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Which theater of war would you prefer to fight in if you had to choose as a front line soldier?

Assume that if you choose Europe, you'll be inserted post D-Day so you have more than 3/4th of a second fighting chance.

Europe. At least the Germans follow the Geneva convention.

Europe, I hate the heat.

Europe, be it in the axis or allied armies. I'd only take the Pacific if I could be very specific about my role and unit assignment, very specific.

The Pacific theatre, it is "my" theatre.

Lets expand on this, if you had to serve 4 years in WWII and could choose the branch and job what would you do? The only rule is you must serve at least 1 year in a combat zone with a reasonable chance of harm. Nobody gets to be a logistical clerk in Barstow California the whole time.


For me, the idea of dying of a jungle disease is pretty terrifying , I like to help people and I like being part of a a smaller team. I think that I would have liked to be a member of a PBY crew searching to ocean for ships, subs, and downed aviators. I suppose in that role the risk of Jungle disease is reduced.

Europe

If for the only reason I'd have a better chance surviving as a POW.

My uncle was a POW of the Germans for about the last 6 months of the war. He was wounded in the leg when they brought him in. When returned to the US doctors they said he was lucky, they would have amputated his leg.

My other uncle served in the Pacific, and to this day doesn't talk about what happened to him. Nor does he buy anything "made in Japan" if he can help it

Europe. That jungle fighting was hell on Earth.

Hmmm, Germans and Geneva convention....they dont go together well.

Europe, by far. German soldiers were civilized as a rule, while the Japanese (not trying to be racist here) were pretty barbaric almost to a man.

Nobody wishes they were battling malaria, mosquitoes, scorching heat/humidity, and banzai charges from thousands of sake-wired Japanese soldiers in the jungles of Guadalcanal? Where's your love of nature?

Europe...both sides a chance at dying but one side I'm not fighting off a natural enviroment I detest.

Trytostaydead wrote:Which theater of war would you prefer to fight in if you had to choose as a front line soldier?

Front line solider I'd also take Europe.

If I could be a sailor I'd take the Pacific. There were awful moments in the Pacific, but the Battle of the Atlantic sucked from beginning to end.

Worlds Spanner wrote:

Trytostaydead wrote:Which theater of war would you prefer to fight in if you had to choose as a front line soldier?

Front line solider I'd also take Europe.

If I could be a sailor I'd take the Pacific. There were awful moments in the Pacific, but the Battle of the Atlantic sucked from beginning to end.

Yeah, screw me silly if I ever VOLUNTEERED for the kriegsmarine!

Meh, since I've been to Guam, Sipain, Tinian, and Okinawa and have experienced the terrain and met some of the people, I'll take the Pacific. Corps all the way, like you're suprised.

My choice would have been the Navy and the Pacific.

Give me a submarine, and I'll go anywhere you like, probably the Pacific, but it would have to be a naval thing, it's slightly more impersonal than front line soldiery, and I'm not sure I have it in me...

I know this is cheating but Id also like to add we get to bring back some foam ear plugs. Way too many of those guys in planes, ships, subs, and the infantry suffered hearing damage.

I had a Korean War vet as on of my neighbors down the street as a kid. He used to tell us stories about P-51's providing close air support. He was in the artillery and could'nt hear worth a damn. It was interesting to listen to him. He would say "we were too macho then to wear ear protection....we where stupid..."

Trytostaydead wrote:Which theater of war would you prefer to fight in if you had to choose as a front line soldier?

Russo-Finnish War in the Finnish Army as a combat engineer.

Europe. Most of the veterans I talked to said it was nice compared to frontline Pacific. But Italy, oh fuck no. It's would be real nice in the armored corps.

--I'm assumming by front line soldier you mean ground pounder. In this case I would rather be in the pacific where the battles were so one sided (after that damn fortress island where the Japanese killed only slightly more troops than they lost) that they are remenicent of the Iraq wars. The germans had decent ground equipment and inflicted significant casualties on the allies and weren't spread out on isolated islands.

Nova Andromeda wrote:--I'm assumming by front line soldier you mean ground pounder. In this case I would rather be in the pacific where the battles were so one sided (after that damn fortress island where the Japanese killed only slightly more troops than they lost) that they are remenicent of the Iraq wars. The germans had decent ground equipment and inflicted significant casualties on the allies and weren't spread out on isolated islands.

You've got to be kidding me. Look that the figures for Tarawa or Iwo Jima or Okinawa. One sided push over my ass. It was a US victory but the Japanese made us pay for every last inch of ground in blood. You've clearly got no idea the hell that was the pacific theater.

The_Lumberjack wrote:Give me a submarine, and I'll go anywhere you like, probably the Pacific, but it would have to be a naval thing, it's slightly more impersonal than front line soldiery, and I'm not sure I have it in me...

Okay, you get a Type VII U-boat, welcome to the Battle of the Atlantic. You have a one in four chance of surviving.

Europe any day. Not only did you not have all the problems of hot, humid, jungle conditions, malaria, and an implacable enemy who had nothing but contempt for soldiers who surrendered, but there were actually towns that armies would occasionally liberate. In these towns there were two priceless commodities, both sadly lacking in the Pacific theater: the local wineshop, and females who were suitably grateful to their liberators.

Sea Skimmer wrote: Okay, you get a Type VII U-boat, welcome to the Battle of the Atlantic. You have a one in four chance of surviving.

No, he gets KMS Bismarck, he has a 5% chance of surviving

Better Europe than Pacific.
I've read things about the pacific war, that I only belived at a second reading.