"Looking for a Good US Infantry Unit for campaign" Topic

Greetings all and sundry. I can think of no better source than my fellow TMP members for this one. I'm looking to start a campaign that will take an American squad from the Normandy invasion to VE Day. Is there a unit that comes to mind? If so, do you have a good book recommendation? Thanks in advance for any help.

2/506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne.

Any squad in the 1st, 2nd, 29th or 30th infantry Divisions. Realize that all of these divisions suffered 200-300% casualties in the rifle companies between D-Day and the end of the breakout campaign. G company of the 120th Infantry/ 30th Infantry was my dad's unit. When he was wounded on July 25th, there were 5 original members of his rifle company left.

Big Red 1.

Not a book, but find yourself a copy of the Band of Brothers miniseries:

youtu.be/kyDkHvi9yeI

4th ID would be a good one. Utah to Bavaria

Not a book, but find yourself a copy of the Band of Brothers miniseries:

But there is a book, the one on which the TV series was based:
link

I like the 29th ID. They fought in most of the big battles of Normandy, which is where I'm focusing my WWII gaming these days. They fought in Saint Lo and Brest and saw lots of action in the driver to and through Germany.

What about the 35th ID…a lot of real stuff which is interesting, plus there's the movie, "Kelly's Heroes" for some fun.

See link on the 35th ID:

35thinfdivassoc.com

P.

The 90th is one of those you never hear about, but was all over Northern Europe: D-Day, Falaise Gap, the Saar and Siegfried Line, and liberated the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp.

The 83rd (Ohio) Infantry Div. is another one that doesn't get any love. It came ashore two weeks after the invasion and fought in a lot of battles. It was credited with 244 days of combat and took almost 16,000 casualties.

35th Division Casualties in the rifle companies were close to 400%. Check out the 35th ID link above and click on the Casualty tab, as it gives days in combat and casualties for all the ID's in Europe.

Whatever squad Sgt. Saunders was in.

82 airborne, rangers

Great suggestions. Thank you, all. In just a few clicks I've had plenty of, "I had no idea" moments. Some of the numbers are both staggering and quite sobering.

Another overlooked division is the 28th, the "Bloody Bucket". They fought through the last stages of the Normandy campaign, were the first American troops into Germany, got torn to shreds in the Hurtgen Forest, got torn to shreds again during the Ardennes (saving Bastogne in the process), fought around the Colmar Pocket and then advanced into Germany.

Or Bill Mauldin's outfit, the 45th Infantry Division.

Or Bill Mauldin's outfit, the 45th Infantry Division

The 45th Division landed in Southern France not Normandy, although you could do units like it from the often forgotten 7th Army. You have of course been inundated by suggestions. I would just remark that the Airborne Divisions didn't see as much combat as the leg infantry units or for that matter the Armored Infantry units that were part of the Armored Divisions.

I was originally going to do 36th Inf Div for Italy but not trusting myself to paint their patch neatly time and again looked for decals.
That's how I got side tracked onto 29th Division, mentioned by a couple of other posters. Once I started reading up about them I just thought 'have to do these guys'.
One of the Omaha DDay units (along with Big Red One), terrible casualties as a result. Well documented online and in books, feature as the non-Rangers in Saving Private Ryan, decals available (tho not too hard to paint either.
My tip – whichever one you chose, read up about them. It's pretty humbling.
EC

My personal favorite is the 22nd Infantry in the 4th ID. It can trace its history back to the War of 1812 including the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane.