"Which outfit (say division size) was the most famous?" Topic

Just curious what TMPers think. Some ground rules:
1) Famous, not infamous.
2) Famous, not necessarily most effective or best combat record.

7th Armoured Division – The Desert Rats have to be pretty high up on the list.

Depends by nationality, I would think.

101st Airborne.
To the annoyance of the 82nd Airborne, who were just as good if not better.
To the annoyance of the 28th Infantry who bled and delayed the Germans so the 101st could get to Bastogne and hog all the credit.
To the annoyance of CCB of the 10th and CCR of the 9th who also just happened to be at Bastogne but are so not famous that I had to go to Wikipedia to see who else were there.

The Big Red One. Movie and video game.

I'd have to go with 7th Armoured Div

From the German side, I'd say the 15th or 21st Panzer Divisions from North Africa, the Panzerlehr Division in 1944/1945, and the 7th Panzer Division in 1940.

On the Italian side, the ones I recognize most are the Ariete and Trieste Armored Divisions.

And of course I can't forget the 51st Highland Division, can I?

Jim

The first one that came to my mind was the British Light Division in the Peninsular.

SS Das Reich, Totenkopf, Liebstandarte, Hitler Jugend, Wiking
Wermacht 21st Panzer, Panzer Lehr
US 1st infantry, 101st and 82nd Airborne
UK 7th Armoured, 1st Airborne, 51st Highland

That is probably the top bunch.

Pz Div Hermann Goering
7 Pz "Ghost Division"

I hope Barin comes along, it would be interesting to hear from a Russian perspective.

Whats been posted so far sounds pretty good to me, though not sure if the SS units bar Wiking might be more infamous. For me, 8th Army comes to mind immediately but that's not division size.

Guf

Doolittle's Raiders
Chennault 's Flying Tigers
8th Air Force
The Black Sheep
Biggin Hill no. 11 Group
Abbéville Boys
USS Enterprise and Crew
Graf Spee and crew
Yamato and crew.
Bismarck and crew
Enola Gay and crew
Hms Hood and Crew
U-505
USS Indianapolis

The ones that come to mind:

21st Panzer

101st Airborne

Grossdeutschland

7th Armoured Division (UK)

1st SS Panzer

1st Marine (US)

If we're talking WW2 ships, Ark Royal.

A few divisions spring to mind, strictly based on 'fame' in popular culture, not my personal preference for untis to model or whatever.

British: the Light Division in the Peninsular, the Desert Rats and 1st Airborne Div in WW2.

French: Imperial Guard, err, thats it…

German: the 'Afrika Korps' ie 15th and 21st Panzer, 1st SS Leibstandarde Adolf Hitler, 3rd SS Totenkopf, 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divs (mainly due to Arnhem), 12th SS Hitler Jugend (mainly due to Normandy). Possibly the Ghost division but I doubt it. 7th Flieger Div, maybe, and possibly 22nd Airlanding Div.

US: 101st Airborne, 1st Infantry Div, 4th Armored. 1st Cav in Vietnam.

Russian: err, Vasily Zaitsev? Wargamers have generally heard of the 5th Guards Tank Army.

Italy: Ariete, possibly Folgore for para fans.

SCW: International Brigades, 5th Regiment, Durutti Column, Army of Africa (and its components of the Regulares and Legion).

as an American I usually think of the 1st and 28th Infantry
on the German side, other than the SS I think of the 116th Panzer Division, 15th and 21st Panzer and the 90th Light Infantry Division.
British, 1st Airborne Division

101st US Airborne had their own mini series. I think they are the most famous, even though 82nd was better.

Hard to look beyond the 7th Armoured Div for any nationality, even though most would probably only know it by its nickname.

HMS Hood.

We've all seen he ship, we all know the story. We've all seen the movie.

When we see her explode that second and a half scene is ingrained in our memory forever .

and of course the tremendous human tragedy.

Otto

I'd go with the Desert Rats.

Here those would be the First Proletarian link and the Sixth Lika link divisions

Its funny that today so many name the 101st AB as the most famous (or one of the most famous) American units in WW2 when if you read contemporary accounts the 82nd was much more highly thought of.

GD

Before the end of the war the US 509 Parachute Infantry Battalion were pretty famous, both in the states and in the UK.

As the first US Para unit to land in Great Britain they were well reported on and known to the public at large.

This only increased when they became the first US Para unit into action.

