also note that many serious and knowledgable people have joined in.

Anyway, they've thrown me out of the Women's Auxillary balloon Corps so I'll see you down the windmill for the latest 'tableaux'. (need any nylons??)
Cheers,
Adam.

 

Im not hot Von Poop.


Just merely stating my opinion. I dont mind others taking part but I want to express my view on the subject... Thats all.

Of course in an ideal fantasy world I would love to have been a Tiger I commander.

As long as I had impervious armour and a brilliant gunner!

 

And an even better maintenance crew and a few fuel trucks behind you, plus a Wirlbelwind to defend you from Jabos

 

You aint wrong there Za... Perhaps a 'Pimp my Tiger' would be in order before I took to battle!

Off topic... But I have often wondered on the actual effectiveness of German Anti-Jabo vehicles...

 

Not wishing to hijack the thread, we should move somewhere else, but doubted how so?

 

of course I wouldn't truly serve in the war. We all know war. But I wanted to add to the thread. And use my imagination

 

Since I'm now serving my military service in the coastal rangers (the Finnish equivalent of the Marines, sort of), I propably would've served at the bay of Viipuri in the Winter war, and perhaps somewhere around the Russian-occupied Hanko, or possibly lake Ladoga during the Continuation war. Who knows, the possibilities are endless A funny (or not so funny, actually) thing I found out today is that if Finland supposedly went to war against Russia (realistically speaking, still the only plausible threat to Finland), my unit would most propably have to fight against the Russian Marine infantry, which are pretty damn hardcore soldiers. For a lack of a finer term, we would be f****d! My wartime unit would have no modern radios, no anti-aircraft weapons, no grenade-pistols, no nothing. Not even trucks, just 2 tractors. Try attacking with a Valmet, eh!