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History is full of fighters with tremendous balls and little to no concern for their own life and limb. This thread is for those people. Post known or relatively unknown warriors or famous units and throw a picture(s) and description of whatever they did to be particular great/awful/retarded. It's like show and tell but for murderers.  I'll start off with a couple pretty far up the 'no loving way' scale.  Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann Also known as the Black Devil by Soviet forces, Hartmann was a German fighter ace who, with about 30 months of flying from 1942 to 1945, flew more than 1,400 sorties and scored a ridiculous 352 aerial victories. He was downed 16 times and never seriously injured. He was one of only 28 Germans awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds. Hartmann surrendered to the U.S. in 1945, was handed over to the Russians, who falsely accused him of war crimes, and he spent the next decade in Russian prison camps until his release in 1955. He went back to civilian life as a flight instructor an family man and died in 1993 at 71.  Simo Häyhä AKA the White Death, Simo was a Finnish sniper who, in less than a hundred days of the 39-40 Winter war, amassed 505 confirmed Russian kills using a basic Mosin Nagant (he thought scopes were too unreliable and gave away your position). The Russians were scared so shitless by this little guy (all 5'3'' of him) that they would call in artillery strikes just at the possibility of him operating in an area. He was finally shot in the jaw by a Russian soldier in 1940 and taken out of action until the winter war ended. He still managed to make a full recovery (though quite a bit uglier) and live out the rest of his days peacefully breeding dogs, hunting, and generally being a cool dude. He died in 2002 at the age of 96.  "You come at the King, you best not miss." e: Correcting Hartmann's status as properly pimp. Hell Diver fucked around with this message at Nov 27, 2012 around 19:54 |
| # ? Nov 24, 2012 18:55 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 16:30 |
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To add another: Lt. Daniel Inouye Dan Inouye's platoon was pinned down by 3 German machine guns while attempting to flank a heavily-defended ridge on the Gothic Line in Italy. Inouye was shot in the stomach when he raised up from cover, but still doggedly charged the first position and destroyed it with grenades and his thompson, then lead his men destroying the 2nd machine fun before collapsing from blood loss. Undeterred, after regaining consciousness and refusing aid, he crawled toward the third (and last remaining) machine gun bunker, eventually drawing within 10 yards. When he rose to throw a grenade, he was hit in the right elbow by a german rifle grenade that damned near severed his arm, live grenade, pin-pulled, still clenched in his right fist. He pried the grenade from his own severed right hand and threw it at the Germans as they raised to finish him off, stumbled forward, and killed the remaining germans with his thompson, getting shot again in the leg and finally falling unconscious, and tumbling to the bottom of the ridge. He regained consciousness as his men gathered around him, ordering them back to their positions, shouting "nobody called off the war!" His arm was soon amputated at a field hospital without anesthesia since the aid station gave him too much morphine. He survived the war for a very successful political career in the US Senate. Fun fact: as president pro tempore of the senate, he's 3rd in line for president, right after John Boehner. grover fucked around with this message at Nov 24, 2012 around 21:53 |
| # ? Nov 24, 2012 21:39 |
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Regarding Hartmann, after the Soviets released him back to West Germany, he spent 15 years flying as an officer with the post-war Luftwaffe, flying Canadair Sabres and F-104s and commanding Germany's first jet fighter squadron. He was forced into early retirement after pissing off his superiors by publicly calling out the fact that the F-104 was a terrible choice for the low level strike mission (a statement that was borne out by the Luftwaffe's insanely high mishap and fatality rate while operating the Starfighter.)
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| # ? Nov 24, 2012 22:41 |
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I think Roy Benavidez will always be my favorite. Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Roy P. Benavidez United States Army, who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of 2 May 1968, a 12-man Special Forces Reconnaissance Team was inserted by helicopters in a dense jungle area west of Loc Ninh, Vietnam to gather intelligence information about confirmed large-scale enemy activity. This area was controlled and routinely patrolled by the North Vietnamese Army. After a short period of time on the ground, the team met heavy enemy resistance, and requested emergency extraction. Three helicopters attempted extraction, but were unable to land due to intense enemy small arms and anti-aircraft fire. Sergeant Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crewmembers and to assess aircraft damage. Sergeant Benavidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team. Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face, and head. Despite these painful injuries, he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft, and the loading of wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader. When he reached the leader's body, Sergeant Benavidez was severely wounded by small arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back. At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sergeant Benavidez secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight. Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sergeant Benavidez mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gunships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permit another extraction attempt. He was wounded again in his thigh by small arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed from behind by an enemy soldier. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, he sustained additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed two enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door gunner from firing upon them. With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed, and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft. Sergeant Benavidez' gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men. His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty, and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.
