Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
[pic 1]
Is this Hamstertruppen poiting at the site of a famous hamster atrocity?

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ORIGINAL: Compassion
I remember reading somewhere that this fameous hamster atrocity was a propaganda ploy by the Allies. The pictures next to the Hamster seemed to say that the hamster was pointing to a large habitrail arrangement on some Russian peasent farm and the peasents starving slowly as they couldn't bring in the crop as the habitrail tubes were low to the ground and of the variety with anti-habitrail skirting in place (blocking access of the farm implements). How the hamsters laughed at the peasents in the Buy Bonds films.

The fact is, though, this picture was originally published in Signal and showed a hamster squad playfully engaged with a ball of string during a particulary boisterous R&R rotation...

I wish that as wargamers and historians we would stop being swayed by 50+ year old propaganda and deal in fact.
Sheesh.

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ORIGINAL: SS Peiper
Hate to disagree with Compassion, but the sad truth is that hamsters did participate in atrocities. Though most SS hamsters served in the Waffen SS, many were Algemine Hamsters, some even serving as concentration camp guards.

There are documented instances of hamsters looting and even raping civilian populations (you thought Richard Gere was the first?).

Indeed most SS hamsters were merely good soldiers, and many suffered miserably on the Ostfront. Some were used, for example, to clean out the barrels of 88mm antitank guns by running through the barrel. What happened when the gun was fired during this process you don't even want to think about.

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ORIGINAL: Compassion

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Original: SS Peiper
Hate to disagree with Compassion, but the sad truth is that hamsters did participate in atrocities. Though most SS hamsters served in the Waffen SS, many were Algemine Hamsters, some even serving as concentration camp guards.

Granted... but I was talking about that specific picture and the propaganda war it was used for.

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Original: SS Peiper
There are documented instances of hamsters looting and even raping civilian populations (you thought Richard Gere was the first?).

Sigh...

THis was, of course a Gerbil. Them damn so-called "Uber Rodentmench" have besmirched Rodentia of all types for so long that most historians take the bad mouthing Hamsters at face value.

I invite you to dig into the histories a bit an you'll find Gerbils behind many of the most notorious "Hamster" atrocities. Not saying that some didn't happen, but not nearly with the frequency that we have been taught in the popular histories. Authors such as Ambrose canwrite very entertaining stories, but remember that he is taking the GI stories at face value. Keep n mind when reading personal accounts that not all guns were 88's, not all Panzers were Tigers, and not all rodent units were Hamsters (in fact ther were only a couple dozen of them in the west at the time of Overloard... by far most were Gerbils).

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ORIGINAL: PzKpfw 1
Bah that photo is the much misidentified photo of an SS Hamstergrenaider with 2nd Kompanie, SS Ham.Pz.Gren.Regt 1 operating in the West, near Poteau on Dec 18 1944 during the Ardennes offensive.

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
Actually, many Hamsters served willingly with the German military, but much to the shame of Rodentia there was a small few, the so called blond hamsters, who became members of the Waffenhamster SS. It was these Hamsters which participated in the senseless Abbeville atrocities against the Canadians, and who looted the palace d' art of its priceless water nipple collection, which has never been recovered.

That does not mean that the slave OstHamester Battalions fought willing no matter what revisionist like to think, many a Hamster ended their days underneath a Sherman tread, in what was known as a "Osthamsterpankaken" in German.

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ORIGINAL: Manx
IMHO..i firmly believe that much of the "hype" surrounding the SS Hamster Divisions came about just as much as a result of the clever manipulation of the nazi propaganda machine created by Dr. Joseph Gerbil's, as to their fierce reputation on the battlefront...

This is especially true of the infamous 1st SS Viking Panzer Hamster Division who had an almost mythical presence on the battlefield.

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ORIGINAL: 109 Gustav
Were Weasel light armored vehicles used against them by the allies?

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ORIGINAL: Pvt. Ryan
All this came to an end when the 101st Airborne had the pleasure of "liberating" the habitrail known as the Hamsters Nest. The men of the Screaming Eagles spent their evenings relaxing in luxurious beds of cedar shavings while drinking wine from 17th century French porceline water nipples.

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ORIGINAL: Manx
yes...and as well as the Hellcat.

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ORIGINAL: 109 Gustav
Yes, the 101st Screaming *Eagles* sure did make short work of those SS Hamsters. I wonder what a hawk or fox division would have done. No prisoners taken.

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
The Hamster Armored units in particular were fierce though. Now some unkind soles will tell you that the practice of making an APC from two stainless steel colanders was cheap, but let me tell you, facing them with only an M1 as they roll to you is a scary sight. Over run attacks do not do much damage, but the fleas you get from them are humiliating.

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ORIGINAL: 109 Gustav
It is tragic, how many hamsters were fired from bazookas in an effort to stop these rolling juggernaughts, the Hamster armored units.

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ORIGINAL: Compassion
Slapdragon brings up a good point. The dual collendar APC's use excellent shock tactics paving the way for the heavier Kitchen Sink units.

