Favorite Battle

[aag567]

Mine is the raid on Camp O'Donnel by the 6th Ranger Battalion.

[bowman]

I really liked the Rangers at Point du Hoc, very interesting how they pulled off such an amazing feat.

[OliverMarshall]

Pegasus Bridge as a small unit action but that doesn't really count. Probably the Battle of Normandy.

[Shnur]

If we're talking about favourite battle out of the entire second world war, I'd have to say the Australian 2/16 Militia Battalion in Kokoda.

If we're confining it to battles centered around D-Day, I'd have to say Point Du Hoc.

[Sgt So and So]

Nuh-uh, Battle of Caen is the coolest! Although the British eventually lost, some soldiers showed more heroism than any other soldiers during the war, especially during the pull-out.

[DarkCanuck]

Hands down.

The Battle of Britain.








http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v697/day420tripper/l5.jpg

[Wubbles]

cant say i have a favorite, but im most intriged by the German offensive in the ardennes, that was a close one.

A. The destruction of communications behind the lines.

B. The fact that the Germans pushed so far back, American support units didnt know what to think, or do.

C. Just how far the Germans made it, and how close they came to delivering what probably would have been a very critical victory in Europe.

I guess. Also probably because i was there this winter, and even being preppared for the cold, i was still cold, its hard to imagine how the Americans encircled at Bastogne made it, they must have been really really cold, i bet tehy had a very difficult time holding on to their weapons, let alone firing them, especially with stiff fingers.

[OliverMarshall]

Ok from now on everyone has to give 3 GOOD reasons.

[lazlazlaz1]

battle of britain

a. britain won with less pilots and less planes
b. britain won even though a lot of the airfields had been bombed to bits
c. the british did not give in to the blitz and most civilians also continued to help

[Sgt So and So]

Okay, now that I thought a bit more...
Operation Mercury(Battle of Crete)
A.First airborne operation
B. Hand-to-hand fighting (definite plus and rare)
C. Fallschirmjager are just freakin' sweet! After the Canadians at Juno I'm gonna be a Fallschirmjager sergeant in Carentan. See what the 101st thinks of that!:D

[Arturo]

Kursk...

I say no more.

[enigma]

Kursk...

I say no more.
lol what happened from here on out at least 3 reasons? :p


My main area of ww2 which i have always had the most intrest for ... is not a battle but a campaign:
North Africa

The back and forth nature of the fighting, the chiverly of quite a few units, the tank battles, the strat etc etc etc

[Lordwatson]

The Operation Market Garden Campaign

1. A real team effort

2. Street to street fighting

3.Lots of vickers MGs

[Arturo]

lol what happened from here on out at least 3 reasons? :p


My main area of ww2 which i have always had the most intrest for ... is not a battle but a campaign:
North Africa

The back and forth nature of the fighting, the chiverly of quite a few units, the tank battles, the strat etc etc etc

Ok, three reasons.

1. Biggest tank battle in history.
2. New beutiful tanks for both sides
3. A lot of Air Battles.


I was reading Panzer Commander By Hans Von Luck it is true very amazing the amount of chivalry between both sides in Afrika

[Lt. Stephenson]

The fight for Noville.

10th Armored and the 1st Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division. They held the town for 48 hours giving a enough time to have the rest of the 101st set up a perimeter around Bastogne, 600 Germans were killed and 37 tanks were destroyed in 48 hours of fighting.

[NortherlyNanook]

Anything that Patton took a part of. He was a real man.

[Hyperion2010]

Either the beginning of Barbarosa, Stalingrad, or Berlin. Tough question though.

[Edub]

Point du Hoc. Amazing show of defying the odds

[EvilHobo]

It's hard for me to put my finger on just one. I usually focus on the tide-turning battles like Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk, yet I always keep thinking about Berlin. Sure, the war was lost, but just how the Germans managed to persevere through the constant bombings and the invasion is something I'm captivated by.

[Lt. Stephenson]

I still say Noville, half a division and a battilion of the 101st vs. 15 german Divisions.

[Blame Canada]

Not a real battle more like a skirmish. On july 3rd 1864 a Danish company surprised a Prussian company sized unit near the village of Lundby. The Prussians quickly took up position along a wall at the outskirts of the village, while the Danish company formed into a 16 man deep column at a hill overlooking the village. The Danes then stormed down the hill only to be stopped by three rapid salvos from the Prussians. The fighting took less than 12 minutes. In total the Prussians lost 3 wounded men, while the Danish company ceased to exist on that day, taking app. 75% casualties (as far as I remember more than 150 dead and wounded).

This was the last fighting of the war, and showed the superiority of the breech loader used by the Prussians, compared to the muzzle loader used by the Danes. Despite the common belief in Denmark, that the war was lost because the Prussians had better weapons it was only in this last (and unimportant) skirmish of the war that the difference was noticed. In fact most of the infantry battles during the war had been fought against Austrian troops who used weapons very similar to those used by the Danes.

The battle of Lundby can still be found in German and Austrian officer manuals as a classic example of use of a defensive position.

I'm at the moment doing a lot of research on this subject as I'm planning to write a book on it.

[DaveHill]

Thermopylae, 480BC
Spartan style.

[NicholasJohnson]

Gettysburg 1863

1. Turning point of the US Civil War

2. One of the most studied battles in America, so there is countless information on it.

3. The most well done National Historical Park I have been to.

[DavidUpton]

Pegasus Bridge. A textbook example of how a bridge should be taken.

[OliverMarshall]

this is in the WW2 History section...............

