Night Drop- The American Airborne Invasion of Normandy

ss units where not all nazis, many simply joined because they were elites from the german army

the ss units were used as shocktroopers, heading attacks and in the first line of defence

durign the battle of kursk it was these units that met the soviet 5th guards tank army, if it wasnt for these units and their capabilities, they may never have broke through many defences
 
AA said:
ss units where not all nazis, many simply joined because they were elites from the german army

the ss units were used as shocktroopers, heading attacks and in the first line of defence

durign the battle of kursk it was these units that met the soviet 5th guards tank army, if it wasnt for these units and their capabilities, they may never have broke through many defences

Well what happened is that the Waffen SS were able sometimes to pick the best available recruits but the Heer had many elite divisions as well. Most of the original Panzer & Panzergrenadier divisions that rolled into the Soviet Union for example. And the best of them all, Grossdeutschland, was a match for the 1st SS Panzer Division, Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, probably the best Waffen SS division in WW2.

Yes the Waffen SS units were used in that capacity, but no more than the Heer Panzer formations were. In fact, aside from political reasons, there seems to have been no need to have the Waffen SS at all. They weren't any better than the best Heer Panzer divisions, and they didn't do anything different from those divisions, as both Heer and Waffen SS units were integrated into the Wehrmacht and fought alongside each other. It was Heer commanders and not Waffen SS commanders that gave the latter formations their objectives for example.
 
godofthunder9010 said:
It could easily be argued that Grossdeutscheland and Liebensdart Adolf Hitler were, man for man, the best divisions of World War II.

I agree godofthunder.

Now lets have another look at Carentan. How well does the Band of Brothers episode follow the real hard facts? Who has seen the episode lately :?:
 
D-Day and Band of Brothers both by Stephan Ambrose talk about the paratrooper drops.I think being spread out helped the Allies more than it hurt them.I was watching something on the history channel couldn't rember what documentary it was thougth but I rember it said that Hittler and the German high command didn't think it was the invasion because of the randomness of the paratroopers drop that night.
 
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