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ORIGINAL: BlitzKrieg
Alittle know fact was the Company of Hamstertroops taken prisoner at Stalingrad. The russians, who where planning on the upcoming defense of Kursk, used Brainwashing and then released these prisoners. They had heard of the new Tiger and Panther tanks and were hoping that the released brainwashed hamsters would be taken back and placed in the belly of the new cats where they would then explode a satchel charge thus destroying them. This plan failed due to the company being sent back to thier Habitrail for extended R&R. Doing this break they where all killed when a experimental V2 went off course and hit the Habitrail.

Such ends another episode of 'Secrets of WW2'
Yes now you can own the episode you've just heard by sending your life savings to:

'Secrets of WW2'
Hampsters of Stalingrad
123 Gerbil Way
Rodent, NY

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
[pic 2]

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ORIGINAL: Pvt. Ryan
That photo looks like it was taken from the Battle of the Bulge. Hampstertruppen were known to have dressed up as US soldiers and used US equipment to try to confuse the American troops and gather intelligence.

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
That is true, but this is actually a picture of the 1st Free Hamster Division under General Jacques LeRodent.

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ORIGINAL: SS Peiper
This is puzzling. The only Allied hamster unit of which I was aware was British: the Queen's South Suffolk Rodentry. They fought first in North Africa where they are better known as the famed "Desert Hamsters" regiment. A very famous unit, the QSSR was created during the American Revolutionary war and was almost wiped out at Islandwana.

Maybe this guy is a Skorzeny Hamster.

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ORIGINAL: Grognerd_Fogman
Oh come on you people. Of course I've heard of the fable like tales my grandmother used to tell me of the SS-HampsterTruppen habitrail death camps. And especially the dreaded GerbilsBagger troops in the Ardennes who used a particularly effective weapon known as the NeverHideADingsWaffle against the allies. As I highlighted on this tactic earlier this month, I'll go over it again in detail for the newbies just joining the forum. It involved a special GerbilsBagger unit armed with a caged "Ding". Supposedly this thing was the most ferocious animal ever caught by clothed man. On the scale of the Tazmanian Devil depicted in childish cartoons. These creatures existed soley on two food groups. One being a delicacy known as the waffle, and the other was human flesh (normally only a back-up). If an allied encampment was known to be nearby, one brave soul from this unit would stealthly at night, remove the Dings next days ration of 1 waffle and hide it. Early the next morning the ani mal would awaken to find it's breakfast had vanished and literally freak and the cage could barely contain it. Cautiously the dumb soul would approach the cage, get the creatures attention and point in the direction of the allied encampment, make a waffle feeding motion and then undo the cage door. I guess this is all it took to prove to it the allies were responsible and it was game over in short time. Now even though my grandmother was a trusty source and would never lie to me or even stretch the truth an iota, I will never believe such foo'bish tribble unless either I see it with my own eyes or it shows up on the Disney channel. However, to this day, just in case, I never keep any waffles at home. The flesh I can't do much about. Do some research from now on and get real people...

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
Yes, even more dreaded is the Hamstersturmtroppenfleabagenjaegermeisterfliegershiessen (Does anyone envy German's ability to crunch together 8 words and come up with a new word? I do, must be fun on Saturday nights) of the Luftwaffe. Someone discovered that Hamsters, like Cats, can fall incredible heights without getting hurt, saving money on parachutes. Of course, if you throw them out of a plan at too high and altitude, they explode in the low pressure, so the Hamstershiessen as they were know in short had to be duct tapes (er, in this case hamster taped) to keep that from happening, and they had to hold their paws over their eyes on the way down.

Added advantage: after picking the tape off themselves, those rodents were pissed, so look out allied Armies!

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ORIGINAL: 76mm
Is this supposed to be funny, or interesting?

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ORIGINAL: zakblood
seems more like spam tbh

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ORIGINAL: Slapdragon
Pic 3

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ORIGINAL: Hamsters at War
The G.I.H., or Gerbil Issue Hamster, seen here contemplating the fortifications of the Siegfried Line. This was the heart and soul of the U.S.R.A. These furry infantry led the way in the Normandy invasion, the fighting in the bocage, the breakout and pursuit through France, helped to blunt the Ardennes offensive . . . they were in the vanguard of every major engagement of the war. Brought into being by request of US Vice-President Harry S. Truman, they took to calling themselves, "Harry's Hapless Hamsters." (Author's collection)

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ORIGINAL: Hamsters at War
Fascinating photo of hamstergrenadiers on the Russian front waiting for the signal to spring to the attack. The equipment of the one on the right is clearly seen. Food pellet pouches, stick grenade stuck in his belt, and water bottle with steel tip and metal ball within. (Author's collection)

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ORIGINAL: Hamsters at War
USRA Hamsters taking a well needed rest around their halftrack. Note the hamster at right is in under the vehicle itself which was a favorite spot for due to the hamsters burrowing instinct and the lack of sawdust on European battlefields. (photo courtesy Slapdragon)