Also remember the three good points. Anyway if we are not doing only WW2 I would have to agree with The Dave and add Rorke's Drift because...

a)most victoria crosses awarded for one action ever
b)in the movie i liked the accents
c)movie had Michael Cane

[DavidUpton]

Dosn't b contradict c? :p

[OliverMarshall]

i've changed it a bit ;)

[enigma]

Thermopylae, 480BC
Spartan style.

history the way it should be wrote (http://www.amazingben.com/arf0072.html)
:D lol think you may like that site?


The Greeks held out for far longer than they should have, throwing themselves against the onslaught and battling with whatever they had -- spears, swords, fists, teeth, sticks, knees to the crotch... you name it.

lmao :D always makes me laugh .... yes i know ama big child.

[Hyperion2010]

Thermopylae, 480BC
Spartan style.

Marathon ranks up there too, and for navy Salimus (or however you spell it) is pretty good. (<3 Herod Heroditus)

[[FFTF]Eurofighter]

cant say i have a favorite, but im most intriged by the German offensive in the ardennes, that was a close one.

A. The destruction of communications behind the lines.

B. The fact that the Germans pushed so far back, American support units didnt know what to think, or do.

C. Just how far the Germans made it, and how close they came to delivering what probably would have been a very critical victory in Europe.

I guess. Also probably because i was there this winter, and even being preppared for the cold, i was still cold, its hard to imagine how the Americans encircled at Bastogne made it, they must have been really really cold, i bet tehy had a very difficult time holding on to their weapons, let alone firing them, especially with stiff fingers.

mate i live in holland and we always have almost the same weather as in Belgium and if you think this winter was cold, you dont wanna know how it was like in 1944. This winter was a soft winter. And the winter in 1944 was a really cold one.

[2ltben]

The Horns of Hattin - the Second Crusade, Saracen victory, wiped out virtually the entire army raised by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Saracens went on to lay seige to Jerusalem before its capitulation.

The Battle of the Nile - pre-Napoleonic Revolutionary wars, English victory, gave Nelson his peerage and not Westminster Abbey.

The Tripoli campaign - US Navy v. Barbary Corsairs. US paid off Barbary pirates after a series of raids. Showed just how mindshatteringly awesome the 44-gun frigates were(Nelson himself went on to praise them, the Admiralty established rules prohibiting Superfrigate engagements with below a 2:1 advantage)

The early Tunis campaign - Tebourba, Medjez-al-Bab, Longstop Hill; late November-December 1942. Sort of a stalemate until 1943.

[Myth]

the 3 year siege of Malta. Those Maltese, those RAF boys and other random volunteers...wow. Especially when the Germans were there to stiffen the Italians' spines, they had a lot of trouble coming their way. Somehow, they not just equaled it but overcame it with flying colors.

[Hos]

Battle for the Philippines, WW2 (1944)
1) The Americans finally saw that the Japanese were not invincible like they were with previous defeats at Bataan, etc.
2) It was a strategic air/land/sea battle where supply lines were mostly far away.
3) No picturesque European fighting here. Jungle warfare, super hot, mararia-infested, and brutal hand to hand fighting.
Bonus! :)
4) MacArthur said "I shall return!" after the 1941-42 defeats and he did with lessons learned.

[[FFTF]Eurofighter]

4) MacArthur said "I shall return!" after the 1941-42 defeats and he did with lessons learned.

I thought that was Arnold Schwarzenegger :confused:

[Hos]

Oh, you're right. MacArthur said "I'll be back!" Nice joke Eurofighter. :D

[2ltben]

Let's not forget that the Philippines campaign was still being fought on VJ Day.

[Hos]

Let's not forget that the Philippines campaign was still being fought on VJ Day.

Sorry, you are correct. I meant to say "The Battle for Guadalcanal" in the post above. :o :o :o :o :o :o

The island battle was amazing. I didn't mean to say the larger battle for the Philippines islands as my favorite battle. :o :o That would be like saying my favorite battle was The Eastern Front, lol. Just finished reading the best narrative by W.E.B. Griffith called "The Battle for Guadalcanal."

Thanks for the clarification. :)

[2ltben]

Guadalcanal isn't in the Philippines.

[Hos]

Sorry, you are correct. I meant to say "The Battle for Guadalcanal" in the post above. ...I didn't mean to say the larger battle for the Philippines islands as my favorite battle.

Well, I already said you corrected my error. I realize there were many groups of islands in the "larger battle." Thanks again.

[Fallschirmjäger]

I like all the battles the fallschirmjäger in WW2 fought in,but pretty much the ground fighting ones,or no airborne drops involved,and from the 1941-45 the most,and pretty much the top is the battle of the reichswald,and where some of the toughest fighting on the western front happened and for the remaining battles of the rhineland west and east of the rhine river,some info on it below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Reichswald

[Thanato]

Battle for Vimy Ridge in WW1. Over 140,000 Brits and French died trying to take the hill and failed. 6000 Canadians died taking the hill. 30,000 Canadians took the hill. It was the most dug in and defended position along the western front. After the fall of Vimy German generals were wondering if the war could be won as the Allies took the most built in and fortified position along the western front.

Due to this battle the Canadians built on there allready great reputation and it sparked the beginning of a year of Victorys for the Canadian Corps. the Canadian Corps had more vitories then any other Army on the western front.


Then there is Juno Beach, the Canadians drove further into Normady then any other nation. They battled against the 12 SS and landed on the most heavily fortified beach along all of Normandy.

Lest We Forget

~Thanato