The most dangerous job in WWII?

Discussions on every day life in the Weimar Republic, pre-anschluss Austria, Third Reich and the occupied territories. Hosted by Vikki.
Post Reply
Jon G.
Member
Posts: 6647
Joined: 17 Feb 2004, 02:12
Location: Europe

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#46

Post by Jon G. » 10 Oct 2011, 19:19

For contrast, see this thread:

Best postings for a german soldiers in the war
forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=47010

...for most dangerous job in the war, my money would be split between later war U-Boat crew, first expedition Chindit, later war Japanese infantryman in Burma, Polish Home Army 1944, or Soviet penal battallion.

But I haven't bothered doing the maths, and we are all assuming that dangerous=high risk of dying. Some of the jobs listed are of an all/nothing nature, as outlined by Mark V: either you die, or you're fine, but other jobs - say German infantryman in Stalingrad early 1943 - probably mean a somewhat lower risk of dying, but a much higher risk of getting maimed/wounded/ending up as a POW under possibly horrible conditons.

User avatar
Mauser K98k
Member
Posts: 766
Joined: 30 Aug 2003, 04:29
Location: Colorado

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#47

Post by Mauser K98k » 10 Oct 2011, 19:32

I can believe U-Boat crewman is most dangerous!

Another candidate is ball turret gunner in a USAAF bomber. I don't have statistics, maybe it's just the thought of the cramped helpless claustrophobic horror of being jammed into a fishbowl hanging under a bomber, in the stream of fire from any fighter attack from rear/below. Also, if the plane is going down, I would think the ball turret gunner has the most difficult task of bailing out.

Brings to mind the poem:

The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner

"From my Mother's sleep I fell into the state,
and I hunched in it's belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth,
loosed from it's dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the Nightmare Fighter.
When I died, they washed me out of the turret with a hose".


User avatar
Berthier92
Member
Posts: 132
Joined: 22 Aug 2011, 17:29
Location: Northland, New Zealand

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#48

Post by Berthier92 » 11 Oct 2011, 10:25

Mauser K98k wrote:I can believe U-Boat crewman is most dangerous!

Another candidate is ball turret gunner in a USAAF bomber. I don't have statistics, maybe it's just the thought of the cramped helpless claustrophobic horror of being jammed into a fishbowl hanging under a bomber, in the stream of fire from any fighter attack from rear/below. Also, if the plane is going down, I would think the ball turret gunner has the most difficult task of bailing out.

Brings to mind the poem:

The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner

"From my Mother's sleep I fell into the state,
and I hunched in it's belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth,
loosed from it's dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the Nightmare Fighter.
When I died, they washed me out of the turret with a hose".

very true, because the ball is shut closed behind the gunner, one of the waist gunners has to open the ball turret hatch. also in B-17s there was a chance of getting crushed in a forced landing if no one could help open the hatch. B-24's solved that problem by having the ball turret retracted into the main fuselage until needed.
3rd Recon battalion ,DAK , First in Tripoli, First at front

Ali M J
Banned
Posts: 34
Joined: 11 Jul 2010, 10:17

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#49

Post by Ali M J » 12 Oct 2011, 01:57

The Germans didn't name Shermans "Tommy Cookers" for no reasons
I agree!
This has been dealt with quite a few times.
Why would the Germans say ' Shermans 'tommy cookers' for no reason at all? The Germans probelary loved the Sherman tanks as for they killed the British for them.

Michael Kenny
Member
Posts: 8251
Joined: 07 May 2002, 20:40
Location: Teesside

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#50

Post by Michael Kenny » 12 Oct 2011, 02:44

Ali M J wrote: The Germans probelary loved the Sherman tanks as for they killed the British for them.

How many did they 'kill'?
Perhaps you have the numbers to back up the claims?

It may interest you to know that on the night of Goodwood (18/7/44) one British tank Regiment claims it lost more men to a bombing raid than it lost in all it's tanks knocked out during the day.

ChristopherPerrien
Member
Posts: 7051
Joined: 26 Dec 2002, 01:58
Location: Mississippi

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#51

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 04 Nov 2011, 23:23

Leaders of the major Axis powers. 3 in , 3 out.

User avatar
Helmut0815
Member
Posts: 919
Joined: 19 Sep 2010, 14:13
Location: Lower Saxony, Germany

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#52

Post by Helmut0815 » 05 Nov 2011, 00:33

What about medics?
They had to recover their wounded comrades under hostile fire. AFAIK they had a very high casualty rate.

