WW2 Which job would be most dangerous?

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Radio men actually had it very bad. All sides had standing orders to take them out. Snipers looked for them, and air and artillery strikes would actually be directed onto radio men.

Interesting, and believable. The radio guy is literally the enemy's summoner.

[Toptomcat]

And the guy who can cast Fireball, given a few minutes for the shells to arrive.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Tessen

Out on foot patrol in WW2 Which job is most dangerous?

For instance radio man or flamethrower guy? I mean who would want to volunteer to be flamethrower guy!

I don't know what was really the most dangerous job. But the job of the ball-turret gunner was definitely seen as the most dangerous at the time. Major poets wrote about it. When I'm not using my phone, I'll post a link

[exalted]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

On second thought I would think a Japanese infantryman in the Solomon's or New Guinea. There was no food because it was at the bottom of the Ocean and the Americans, the Australians, the Natives, heck even the INSECTS were trying to kill you. And usually succeeding sooner or later.

That would be my guess to.

Another bad one would be soviet forces in basically any role posted to the western border in 1941 before the offensive, the best you can hope for is two or so years of living of the land as a partisan but most likely 4 years in prison camps / work details with atrocious survival rates.

But basically hazard is more determined by place and time than role.

[johndallman]

U-boat crewmen probably had the highest loss rate, at 75%.

[The Colonel]

Soviet penal battalion soldier? Probably not a great prospect for survival.
Outside that, I'd second the Japanese infantryman - life was bad when you were winning, once the winning stopped I'm amazed they could bear it.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Outside that, I'd second the Japanese infantryman - life was bad when you were winning, once the winning stopped I'm amazed they could bear it.

Japnese tank guys didn't generate the same mass of misery as the infantry but their vehicles were small, underarmored, underarmed and given nicknames that translated as "Honorable One-Shot Lighter".

[Tessen]

Sven Hassel was meant to have been in a German Penal Battalion and he survived so did two others I believe if the story is true.

[Tessen]

SOE spy working in france?

[Anders]

Sven Hassel was a member of the Hilfspolizei in Denmark and spent no time on the Eastern Front. His novels are good pulp war story, but they're not real history.