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quote:

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson


quote:

ORIGINAL: John Lansford
Hard to say which LCU was the "best".


Exactly.

What does "best" mean?



Getting the most pay without seeing much action?

Thats what I was thinking when I suggested the 33rd Infantry [:D]

3d US Naval Construction Battalion

ORIGINAL: JeffK

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

ORIGINAL: John Lansford
Hard to say which LCU was the "best". 

Exactly.

What does "best" mean?

Did the most with the least?

Inflicted the most casualties?

Suffered the lowest loss rate per day in combat?

Had the coolest equipment?

Had the best training?

etc.

I would take it as a mix of the above

If it is possible to construct a meaningful definition of "best" .. it would have to include factors like ... "consistently accomplised the mission, while sustaining the lowest casualty rate, per day of combat" .... in other words ... "they did the hard things .. and made them look easier" ... I also think total number of days in combat should be considered. It is very tough to sustain high stress ... it is a total burn out activity. Accomplishing the mission ... for the most days in combat ... is how you win the contest ... doing it with less casualties .. is the tie breaker ...

You could create a list of criteria and rate them, but it would still need a weighting system on what criteria was more important, and thereby fall into "In your opinion"
 
 

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

ORIGINAL: JeffK

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson



Exactly.

What does "best" mean?

Did the most with the least?

Inflicted the most casualties?

Suffered the lowest loss rate per day in combat?

Had the coolest equipment?

Had the best training?

etc.

I would take it as a mix of the above

If it is possible to construct a meaningful definition of "best" .. it would have to include factors like ... "consistently accomplised the mission, while sustaining the lowest casualty rate, per day of combat" .... in other words ... "they did the hard things .. and made them look easier" ... I also think total number of days in combat should be considered. It is very tough to sustain high stress ... it is a total burn out activity. Accomplishing the mission ... for the most days in combat ... is how you win the contest ... doing it with less casualties .. is the tie breaker ...

then it must be one of the Wehrmacht divisions, though those are of course not covered in WITP...

By "most days in combat", it could be the 7th Armoured Brigade (from the Desert Rats), which saw combat in the Med before and after its time in India/Burma, or another commonwealth or imperial unit sent from the Med.  Like the 5th Indian Division, which took a great part in the East Africa & North Africa campaigns before coming to Burma to get the first true victory against the japanese army in that theater.
 
Or, maybe even better, the Australian 6th Division : North Africa while freshly trained and missing heavy equipment, fighting in Bardia, Tobruk, Derna, all the way to Libya with the 7th Armoured Div ; Greece & Crete against the elite Waffen SS of Leibstandarte AH ; the Pacific at last, in New Guinea, from the Kokoda Track to Wewak.  Or the 7th AIF Div, with Syria instead of Greece and a bit less fighting in North Africa.
 
 
But in that sense, chinese and China-theater japanese divisions have their go too.  Although I don't know their units very well, I don't think many of them fought as hard throughout the whole war.

17th Indian Div from Burma to Rangoon via Imphal

2nd Marine Div.  Followed by the 7th Division IAF...

1st Marine Defense Battalion - Wake Is. Detachment. Handed the first defeat to the Japanese - only time in WW2 an amphibious assault was repulsed. 

You're forgetting Dieppe? I know that one wasn't supposed to stay for long, but it was certainly repulsed with heavy losses...

Land based units:

Based on continued excellence from first action to last: 25th Infantry Division - Lawton J (Lightin' Joe) Collins initial commander.

Based on tough assignments and making the most out of "bad deals" - 1st Marine Division

Air units:

Surviving the Phillipines disaster and coming back strong all the way to the end - 19th Bomb Group

Naval unit (vessel):

The galloping ghost - CV Enterprise

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

You're forgetting Dieppe? I know that one wasn't supposed to stay for long, but it was certainly repulsed with heavy losses...

IMO Dieppe does not qualify as an amphibious assault (which is hit-and-stay) because it was designed as a raid (hit-and-run).

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

1st Marine Defense Battalion - Wake Is. Detachment. Handed the first defeat to the Japanese - only time in WW2 an amphibious assault was repulsed.

Except there was no Amphibious Assault - landing craft were never on the beach...the japanese were in midst of a bombardment run when they decided to call off any actual amphibious landing.

During the final invasion on one of the islands the Japanese were completely defeated... unfortunately the communications were out and so Maj Deveraux had no idea that his troops were doing so well.

ORIGINAL: Hornblower

Opinions solicited and most welcome on this one.

In your opinion, which land unit –covered in WiTP was the best?

Though it wasn't in the Pacific to long, it was in the Aleutians Campaign before going to Europe. And as it was without a doubt the best Allied combat unit of the war, I'd have to say the 1st US-Canadian Special Services Brigade.

121st USN Base Force.

Those boy's could BBQ, and don't even get me started about the luau's. Throw in the vital support for elite units such as McHales Navy, Baa Baa Black Sheep and supply of nurses for partying for "In Harms Way."

Without them all our preconceived and cliched thoughts about South Pacific warfare would be very different.

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

ORIGINAL: Hornblower

Opinions solicited and most welcome on this one.

In your opinion, which land unit –covered in WiTP was the best?

Though it wasn't in the Pacific to long, it was in the Aleutians Campaign before going to Europe. And as it was without a doubt the best Allied combat unit of the war, I'd have to say the 1st US-Canadian Special Services Brigade.

Certainly it was an outstanding unit, but it didn't actually fight in the Aleutians, iirc. Also not in witp is it?

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

ORIGINAL: Hornblower

Opinions solicited and most welcome on this one.

In your opinion, which land unit –covered in WiTP was the best?

Though it wasn't in the Pacific to long, it was in the Aleutians Campaign before going to Europe. And as it was without a doubt the best Allied combat unit of the war, I'd have to say the 1st US-Canadian Special Services Brigade.

Certainly it was an outstanding unit, but it didn't actually fight in the Aleutians, iirc. Also not in witp is it?

Thats te Devil's Brigade was it not? They deployed to the Aleutians but i don't know if they were actually in combat. still i believe that qualifies...

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

ORIGINAL: Hornblower

Opinions solicited and most welcome on this one.

In your opinion, which land unit –covered in WiTP was the best?

Though it wasn't in the Pacific to long, it was in the Aleutians Campaign before going to Europe. And as it was without a doubt the best Allied combat unit of the war, I'd have to say the 1st US-Canadian Special Services Brigade.

Certainly it was an outstanding unit, but it didn't actually fight in the Aleutians, iirc. Also not in witp is it?

It was part of the force which landed on Attu or Kiska (whichever one it was that the Japanese had evacuated).., so it should be in WITP. Not their fault the Japanese "ran away".

Right, pretty sure it was Kiska.. Run away and live to fight another day...