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| # ? Nov 24, 2012 23:24 |
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LEGIT WAR CRIMINAL posted:I think Roy Benavidez will always be my favorite. He stepped on a land mine a few years prior too.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 00:05 |
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Yeah, any dude who steps on a landmine, decides to go be SF after recovering from what doctors expected to be permanently crippling injuries and then goes and does some poo poo like that is pretty fuckin amazing. To go ahead and get him out of the way:  Jack Churchill AKA That crazy fucker with a sword Jack Churchill is one of those dudes who could have probably made women pregnant by smiling at them. Apparently a diehard Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast, Jack Churchill is the only person to have a confirmed longbow kill in WWII, as he shot a German sergeant to signal his regiment to attack. He was also notable for carrying a basket hilt broadsword, joining the British Commandos because 'it sounded dangerous', and playing the bagpipes into battle such as when he exited a landing craft during Operation Archery. He of course promptly threw a grenade after finishing his tune and charged. The last surviving member of his Commando unit after a raid gone wrong, Churchill was knocked unconscious by grenades as he was playing the pipes while the Germans advanced on his position. He was later transferred to a concentration camp where he naturally escaped and was later recaptured while he was walking to the Baltic. Finally released in 1945, Churchill was en route to Burma to fight the Japanese when he heard we'd nuked them and the war was over. He was quoted as saying: 'If it wasn't for those drat Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years.' In his later years he taught the Australian military warfare tactics and developed a love of surfing. He died in 1996 at 89 years old, most likely while fighting a dragon.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 01:07 |
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Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart:  Both volunteered to enter a situation they knew they would not come back from. Gary's MoH citation: quote:Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Master Sergeant Gordon's sniper team provided precision fire from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. When Master Sergeant Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site, he and another sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After his third request to be inserted, Master Sergeant Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Master Sergeant Gordon was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Master Sergeant Gordon immediately pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Master Sergeant Gordon used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers until he depleted his ammunition. Master Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the crew's weapons and ammunition. Despite the fact that he was critically low on ammunition, he provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then radioed for help. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it to the pilot with the words, "good luck." Then, armed only with his pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight until he was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. In total 50 Somalian bodies were found at the location. Master Sergeant Gordon's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army. Randy's MoH citation: quote:Sergeant First Class Shughart, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as a Sniper Team Member, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sergeant First Class Shughart provided precision sniper fires from the lead helicopter during an assault on a building and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. While providing critical suppressive fires at the second crash site, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site. Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After their third request to be inserted, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader, while under intense fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Sergeant First Class Shughart pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Sergeant First Class Shughart used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Sergeant First Class Shughart's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 01:45 |
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Hell Diver posted:
To make this even more ridiculous, also killed another 200 Russians with a Suomi SMG.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 02:12 |
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 Roman von Ungern-Sternberg A russian white officer conquering mongolia during the civil war, the last instance of a country being invaded by a force all mounted on horses. Leading from the front on a white horse and in traditional mongolian clothing, he was known as "the mad baron of Mongolia". Ungern would allso foreshadow the nazis in paranoid occult antisemitism and industrial genocide. On the taking of Urga from wikipedia: quote:Ungern's troops crossed the northern border of Outer Mongolia on October 1, 1920 and moved south-westwards.[15] Ungern entered negotiations with the Chinese military. All of his demands, including disarmament of the Chinese troops were rejected. On October 26–27 and again on November 2–4, 1920 Ungern's troops assaulted Mongolia's capital, Urga (official name at that time was Niislel Khuree; now Ulaanbaatar) but suffered tremendous losses. The Chinese had tightened their control of Outer Mongolia by this time, strictly regulating Buddhist services in monasteries and imprisoning Russians and Mongols who were considered "separatists". After the defeat, Ungern's troops retreated to the upper currents of the Kherleen River in Setsenkhaan Aimag (district ruled by princes with the title Setsen Khan) of in eastern Outer Mongolia. He was supported by Mongols who sought independence from Chinese occupation. Bogd Khan secretly sent Ungern his blessing for expelling Chinese from Mongolia. According to memoirs by M.G. Tornovsky, the Asiatic Division numbered 1460 men, while the Chinese garrison was seven thousand men strong. The Chinese had a big advantage in artillery and machine guns, and had built a network of trenches in and around Urga.