Best fighting allies

[dmsdbo]

Which axis allied army generally fought best on the German side (Finnish, Hungarian, Rumanian, Bulgarian, Italian, Slovak?)

[Marcus]

You are forgetting the croatians (assuming that you only are including the allies in Europe).

/Marcus

[Ovidius]

Which axis allied army generally fought best on the German side (Finnish, Hungarian, Rumanian, Bulgarian, Italian, Slovak?)

Those who could give the most accurate answer were the Germans themselves....

"After World War II I asked my friend General Hans Speidel, who had commanded various mixed Axis contingents and became Field Marshal Rommel's chief-of-staff: "Which among all the non-German troops were the best soldiers: the Finns, the Croats, the Hungarians?" "None of them," he said: "the Rumanians. Give them good leadership and they are as good as any you'll find." - Cyrus L. Sulzberger in "A Long Row of Candles"

"I have already shown what could and could not be expected of Romanian troops in various situations. But they were still our best allies and did fight bravely in many places." - Field Marshal Erich von Manstein in "Lost Victories"

~Ovidius

PS Emphases are mine.

[Illion]

The Croatians fought brave and courageously.. these are NOT to be forgot..

I myself wish to know more about them.. anyone with the knowledge to enlight me?

//Illion

[Csaba Becze]

Illion:

If I remember correctly, the Croats sent one Regiment to the Eastern Front (it was the part of the 100th German Division and fell at Stalingrad). They sent one bomber squadron, and one fighter squadron to the Eastern Front too. Some of their fighter pilot had very good performance.

Ovidius:

I don't know, who wrote, that Speidel "commanded various mixed Axis contingents" - Speidel (and Manstein) never met with Finnish or Hungarian troops in combat, but they met a lot of with Rumanian troops. When Speidel was with the Stab of Heeresgruppe Süd in 1943, the 2nd Hungarian Army was phased out from Eastern Front and till Spring, 1944 were not Hungarian troops here. Speidel met in 1942 just Rumanian and Italian troops (he served near the 8th Italian Army in this time). Manstein heard just a bit about Hungarian troops when he served in 11st Army in 1941.

The highest official laud from Germans to an ally unit was Guderians, who said and wrote, that the Hungarian 1st Cavalry Division is equal with the best 20 German divisions (this unit achieved his prominent performance with Hungarian weaponry, not with German!)

Csaba

[Lawrence Tandy]

Can't really go wrong with the Finns. And they had no love for Soviets which was a plus for the Germans. I was just reading something about German officers Getting in fistfights with Hungarians I think. Were thay less than amiable? If anyone know please let me know

Thanks
LT

[Victor]

An interesting thing would be the fragments of a Romanian mountain troops 2nd lt. from the 3rd Mtn. Div. on the Dutch Helmet site. Unfortunately they are not yet available in English.

[varjag]

In relation to the size of their army,their population and the limited
financial and economical resources of their country - the Finns would
appear to have been the most effective ally of Germany - but alas -
the Finns fought to their own agenda and for their own national interest.
Of ALL the countries allied, voluntarily or otherwise, to Germany - they
were the only ones - to retain independence from Moscow - after the war.

A military and diplomatical 'tight-rope' to be admired.

[Victor]

You are correct, but the post-WWII situation was also favored by their geographical position.

[Octavianus]

Ave amici,

Why not the Vichy French? They performed quite good in Syria, Gabon and French North Africa.

In my opinion all Axis Allies on the European battlefield performed, in strategical sense, very poor, something what we should not attribute to the men and their officers, but to their chronical lack of modern equipment. Neither Romanian nor Hungarian what lese the Italian army were ready to engage themselve in the Russian campaign which requires the best tanks and lot's of motorization, something all these countries lacked for. I think with proper weapons and armament the Hungarians, Romanians and Italians could do much more, what was proved by Hungarian, Croatian, Romanian airmen who flew modern German-built aircraft or were equipped by the Germans (Kroatische Infanterie-Regiment) and performed magnificently. Those men were thrown into senseless campaign without much to resist the modern Soviet T-34's or Il-2's.
Lot's of them died, I am afraid.

Also some 150,000 European volunteers in Waffen-SS and their performance should not be forgotten.

Gratia,

Octavianus

[Linlu]

Hi all,

The Russians! Before Hitler turned his back on them!

- Linlu

[Ovidius]

The Russians! Before Hitler turned his back on them!

Since when does non-aggresion equals alliance !!!???

~Ovidius

[Ebusitanus]

Ppl talk here about Vichy French and Waffen SS troops...Is this about allies or volunteers? Because if it also includes the later no one could possibly forget those 48.000 Spanish volunteers who passed through the Blue Division, Legion and various SS outfits.

[Roland]

You all are also forgetting Latvians and Estonians. They were realy great and loyal fighters. Look for example how Latvians fought in Kurland!

[Momo]

What about the Serbian Volunteer Corps, they fought from September 1941 until final defeat in May 1945. They were the best anti Partisan unit raised under the Germans in occupied Yugoslavia (including Croatia). The V Regiment also fought the Red Army in eastern Serbian and was destroyed. Of the 40 odd remaining officers and men of the V regiment that escaped, 20 or so where mudered by the Ustasa in Zagreb as they were travelling to Austria. It was Germans who then put a stop to this crime, saving the rest.

Momo