Coolest Army Get-up

Yes, Operation Norwind was a last German counterattack in Alsace launched it January. The battle resulted in the lost of 40,000 German and American casualties. If you want to check it try reading the book Six Days in January (or something like that).

I would agree, the all black SS uniforms are the coolest. Low and behold, my quote is by an SS man…

Yep, there’s nothing more than black leather and cap topped off with a Knights Cross. As for the quote who said that? A lot of SS didn’t have much honor like the killing of innocent civilians and what happened in those Concentration Camps.

All the SS shouldnt be confused with Himlers murdersquads.

the SS were combat divtions and it was only the small group that killed civilions in russia and mostly Nazi officers that ran the death camps (no enlisted germans were in the polish camps at least, Ukrainin mecinaries)

Himmler said the quote. I like the quote but I don’t like him.

There were three separate Organizational divisions within the SS
1)Allgemeine (General)
2)Totenkopfverbande (Deaths Head organization)
3)Waffen (Fighting)

The first two are the ones that most people think of when you say SS. They wore the black uniforms and controlled the genocide programs. The Waffen SS were elite fighting units comprised of all volunteers who met high expectance standards. They received the best equipment and training. Many waffen SS units were units made entirely of foreign volunteers.

The reenactment unit I was in and the uniform in my closit are waffen SS. We even had an advisor who served in the unit we portrayed.

So Un True!!
the SS was origanily meant to be an all Arian army but as the war went on they started to allow non arian Germans and scandinavians into the SS never anything more
most ethnic groups were bnned from the SS right through to the end.

oh ya and the U-boat crews got the best eqipment and food

I will not kill myself for that Bohemion Cpl.

• Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus (speeking of Hitler the day before his serender of the 6th army at Stallingrad)

[ This Message was edited by: mini_phreek on 2002-03-27 15:45 ]

Wow they actually hold WWII reenactments in your neck of the woods. Being from California I never experienced anything like that except for mock “real war” paintball battles and of course the usual Civil was reenactments. Can you tell me anymore about it?

As for the sub comment, I’m not sure that the comment of the best food is correct. From what I’ve read, living conditions in U-boats were horrid and most sub crews were restricted to canned goods but I might be wrong on that.

ya the limited suply space on the u-boats meant mosty army rations and non parishables but i meant on the bases they got the best food.
if you want to see how life is like on a u-boat the movie “Das Boot” is a good reprasantation

Das Booty

Actually the best and biggest battle I participated in was an Arnham simulation, which was held at the “combat town” at Ft. Ord., which is in YOUR neck of the woods.

There were several hundred participants Mostly British Airborne and German SS, although I believe there were actually some people who dressed as members of the 1st Polish AB.

I’ll see if I can find some links for you.

Well I heard that the Germans liked nothing more than captured American cigarettes, but beside that it’s a very good question. I don’t think Germany (or much of Europe) has the climate cigarettes so they probably had to be imported or raised in small quantities.

Thanks for clearing the little U-Boat comment for me. I still wouldn’t want to be a U-Boat captain just because of the better food though, especially after 1943 when U-boat losses were horrific.

Hmmm… never knew California had stuff like that. Exactly how many people participate? Are there any Eastern Front battles are is it just confined to America battles? What kind of weapons are used?

Actualy Califoria is one of the more popular states for WWII reenacting. They represent Units from Many diferent countries. I think the largest Unit in California is the 12th SS Hitlerjugend. If you do a search on MSN for “WWII and reenactment” you’ll be ammazed at what you see.

The largest mock army in California being the Hitler Jugend? Sounds kinda strange if you ask me. I always thought the largest units would US Army Rangers or Airborne, but it seems people have a knack for Hitler or being the bad guys.

Well the weapons and uniforms of the SS are cool and I think people worry about not being up to standard to represent well-respected units like the Rangers etc. Those Units do exist though. When I joined up my choices were American Infantry, German SS, German Weer, or Scottish Airborne. The Scots were some damn cool guys. In fact I was considering putting together two kits, But that stuff gets expensive! The basic uniform for the Germans is the cheapest I believe, which was a major factor in my choice. I think I probably spent close to $1000 and I just had a K98 bolt-action rifle. Some of the guys who are into it spend thousands on automatic weapons and vehicles.

We, the 10 SS, had 3 BMW motorcycles with sidecars, a kublewagon, a 2 1/2 ton truck, and a towed anti tank gun as well as several MP-40s and a couple crew served machine guns.