This is coolbert:
From the script of the movie "Patton, as spoken by George C. Scott:
[the American army had] "fought and defeated the Hermann Goering Division, best unit in the German army!"
This at the end of the Sicilian campaign, 1943.
Once again, we encounter the word "best". BEST!
That subjective judgement, normally based upon a perception and a whole host of criteria. What is BEST?
The Hermann Goering Division. NOT a normal German army unit. A ground combat element of the Luftwaffe, the German air force.
Created at the insistence and patronage of, under the auspices of no less person than Hermann Goering himself.
An air force unit that over a period of years "developed", re-structured, modified form, "morphed" into a very good and competent ground combat component! fought side-by-side with conventional German ground combat units and did very well!
Manifested itself in the years prior to and during World War Two [WW2] into a variety of forms, to include:
* Police battalion. [Nazi head-knockers]
* Elite FLAK battalion. [air defense/anti-aircraft-artillery]
* Parachute troops.
* Combined arms division. [parachute and Panzer [armor] unit]
* Multi-divisional parachute formation.
"Hermann Goering", distinguishing itself on multiple occasions on all fronts during WW2.
That FLAK battalion had the mission of providing personal air defense protection to the most senior command echelons of the Nazi party.
We also find an agreement between the script of "Patton" and the observations of the American military historian and researcher, Trevor Dupuy.
THE "HERMANN GOERING" WAS THE BEST GERMAN UNIT OF WW2!
This according to the Quantified Judgment Model [QJM] calculations of Dupuy. "Hermann Goering" received a QJM rating of 1.49. "Hermann Goering" was about 50 % more effective in combat than your average-everyday German army unit?
[recall too that it took during WW2 about 120 Americans or Englishmen to defeat 100 Germans. This at brigade unit size and larger. This was the general rule-of-thumb prevailing throughout WW2!]
As to why "Hermann Goering" was so good?
I would venture a guess that "Hermann Goering" was comprised of personnel that were highly-motivated troops, fanatics even, personally devoted to Hermann Goering and the Nazi cause and ideology. Desiring to make a mark and stand-out, even from other very good German army units!!
And succeeding to the extent that they did, surpassing common standards of performance on the battlefield, always giving a good account of themselves!
coolbert.
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2 comments:
re:"Hermann Goering Division, best unit in the German army!"
According to von Manstein its formation was "sheer lunacy."
Read pages 268-269 in Lost Victories by Erich von Manstein, ed. & Tr. Anthony G. Powell, Presidio, 1982 edition. Originally published in German 1955. 1982 American edition first publication was 1958 by Regency. My 1982 edition my not be the same as the 1958 one so that the referenced pages may not be exactly the same. The index in my edition gives page 264 as the location of the Luftwaffe ground soldier comments but I found the page to be 268.
BTW, Manstein was the finest General Officer in the past 200 years in any Army. Do read his LOST VICTORIES and then read THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIER by Guy Sajer if you haven't done so already.
Dan Kurt
I recently read www.quikmaneuvers.com
ebook, Herman Goring Panzer Division was Under-rated. The book is crammed ful of researched proof that the HG PD was an excellent panzer division. I, for example, have compared its record to that of 15 German Heer panzer division and the HG was superior. I also read quikmaneuvers' ebook: "The over-Rated Panzer Lehr Division. " It too was an impressive literary shock detachment, daring to produce information that directly contradicts establishment views about Wehrmacht panzer divisions.
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