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Posted on 4/4/20 at 11:21 pm to bott18240
Definitely Europe.
Fighting those brainwashed godless heathen Japanese lunatics that were gladly willing to kill themselves before surrendering would have been scary as hell.
Fighting those brainwashed godless heathen Japanese lunatics that were gladly willing to kill themselves before surrendering would have been scary as hell.
Posted on 4/4/20 at 11:23 pm to bott18240
“I’ll Take Sweden”
I spent a long combat tour in Vietnam in ‘69 as an 0311 Marine grunt and then later spent a week or so on maneuvers on the Bataan Penninsula in the Philippines. Identical mountainous triple canopy and same wretched, sweltering weather and bugs.
Fighting orientals was bad enough (wounded twice) but living day to day in that shithole was almost as bad. I returned to Vietnam in 2004 for two weeks and it was gorgeous once again but still miserable — think a Louisiana morning in mid August ... all year long.
Also came down with weeklong dysentery in 1969, probably from taking those fricking anti-malarial pills everyday.
I spent a long combat tour in Vietnam in ‘69 as an 0311 Marine grunt and then later spent a week or so on maneuvers on the Bataan Penninsula in the Philippines. Identical mountainous triple canopy and same wretched, sweltering weather and bugs.
Fighting orientals was bad enough (wounded twice) but living day to day in that shithole was almost as bad. I returned to Vietnam in 2004 for two weeks and it was gorgeous once again but still miserable — think a Louisiana morning in mid August ... all year long.
Also came down with weeklong dysentery in 1969, probably from taking those fricking anti-malarial pills everyday.
Posted on 4/4/20 at 11:29 pm to bott18240
Everyone is going to say Europe. But if you study casualty totals of infantry divisions that served in Europe and compare them to those that served in the Pacific (both Army & Marine), you’ll find it was was more likely for a infantryman to die in Europe than an infantryman or Marine in the Pacific. You will also find divisions in Europe were actually in active combat for far longer times than their PTO counterparts.
If you take the division that took the highest casualties in the Pacific, the 1st Marine Division, and put them in Europe suffering the same number of casualties, instead of ranking first in the theater, they’d rank ninth.
The bottom line of WWII combat for the average American soldier was far more of a meat grinder of constant death and combat in the ETO than the soldiers and Marines in the Pacific.
ETA: and even more dangerous than being a grunt or leatherneck in either the PTO or ETO, was being an airman in the 8th Air Force. The 8th Air Force suffered a casualty rate higher than any Army or Marine formation in either theater.
If you take the division that took the highest casualties in the Pacific, the 1st Marine Division, and put them in Europe suffering the same number of casualties, instead of ranking first in the theater, they’d rank ninth.
The bottom line of WWII combat for the average American soldier was far more of a meat grinder of constant death and combat in the ETO than the soldiers and Marines in the Pacific.
ETA: and even more dangerous than being a grunt or leatherneck in either the PTO or ETO, was being an airman in the 8th Air Force. The 8th Air Force suffered a casualty rate higher than any Army or Marine formation in either theater.
This post was edited on 4/4/20 at 11:35 pm
Posted on 4/5/20 at 12:29 am to bott18240
Grandfather in Pacific luckily never got off boat to my understanding. Grandfather in Europe had rougher go.
That said it sounds like if you did fight in Pacific it was brutal. Pacific grandfather felt like the atomic bomb saved his life
That said it sounds like if you did fight in Pacific it was brutal. Pacific grandfather felt like the atomic bomb saved his life
Posted on 4/5/20 at 2:18 am to bott18240
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This post was edited on 4/5/20 at 2:21 am
Posted on 4/5/20 at 2:32 am to bott18240
Europe
D-day was the worst fighting in Europe. It wasn’t a cake walk but after D-day it was easier then having to island hop the pacific.
D-day was the worst fighting in Europe. It wasn’t a cake walk but after D-day it was easier then having to island hop the pacific.
Posted on 4/5/20 at 4:59 am to bott18240
As long as I’m an American, British, or German soldier the west. If I’m Russian, frick it I’m emigrating to somewhere else.
I want no part of the pacific land war (ie island hopping)
I want no part of the pacific land war (ie island hopping)
This post was edited on 4/5/20 at 5:12 am
Posted on 4/5/20 at 5:30 am to bott18240
My great Uncle lived through the Bataan death March. He was a tough sob.
