World War Two toughest fighters on the Allied Side

My vote goes to:

1. Gurkhas
2. Goums
3. Nagas

Gerry

 

Can't give a personal opinion, can only repeat my Fathers observations. He was always impressed with the Gurkhas, but he was also impressed by the Maoris who took Takrouna North Africa.

 

I think the US 442nd Infantry deserves a mention:

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the U.S. Military. The 4,000 men who initially came in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 3.5 times. In total, about 14,000 men served, ultimately earning 9,486 Purple Hearts and an unprecedented eight Presidential Unit Citations.[2] Its 100th battalion is the most decorated for its size in the history of the U.S. Army, 21 of its members having been awarded Medals of Honor.[51] Members of the 442nd received 18,143 awards, including:

• 21 Medals of Honor (the first awarded posthumously to Private First Class Sadao Munemori, Company A, 100th Battalion, for action near Seravezza, Italy, on April 5, 1945; the others upgraded from other awards in June 2000). Recipients include:
  
• Barney F. Hajiro
• Mikio Hasemoto
• Joe Hayashi
• Shizuya Hayashi
• Daniel K. Inouye
• Yeiki Kobashigawa
• Robert T. Kuroda
• Kaoru Moto
• Sadao Munemori
• Kiyoshi K. Muranaga
• Masato Nakae
• Shinyei Nakamine
• William K. Nakamura
• Joe M. Nishimoto
• Allan M. Ohata
• James K. Okubo
• Yukio Okutsu
• Frank H. Ono
• Kazuo Otani
• George T. Sakato
• Ted T. Tanouye

• 52 Distinguished Service Crosses (including 19 Distinguished Service Crosses which were upgraded to Medals of Honor in June 2000)
• 1 Distinguished Service Medal
• 560 Silver Stars (plus 28 Oak Leaf Clusters for a second award)
• 22 Legion of Merit Medals
• 15 Soldier’s Medals
• 4,000 Bronze Stars (plus 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters for a second award; one Bronze Star was upgraded to a Medal of Honor in June 2000. One Bronze Star was upgraded to a Silver Star in September 2009.)
• 9,486 Purple Hearts

442nd Infantry Regiment (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tom.

 

Can we name individuals?

 

Gerry -
4th Indians - 28th Bde Kiwis - Polish Div. - what all three put up with at Cassino was unbelievable....just as bad as Croce/ Gemmano with 46th & 56th Divs

Cheers

 

Blimey Gerry has your profile been hacked into by some teenagers?
Not your normal posting style.


One should not become stereotyped Owen - must keep this 88 year old brain of mine in good shape by cutting down on lurking.

Now nearing the end of a major project, started when I came home from London last June, some time is being taken up to catch up with reading the too many books which are gathering dust, presently it is Keane's "Road of Bones'. So much emphasis is given to the Nagas who had no reluctance to take on the Japanese, that I thought it would be a topic different and interesting for one and all upon which to comment.

Tallyho, Gerrio.

 

2 DLI...2PARA...Auxilleries.

 

Hi Gerry
No doubt the Goums were the most excellent Mountain troops but let's not forget what they did in Italy when taking a village or town they were the most brutal troops fighting on our side raping and brutalising hundreds of women and children, even grandmothers were not excluded
Rotherfield

 

Hi All,

Could'nt resist posting here. I was on a train one evening travelling from the outskirts of Vienna into the city centre. It was a cool April night and the carriage I was in was fairly empty. At a stop along the way an old Austrian gentleman got on and looked all around the carriage before deciding to sit himself down next to me.

Now it was not difficult to notice that he had been drinking somewhat and after a few minutes he turned to me and uttered his evening greetings. I can only speak a small amount of German, so I replied the best I could and smiled. He latched on to the fact that I was not Austrian and asked where I was from?

I'm English I stated. 'Ahhh!', he exclaimed, '3rd toughest soldiers in the war'!!

Gurkhas
Aussies
Tommies
Yugoslavs
Yanks

That was his considered opinion. I didn't feel I should argue much!

 

Toughest Fighters, why the Irish of course!!! . Indeed the British Army was commanded by men of Irish Ancestry!!!

 

but let's not forget what they did in Italy when taking a village or town they were the most brutal troops fighting on our side raping and brutalising hundreds of women and children, even grandmothers were not excluded

Sadly - that was nothing new for the Italian peninsula; even as far back as 4-500 years BCE you could tell the Romans had gone through an enemy city compared to any other Italian tribe/people - they even massacred the dogs! See Tom Holland's "Rubicon"

REALLY brutal warfare at the cost of the civilian population was nothing new to that part of the world - one of the reasons why at the beginning of the Dark Ages the "Roman Nose" disappeared from the gene pool!:mellow:

 

Phylo-
All very well quoting ancient history - however - we have come a long way from there and the fact is that the Goums and the other North African troops in Italy - in 1943/44 - were led by allegedly "civilised" French Officers who apparently did NOTHING to stop this raping and pillaging - and thus we in 8th Army were very happy to see them moved back into the American sector and finally back to France at the landings in the South !

Civilisation and it's conduct has also been around for a very long time- but it was not evident with those animals from North Africa.
Cheers

 

Wasnt there a Sophia Loren b and w subtitled movie where Gorums raped her and her daughter..

 

Phylo-
All very well quoting ancient history - however - we have come a long way from there ....
Civilisation and it's conduct has also been around for a very long time-...


So long that only as late as 1899 and 1907 we actually managed to get at least partly-agreed Rules and Laws of War....then spent two world wars significantly breaching them at times

If we were that civilised would we have had the wars...?

Whether we like it or not - there are some parts of the world where the veneer of civilisation is at best thin - or has frequently (too frequently in the past) got wiped away again for civilised conduct to really take hold. THEN we go and fight wars there....

 

Both sides (Allied and Axis) had units which earned reputations for being tough fighters.

The 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion deserves a mention and in particular their jump at Avellino.

Let's not forget the 39th Battalion AIF and their fight against the Japanese along the Kokoda track. Unlike many other units, the 39th Battalion was a scratch militia unit.

 

Both sides (Allied and Axis) had units which earned reputations for being tough fighters.

Very true; at the same time that the performance of the British Army compared to other Commonwealth nations in North Africa was breaking Winston's heart...we had high points like the SAS and LRDG - tho' I've also seen it argued that the reason for their high profile of their exploits, head-and shoulders above the rest....was that just at that point in the war the rest were so far below them. NOT an idea I subscribe to, I hasten to say!

In discussions like these - the French Foreign Legion often gets neglected; not only did they carry out the first contested amphibious landing of the war....they then stopped under fire to do a little recreational looting!....THEN carried on with the fighting - carrying their loot!

Now that's tough

 

Fearing to leave outside some troops who deserve to be in, I would go for all ethnically-oriented outfits, beyond your common white soldier.

Guess that primitive living conditions, imposed by a colonial power or caused by under-development, either on their own or added to deeply-rooted traditions, were what made the Gurkhas, Maoris, Goums, Tiralleurs, Spahis, West Africans, Niseis, American indians, etc., such fearsome fighters.

I would also throw into the mix some Diggers, because of the harshness of the land down under and the aborigine blood that runs in their veins, a couple of Highlanders, for the sake of Mary, Queen of Scotland, and some picturesque Legionnaires, straight from an innercity slum and with a life to forget.

 

Are we just talking about ground forces?

According to a postwar study done by the US Air Force, the 308th Bomb Group was the top rated bomb group of World War II. They were the only heavy bomb group assigned to the 14th Air Force (China) and their planes were painted with the infamous sharks mouth motif.