User avatar
Christoph Awender
Forum Staff
Posts: 6759
Joined: 10 Mar 2002, 18:22
Location: Austria
Contact:

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#53

Post by Christoph Awender » 06 Nov 2011, 13:11

Hello,

No medic recovered comrades out of enemy or under enemy fire. If possible the comrades (or in some circumstances - Hilfskrankenträger) brought them back... but also not under fire. "Hausverstand" was also existing in these times. Of course single acts of bravery (or however you want to call it) existed.

/Christoph

ChristopherPerrien
Member
Posts: 7051
Joined: 26 Dec 2002, 01:58
Location: Mississippi

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#54

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 06 Nov 2011, 14:09

Helmut0815 wrote:What about medics?
They had to recover their wounded comrades under hostile fire. AFAIK they had a very high casualty rate.
Technically, Medics are covered under the Geneva Connections as to not get shot at :milwink: . Medics were more often in the "2nd line" (In the rear , with the gear :milsmile: ) waiting for casualties to be brought back . There were not that many of them, for them to be "out-front", in all the fighting. Some medics, of course, ended up right out front, with 'assault units" (like the USMC landing units) but those units as a whole, were a dangerous place to be on occasion.

User avatar
BillHermann
Member
Posts: 742
Joined: 04 Jan 2012, 16:35
Location: Authie

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#55

Post by BillHermann » 01 Feb 2012, 02:16

Ali M J wrote:
The Germans didn't name Shermans "Tommy Cookers" for no reasons
I agree!
This has been dealt with quite a few times.
Why would the Germans say ' Shermans 'tommy cookers' for no reason at all? The Germans probelary loved the Sherman tanks as for they killed the British for them.
The bad Sherman, dangerous Serman argument is getting old, really old and come from an opinion that has been built around a small number of vetran stories that support a fan base that is bias towards the German cool factor.

The description of how a German round tears through a Sherman can be used for an allied round or rocket that goes through a German tank. I have read many a story of a German tank brewing up or cooking with only ashes of crew being left in the tank.

David Thompson
Forum Staff
Posts: 23722
Joined: 20 Jul 2002, 20:52
Location: USA

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#56

Post by David Thompson » 01 Feb 2012, 16:12

A post from darringm, which contained racial slang, was removed by this moderator pursuant to forum rules - DT.

User avatar
dgfred
Member
Posts: 386
Joined: 31 Jan 2008, 17:56
Location: N.C., USA

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#57

Post by dgfred » 01 Feb 2012, 23:37

ChristopherPerrien wrote:Kamikaze pilot

Chris
That IS super dangerous. 8O

User avatar
BillHermann
Member
Posts: 742
Joined: 04 Jan 2012, 16:35
Location: Authie

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#58

Post by BillHermann » 02 Feb 2012, 00:58

There are many factors to this, obviously suiside missions would be at the top of the list.

Reconnaissance being one of the most in some cases

JamesL
Member
Posts: 1649
Joined: 28 Oct 2004, 01:03
Location: NJ USA

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#59

Post by JamesL » 08 Mar 2012, 01:27

I'd consider being a tank commander a pretty dangerous job. Essentially he has his head exposed most of the time, looking for targets, ambushes, and giving the driver directions.

ChristopherPerrien
Member
Posts: 7051
Joined: 26 Dec 2002, 01:58
Location: Mississippi

Re: The most dangerous job in WWII?

#60

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 08 Mar 2012, 12:56

JamesL wrote:I'd consider being a tank commander a pretty dangerous job. Essentially he has his head exposed most of the time, looking for targets, ambushes, and giving the driver directions.
Generally tanks in WWII fought buttoned up, Where tank commanders and crew got most often wounded (more than half the time), was when they were outside their tank. (At least for the US army, IIRC a discussion with RichTO in the past on severity of wounds).

Even currently, the only army I know that has tanks fighting unbuttoned as doctrine is the Israeli army,which I think is by default almost, given desert conditions and a lack of enemy artillery fire.

In WWII tankers were going against doctrine and "orders", sticking their head out in battle, IIRC Otto Carius talks of this in "Panzers in the Mud".

Post Reply

Return to “Life in the Third Reich & Weimar Republic”