Greatest military units of all time

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Easy-8

Active member
Pre Middle Ages

- Persians under Cyrus the Great
- Spartans at Thermopylae
- Macedonians Army under Alexander the Great
- Romans in almost every war/battle they fought
- Carthaginian Army under Hannibal
- Visigothic heavy Cavalry at Adrianople in 378 and Chalons in 451
- The slave rebellion in Rome under Spartacus
- Germanic tribial fighters at Teutoburg Forest
- Huns under Attila

Middle Ages

- Vikings from 793 to 1066
- Koreans during the First Goryeo-Khitan War
- Normans under William the Conqueror
- Samurai in Japan
- Muslims under Saladin during the 1st crusade
- Knight Templar during the 1st crusade
- Mongols under Genghis Khan
- Scottish Army during their war for independence
- Welsh Longbowmen
- Teutonic Knights and Poles/Lithuanians in their various wars with each other

Post Middle Ages

- Samurai in Japan (again)
- Polish Hussars at Kircholm
- Russians under Peter the Great
- Prussians under Frederick the Great

Colonal/Napoleonic/WWI/other era

- The British (built the worlds largest oversea’s empire enough said)
- Roger’s Rangers during The French and Indian War
- Continental Army during the American Revolution
- South African Boers during the wars with Britian
- French Grand Armee under Napoleon
- Napoleon’s Imperial Guard
- Russian Winter (during Napoleon’s invasion :))
- Texans at the Alamo
- Americans during the Mexican-American War
- Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during US Civil War
- Confederate Horsemen during US Civil War
- Stonewall Brigade during US Civil War
- Union XIV Corps at Chickamauga
- Union V Corps during the Seven Days Battle
- Prussians during Bismarck’s reign
- Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War
- Serbs during WWI
- German 8th Army
- German Sturmtruppen
- French in WWI
- The US “Lost Battalion” in Argonne Forest
- Marines at Belleau Wood
- Poles during the Soviet/Polish War

WWII

- Finns in Winter/Continuation/Lapland War
- Wehrmacht in France and low countries during the 1940 invasion
- RAF during the Battle of Britian
- Afrika Korps and Desert Rats in the African theater
- Soviet Snipers at Stalingrad
- 62nd Army at Stalingrad (and later on as 8th Tank Army)
- II SS Panzer Korps at Kharkov, Prochorovka and Market Garden
- 82nd Airborne in Italian and Normandy Campiagns
- FallshirmJaeger at Mount Cassino
- Großdeutschland on the Eastern Front
- 12th SS Panzer Division at Caen
- British Paras during Market Garden
- US Marines in Pacific Theater
- US Navy at Midway
- Japanese in Malaysia and Philippines
- 1st Special Service Force in Italy
- US Army Rangers at Normandy
- 101st Airborne at Bastogne
- Tuskegee Airmen in the air war over Europe
- 6th Ranger Battalion in the Pacific War

Post WWII

- 1st Marine Division at Inch’on and Chosin
- Chinese PVA during the first phase offensive in the Korean War
- US 2nd Infantry Division during the May Massacre
- 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam
- Aussie/NZ SASR during the Vietnam War
- IDF in the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War
- SAS/Paras in the Falkland War
- Spetsnaz in Afghanistan
- Iraqi Republican Guard in Iraq/Iran War (although they didn’t do to well later on…)
- Task Force Ranger in Somilia
- Chechens in the First Chechen War
- Task Force 121 in GWOT

Various gullrilia movements threwout the ages

- Scotish in early part of the war to free Scotland from the English
- Spainish fighting against Napoleon
- Minutemen during the American revolution
- South African Boers during the wars with Britian
- Cubans fighting alongside Castro
- PAVN/VC/Viet Minh in the Vietnam conflict
- Hezbollah during the Civil War in Lebenon
- Afghan tribial fighters (during the Soviet invasion)
- Chechens in the second war with Russia
- Iraqi insurgents (well some of them at least)
 
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How about the 173rd airborne Brigade in Vietnam?
What about the Royal Australian Regiment in Korea and in Vietnam?
If I had more time I could add a lot more.
 
tomtom22 said:
How about the 173rd airborne Brigade in Vietnam?
What about the Royal Australian Regiment in Korea and in Vietnam?
If I had more time I could add a lot more.
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That is the point of this thread. To add more things to the list. I just jump started it with a rather long list. I am sure I missed a lot of things but I believe I made a very good list.
 