Posted on 4/5/20 at 5:58 am to bott18240
Europe & it’s not even close. Went to Normandy last year, when you stand at the waterline at Omaha & see the positions the Germans held on the bluffs, it’s crazy that anyone would have survived that.
Great Grandfather fought in Europe, was handed down his 1911 a couple years ago. Hope to hand it down to my future son one day.
Great Grandfather fought in Europe, was handed down his 1911 a couple years ago. Hope to hand it down to my future son one day.
Posted on 4/5/20 at 6:05 am to bott18240
Give me Pacific and a flamethrower... crispy, crunchy Japs
Posted on 4/5/20 at 8:37 am to bott18240
My Dad was in the Pacific and my Uncle was in Europe. My Uncle was around English, French, and, later, German girls. My Dad was on austere islands with tropical diseases and Japs.
Posted on 4/5/20 at 9:07 am to bott18240
North Africa as part of the occupation force in Algiers
Posted on 4/5/20 at 1:32 pm to bott18240
Pacific, I am carribean
Posted on 4/5/20 at 1:43 pm to bott18240
Europe. The Germans actually treated their prisoners with respect. The Japanese tortured their prisoners.
Posted on 4/5/20 at 1:46 pm to bott18240
I would probably have died from skin cancer in the pacific faster than the japs could have killed me.
Posted on 4/5/20 at 1:54 pm to bott18240
I would have been a true patriot and dodged the draft.
Posted on 4/7/20 at 2:45 pm to bott18240
I see a lot of comments about how the Germans treated American POWs with respect, etc.
The father of my college girlfriend was a POW in WWII. He was a flyer and was shot down while strafing an Italian truck convoy. He was handed over to the Germans and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, the POW camp of The Great Escape fame.
When compared to the treatment of prisoners held by Japan his treatment was pretty good but it was a physical and mental struggle every day. The Germans would take all edibles out of their Red Cross and personal packages giving them only things like ice skates and other useless items. At night the German guards would walk by a barrack and just lower their weapon and fire off a round or two through the walls. At the time of this man's release he weighed in at about 93 lbs.
So yes, while he wasn't tortured or beaten regularly it was still a terrible existence and a daily struggle to live.
I knew him in 1977, '78 and he still got migraine headaches during the anniversary week of his being shot down.
Also even though he worked on the tunnel he did not get to escape because he was moved to a different barrack a couple of days prior to the escape.
The father of my college girlfriend was a POW in WWII. He was a flyer and was shot down while strafing an Italian truck convoy. He was handed over to the Germans and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, the POW camp of The Great Escape fame.
When compared to the treatment of prisoners held by Japan his treatment was pretty good but it was a physical and mental struggle every day. The Germans would take all edibles out of their Red Cross and personal packages giving them only things like ice skates and other useless items. At night the German guards would walk by a barrack and just lower their weapon and fire off a round or two through the walls. At the time of this man's release he weighed in at about 93 lbs.
So yes, while he wasn't tortured or beaten regularly it was still a terrible existence and a daily struggle to live.
I knew him in 1977, '78 and he still got migraine headaches during the anniversary week of his being shot down.
Also even though he worked on the tunnel he did not get to escape because he was moved to a different barrack a couple of days prior to the escape.
Posted on 4/7/20 at 2:57 pm to bott18240
Torn. People on here saying Europe because although it may be cooler (try living in below freezing for extended periods with inadequate cold weather gear) and because the Germans treated better (they did). But, I'd choose the Pacific Theater. Outside of the beginning of the war and Bataan, the Japs didn't take many prisoners. The fighting was just as brutal, but at least after the time on the island, you'd be rotated out for a bit, which was a lot more R&R/down time than those faced in Europe.
My ex-wife's Grandfather was captured at Kasserine Pass in North Africa in '43 and was held in Germany until the end of the war. Beaten/severe weight loss and he mentioned the damned cold a lot. Hated it. Thats why they moved to south FL after he returned.
My ex-wife's Grandfather was captured at Kasserine Pass in North Africa in '43 and was held in Germany until the end of the war. Beaten/severe weight loss and he mentioned the damned cold a lot. Hated it. Thats why they moved to south FL after he returned.
This post was edited on 4/7/20 at 3:00 pm
Posted on 4/7/20 at 3:11 pm to bott18240
I've spoken to a couple of vets that were POWs in the Bataan death march in the Pacific. Give me Europe every time
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