A Russian infantry soldier in a penal battalion forced into battle at the point of gun - WITH NO GUN.
Infantry as they had little chance Cheers Tanky. Huge target; instant brew and little chance of getting out. At least the PBI (like me) can lie down or jump in a hole! Chris
A Russian infantry soldier in a penal battalion forced into battle at the point of gun - WITH NO GUN. I thought of the shtraf battalions immediately. I see you did too.
I thought of the shtraf battalions immediately. I see you did too. How about being a Marine combat cameraman in the Pacific against the Japanese or a flamethrower operator? Seriously, would you have wanted to walk around with tanks full of volitile liguids and bullets fying around everwhere? That job was certainaly the pits! But really, just about any job having to do with combat was bad. I mean, any one of those mentioned here would have had left a pit of nervousness all over my body, but people do what they have to do. I just read a book about the American Civil War battle at Antietim which described Union soldiers making 4 seperate charges on the Confederate center WITH BAYONETS ONLY! And only after all this carnage did the Union commander finally order his men to load their guns. Then, both sides just stood in the open field shooting at each other. Where do such men come from?
A little earlier on this thread I opted for the job of an SOE operative as being the worst possible job one could have volunteered for during ww2. The word "volunteered" is, I believe, the key factor. I have read through comments made by other members and saw, for an example, the role of POWS in Japanese hands being quoted. I have nothing but complete sympathy for those poor bastards who found themselves in a most terrible situation through no fault of their own but make the distinction between them and members of the SOE who calmly volunteered to put themselves in the most dangerous of situations knowing full well what the odds of their survival were. Ron
I imagine being a navy diver in the old mark v diving equipment was quite challenging. Diving down to clear mines etc would be bad enough with modern technology but doing it in those big claustrophobic suits would have made it all the more difficult
A Russian infantry soldier in a penal battalion forced into battle at the point of gun - WITH NO GUN. As a German veteran of the Russian front related to me, that happened often in the early phases of the campaign to regular Soviet infantry. He described the raw fear of his small unit being attacked by over 400 Soviet infantry (including women) over a footbridge where only the first 100 or so had a weapon. Those in the rear were expected to pick up a rifle from the fallen. A Commissar ensured that. Having enough ammunition and keeping the barrels of the MG34's cooled were their biggest worries. 400 people expended just to slow them down.
Reading all the worst jobs in ww2 , I think just being in a war is bad and all jobs are the worst . I have not read anything of how a man loved his war job and could not wait to go to work in the morning.
The concentration camp prisoners clearing the gas chambers had a terrible job. I think they were called commandos.
A Fairey Battle crewman during the Battle of France 1940. Fairey Battle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Or Boulton Paul Defiant crew during the Battle of Britain. Boulton Paul Defiant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia You left out the Buffalo pilots in the Pacific. And yessssssssssss, I know about the Finns
good evening.sapper,25 feb,2013,10:22pm.re:the worst job in ww2.after what you went through would venture to say you had the worst job ww2.i felt quiet safe at sea.the surrounding space gave an illusion of safety.i would not swop the sea for your job. truely heroic.proud to know you.stay well bernard85
An uncle of mine (Pte. Ronald Ritson, R.A.M.C.) was in the Medical Corps throughout WW2. Sometimes, the work involved in the Medical Corps must have been among the worst jobs of the war .... For example, this is what my uncle told me about what his section were sent to do after parts of Ashford had been bombed during the Blitz: "We then went up to the place that had been bombed to see what we could do. When we went up, all the houses were flat. The bomb had killed everybody in the houses. So, we got some baskets and we went round just picking pieces of people up. And what struck me most was when I picked up the little kneecap of a baby. It was very upsetting at the time, very disturbing. However, that was war, it’s cruel." He was 19 years old at the time.
How about the men on latrine duty each morning emptying the horrendously full ammunition boxes before breakfast. The senior MO in Rangoon Jail stated that his 'latrine boys' saved more lives than he did by removing these containers in the most sanitary way they could each day and thus halting the spread of disease.