But I reckon the most famous, of any country, has to be the Commandos. Their daring raids were reported around the world, and they were much emulated during and after the war.

2nd Fallschirmjager Division has the 'elite' 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment commanded by Von Der Heydte.

Depends by nationality, I would think.

I'd agree with that

Interesting I will limit to the question as posed. Division sized and WW2.

German 2nd Panzer 12th SS PG(Hitler Youth)

UK 7th ARM, 51st Inf and 6th Airborne
Dominion pick a Canadian unit,1st Polish Arm
French-none
Italian-Same
American- 1st Marine,1st Inf,4th Arm 101st Air 3rd Inf

Now if we go further up and down the unit size
UK 8th Army XXX Corps
Us 3rd Army ,MacArthur's units(they never where named just listed as his troops)
5th Fleet,

"French-none"

Outside and choose your weapon.

2eme Division Blindee, especially "la Nueve"

French Foreign Legion
US Iron Brigade (ACW)
CSA "Stonewall's Birgade" (ACW)

Red Devils

My guess is that the average person on the street, if asked to name a WW2 unit, might, just MIGHT be able to come up with the Afrika Korps, the Desert Rats, and/or the 82nd or 101st.

101 and the FFL …

I second the 51st. Highland Division; followed closely by the First Special Forces Brigade…the Devil's Brigade!

I just conducted a highly scientific experiment and asked the old lady (whose interest in military history is about zero) to name any units that fought in world war 2 and she came up with the 82nd airborne (dragged her to their museum a dozen years ago) and the "frogmen"/ UDT (i guess she absorbed something from the History channel in the background all these years).

Judging from the bookshelves at the local book stores:

Any number of Nazi tank units followed by no one else.

Desert rats or 101st both have that aura about them like banner bearers

Which US division from WW2 would have been considered most famous before "Band of Brothers" rocketed the 101st AB to the top of the US charts? 1st Infantry Division? Mostly asking the guys that were gaming in the 70's-80's

SS Das Reich, Totenkopf, Liebstandarte, Hitler Jugend, Wiking

Ah, the old "Love Standard" is indeed very famous.

Much more famous that the Leibstandarte!

I'd say the 101st airborne; Normandy, Holland, Ardennes, Viet Nam (Hamburger Hill), Gulf War, and Afghanistan.

It's one of the few units that has always been there. Band of Brothers introduced the unit to millions who otherwise had no interest in military history.

Of all the division sized units in history, I think the 101st has gotten the most ink.

8th Infantry Division (Greece) Just to toss something different out there.

Grelber

9th Division 2nd AIF – Tobruk – El Alamein – New Guinea and Borneo. Praise from both Field Marshals Montgomery and Rommel. Nicknamed "The Rats of Tobruk". The public Swimming pool in Cairns is the "Tobruk Pool" and the Barron River Gymnastics centre were both built and named in memorial to members of the 9th Div who trained in this region during the war.
Regards Allan

If the 82nd had taken the other fork and gone to Bastogne, theirs would be the glory.

For German units I nominate the 7th Flieger Division later called 1st Fallschirmjägerdivision (doing the famous assaults in Eban Emael and Crete, fighting in Sicily against Britsh Airborne and in Monte Cassino among others). For British units the 3rd Commando and perhaps the Chindits.

The 82nd stopped Kampfgruppe Peiper in the Battle of the Bulge, plenty of glory in that for those that have more than a passing interest in military history.

R.A.F. Battle of Britain.

79th Armourd Div…… Unique…. Mission specific….

Both 1st Airborne and 6th Airborne Div never deployed as a whole unit in one go…….. So are they eligible?

I'm pretty sure they did, as in all three Brigades and supporting arms, in Northwest Europe.

Famous depends on your audience. Names stick better in the mind than numbers for most folks, so those with a snappy nickname make a greater impression on the general public (Deserts Rats, Screaming Eagles) than 3rd (British) Division or 6th Marine Division perhaps.

Gary

Haven't seen US 4th Armored mentioned enough. Surprised not to see Gross Deutschland or more Panzer Lehr. Sendai Division deserves mention. Just too many ones to name.

"was".
This is during the war?
Because I rather doubt the man on the street would know division numbers.
EG the english man on the street would probably think "yank paras" rather than 101st.
"Desert rats" rather than 7th armoured.

I think Commandoes or SAS ought to be on the list somewhere.
And if you're talking 1970-90s I would have thought Dad's Army.