Let me add something to WWII

No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron - No. 303 "Kościuszko" Polish Fighter Squadron (Polish: Warszawski Dywizjon im. Tadeusza Kościuszki) was a Polish fighter squadron named after the Polish and American hero General Tadeusz Kościuszko. Kosciuszko Squadron was formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish government in exile of 1939, and the United Kingdom on 2 August of 1940 and became officially operational a few weeks later on 31 August. Kosciuszko Squadron is famous for claiming the highest number of enemy kills during the Battle of Britain of all fighter squadrons then in operation through September to October 1940 (Squadron destroyed 4,7% of all enemy airplanes during the battle).
More at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_303
 
The long range desert patrol

The gurkha's

The 95th Rifle regiment

The big red one

English longbowmen

MI9
 
AND THE INDIAN ARMY? IT FOUGHT IN BOTH WWs AND HAVE A LOT OF VICTORIA CROSS RECIPIENTS.DID U KNOW THAT INDIAN ARMY UNITS WERE DEPLOYED AS PART OF THE INTERNATOINAL SETTLEMENT IN SHANGHAI AND WERE ALSO USED TO PUT DOWN THE BOXER REBELLION ?
 
Easy-8 said:
Pre Middle Ages

- Persians under Cyrus the Great
- Spartans at Thermopylae
- Macedonians Army under Alexander the Great
- Romans in almost every war/battle they fought
- Carthaginian Army under Hannibal
- The slave rebellion in Rome under Spartacus
- Germanic tribial fighters at Teutoburg Forest
- Huns under Attila
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I would add Visigothic heavy Cavalry, both at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 (which changed the face of warfare and signalled the beginning of the end of the dominance of Roman Heavy Infantry) and at Chalons in 451, where along with the Roman forces of Aetius the threat of Attila and his Huns was ended once and for all.


Easy-8 said:
WWII
- II SS Panzer Korps at Kharkov, Prochorovka and Market Garden
- 12th SS Panzer Division at Caen
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I'd add Großdeutschland Panzergrenadier division. This division had one of the finest panzer regiments in the Wehrmacht. The 13th Panzer Regiment of Großdeutschland, equipped with Tigers, scored the highest kill/loss ratio of any tiger regiment in the Wehrmacht. For only 6 losses they made 100 confirmed kills giving a ratio of 16.67 for.
 
101st Airborne - Op. Apache Snow, RVN
Wild Weasels - Skies over North Vietnam
The LRRPs in Vietnam
Marines at Khe Sahn, RVN
Army Rangers - Any where, any time
Same goes for Green Berets
Marines in Fallujah
1st Cav - Ia Drang Valley, RVN
7th ID - Pork Chop Hill, Korea

That's all I have for now. I'll add some later.
 
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Aussie/NZ SASR during the Vietnam War
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Well nice to see at least 1 Aussie mention, but I'd correct one thing. The only Kiwi's there were part of 2/4th Battalion RAR.... not the SAS.

I'd add:
The Light Horse at Bersheeba
The Light Horse at Galipolli
The 10th/27th Infantry Battalion (Highest decorated Australian Unit, 48 battle honours in 2 wars, and 11 Victoria Crosses)
3RAR at Kapyong
6RAR at Long Tan
Z Troop commandos in Timor against the Japanese
39th Battalion at Isurava
The "Rats of Tobruk"

It seems to me that the Australians are the forgotten army by the rest of the world when it comes to recognising brave actions.

Just to add another, just to prove I'm not totally biased.
How about the SOG in Vietnam. Awesome soldiers, for Americans:wink:
 
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Easy-8 said:
- Scotish in early part of the war to free Scotland from the English
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There is a history of English/Scottish border conflict which doesnt relate to the war for indpendence. Ironically the Union between both countries was as a result of a Scottish financial disaster.

The SAS the best current military unit in the world! :p
 
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Reiben said:
There is a history of English/Scottish border conflict which doesnt relate to the war for indpendence. Ironically the Union between both countries was as a result of a Scottish financial disaster.
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Plus the Kingdoms of England & Scotland had already been united for a century so any full union was only a matter of time.
 
roverin said:
AND THE INDIAN ARMY? IT FOUGHT IN BOTH WWs AND HAVE A LOT OF VICTORIA CROSS RECIPIENTS.DID U KNOW THAT INDIAN ARMY UNITS WERE DEPLOYED AS PART OF THE INTERNATOINAL SETTLEMENT IN SHANGHAI AND WERE ALSO USED TO PUT DOWN THE BOXER REBELLION ?
Click to expand...

Under British empire and part of the british empire so I think British take the credit for it. LoL

CanadianCombat said:
what about the Canadians
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PPLIR = Princess Patricia's Light Infantry Regiment?
 
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Under British empire and part of the british empire so I think British take the credit for it. LoL
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So should the British take credit for the actions of the Canadians, The Australians, New Zealanders and the South Africans?
 
what about the US Marine scout snipers in Vietnam? not only were they snipers, but they were trained in artillery and airstrike operations as well.
 
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