Fallschirmjager!

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Fallschirmjager!!

"Fighting in The Hedgerows"

"Converted for the Web from "Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army From The Normandy Beaches, To The Bulge, To The Surrender Of Germany" by Stephen E. Ambrose"

"Indeed, the Fallschirmjäger [ FJ German paratrooper] were perhaps the best-armed infantrymen in the world in 1944. The 3rd FJ had 930 light machine guns, eleven times as many as its chief opponent, the U.S. 29th Division. Rifle companies in the FJ had twenty MG 42s and 43 submachine guns; rifle companies in the 29th had two machine guns and nine BARs. At the squad level, the GIs had a single BAR; the German parachute squad had two MG 42s and three submachine guns. The Germans had three times as many mortars as the Americans, and heavier ones. So in any encounter between equal numbers of Americans and Fallschirmjäger, the Germans had from six to twenty times as much firepower."

Very good German troops using that terrain of the hedgerows to their advantage AND having an abundance of organic firepower at their disposal making for a very formidable combination!!

Again, that overwhelming American advantage of artillery, tanks, and close-air-support tactical aviation MUCH OF WHICH WAS NEGATED BY THE TERRAIN OF THE HEDGEROWS AND THE HUGGING TACTICS OF THE GERMAN DEFENDER.

3rd FJ also a somewhat green unit [as was the 29th American ID] but having a cadre of experienced officers and sergeants who knew their stuff and also having trained the landser to the highest degree of proficiency and capability. 3rd FJ at that exact moment perhaps the best light infantry in the world when taking into consideration all factors.

coolbert.