Who has the best cast of characters for stories set in World War II?

Marvel has:

Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos
The Invaders (Cap, Namor, etc.)


DC has a slightly bigger cast:

Sgt. Rock
The Losers
Unknown Soldier
Haunted Tank
Mlle. Maria
The Golden Age JSA
The Blackhawks (though they were not originally owned by DC)

Both companies also have some relatively obscure characters set in WWII. Marvel, for instance, has Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen; the Liberty Legion and several others. While DC has G.I. Robot, the Creature Commandos, etc.

So who can field the coolest Second World War cast?

Although it physically pains me to go against Cap, I also have to go with DC. Unknown Soldier, G.I. Robot, Creature Commandos, the JSA, et. just weave such a rich tapestry of events that make that period in comic continuity pop.
Marvel has some GREAT WWII characters, but they just don't have the huge cataloge of adventures that thier DC counterparts do.
BUT that is just one schlub's opinion.

I feel the same way. If I had limited the choices to JUST super-powered beings, I'd probably lean towards Cap and the Invaders, but all the DC "regular joe" characters like Rock and the Losers help put me in the DC camp for WWII. "The War That Time Forgot" series (WWII and dinosaurs together! Now that's genious!) really confirms that for me.

Me? I go with the Invaders and Cap.

Namor, Human Torch, Captain America, Blazing Skull, Thin Man, and all the rest.

If it's just regular joes, then DC (Sgt. Rock is great), but for WW2 characters over all, Marvel.

Marvel certainly has some cool characters from the era(Cap, Namor, Torch), but it has nothing on DC.

DC has the entire JSA backing them up. You get Green Lantern, Flash, Sandman(my personal fave), Wildcat, and the list goes on and on. They also have some of the most badass soldier comics ever. Sgt. Rock and the Haunted Tank are both awesome.
DC has the market covered, with a lot of super heroes that are still around and have never lost their luster; and the most famous military group in comics, Easy Company.

DC also had Captain Storm and Enemy Ace, and Marvel had Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders.

If you're strictly comparing Marvel's war comics with DC's, I have to give the edge to DC. Nobody was tougher than Sgt Rock! DC also had the war/mystery combination in Weird War Tales, which was very cool. But, if you include the pre-Marvel Timely books, I think Marvel takes the cake. Captain America and Bucky, and the Human Torch and Toro kicked some major axis butt!

Man, I'd forgotten all about Savage and the Letherneck Raiders. That was a fun book, though never quite as good as Fury and the Howling Commandos.

Enemy Ace was a World War I character, but was still pretty cool.

But even with throwing Savage into the mix, I'd still have to stay with DC has having the World War II advantage.

As of this moment, DC is beating Marvel 4-2 in World War II.

Actually, he was convinced to come out of retirement and fly for the Luftwaffe in War In Heaven during WWII. But, you're right, Von Hammer is most famous for his WWI activities.

I want to add that I personally like the DC war books more, since I grew up reading them. I'm a huge fan of Sgt. Rock and Our Army at War.
However, I still think that the Golden Age Timely (Marvel) and Atlas war books really were superior to the DC Golden Age war books. Just my humble opinion, of course. But, hey they're ALL great!

I concur. There's a real early Submariner story (from 1940 or 41) where the Germans attack Atlantis with a fleet of huge U-Boats. Namor must lead his people in the battle against him, then goes one-on-one against the U-boat flag ship. It's got great Bill Everet art and still ranks amongst my favorites. Marvel/Timely's superhero stuff was probably a little better than DC's at that time.

But I also agree that overall, DC's war stories are the best. Russ Heath's run as artist on Our Army at War in the 1970s consists of some of the best drawn comic books ever.

Tie.

Marvel had Captain America, the ultimate Nazi fighter, but DC had Superman, the American icon.

However, this may well be the greatest WWII comic ever.

Two things...
First off, GOD trumps all, sorry Supes and Cap.
Secondly superdickery.com is one of the funniest comic websites I have ever seen. Thanks for makin' my day.