[16] On keeping disipline: quote:Dmitri Pershin, the local bank director, heard an even more incredible account. Ungeren had gone in to scout the town at night, for some reason choosing to ride his white horse and wearing a favouritte cherry-red jacket. Riding back to his troops, he saw a Chinese sentry asleep on duty by the prison. This slacking, even by an enemy, so disgusted him that he dismounted and began to smack the unfortunate man with his cane, yelling at him in pidgin Chinese that he had neglected his duties as a solidier, and that he, Baron Ungern, was taking the time to punish him personally.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 10:16 |
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 Charles Hazlitt Upham Guy was a machine, one of only three people ever to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice. Seriously the dude's wikipedia page (or the cited newspaper articles) read like the synopsis of a Battlefield or Call of Duty campaign: London Gazette, 14 October 1941 posted:He commanded a forward platoon in the attack on Maleme on 22nd May and fought his way forward for over 3,000 yards unsupported by any other arms and against a defence strongly organised in depth. During this operation his platoon destroyed numerous enemy posts but on three occasions sections were temporarily held up. quote:In spite of being twice wounded, once when crossing open ground swept by enemy fire to inspect his forward sections guarding our mine-fields and again when he completely destroyed an entire truck load of German soldiers with hand grenades, Captain Upham insisted on remaining with his men to take part in the final assault.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 10:34 |
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Click Beelay posted:
And the only one to survive doing it. I was going to post him, thanks for saving me the job. You forgot to mention the fun he had after he was captured, though. He jumped from a truck of prisoners and covered a quarter mile on a broken ankle before he was caught, then tried to escape from a POW camp in broad daylight and when caught and held at gunpoint, responded to the guard's order to come down by lighting a cigarette. He ended up in Colditz, and when the Americans liberated and arranged to send the prisoners back to Allied territory Upham instead asked to join up with the US troops and carry on fighting. The other Kiwi worthy of mention in this thread is Lloyd Trigg VC, who won the Victoria Cross when he engaged a German U-boat after his bomber was set on fire. Rather than break off, he continued his attack run and bombed the submarine at point blank range before crashing into the sea. Thing is, though, there were no Allied witnesses - his plane was lost with all hands and never found. Trigg's citation for the VC came at the recommendation of the German U-boat commander, who was rescued after he and a few of his crew made it onto a dinghy that had fallen from Trigg's plane during its final descent. It remains the only time that a VC has been awarded solely on the recommendation of an enemy soldier.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2012 11:44 |
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Hernán Cortés has, perhaps, the biggest balls of any military leader in history. Cortes, living in just-conqurered Cuba, watched two expeditions to Mexico fail miserably. The first, under Hernandez de Cordoba, embarked with 100 men and suffered 100% casualties: over 50 of his men were killed by natives and every single man was wounded, most of them multiple times. A second expedition with 300 men under Juan de Grijalva met a similar fate every time they landed. Cortes, however, was not dissuaded, and was determined to conquer this newly discovered land and gain it’s vast wealth. He gathered 300 men and sweet-talked the governer of cuba to give him six ships and to bankroll the expedition. When the governor of Cuba changed his mind after Cortes’ departure, and sent men to arrest Cortes and force him to return, Cortes instead convinced them to join his expedition! Cortes landed in what is today Mexico with 600 men (including the sailors), 11 ships, 16 horses, 13 muskets and 33 crossbows; most of the men were armed only with spears and swords, and many had no military training. They had some metal armor, but most soon replaced it with cotton cuirasses of native make. He was facing an Aztec empire of 15 million people. Soon after landing, his force was set upon by tens of thousands of natives, and barely staved off the attacks. Cortes was frequently engaged personally, often leading devastatingly effective cavalry charges with his paltry number of horses. An account of part of one of the early battles, this one against the Tabascans: Bernal Diaz, one of Cortes' soldiers posted:The Indians were already moving forward in search of us, when we came up with them: every one had a large bunch of feathers on his head, a cotton cuirass on, and their faces were daubed with white, black, and red colours. Besides having drums and trumpets, they were armed with huge bows and arrows, shields, lances, and large broadswords [wooden blades with obsidian edges]; they had also bodies of slingers, and others armed with poles hardened in the fire. The Indians were in such vast numbers that they completely filled the bean fields, and immediately fell upon us on all sides at once, like furious dogs. Their attack was so impetuous, so numerous were the arrows, stones, and lances with which they greeted us, that above seventy of our men were wounded in no time, and one named Saldaña, was struck by an arrow in the ear, and instantly dropt down dead. With like fury they rushed at us with their pikes, at the same time pouring forth showers of arrows, and continually wounding our men. However, we fully repaid them with our crossbows, muskets, and heavy cannon, cutting right and left among them with our swords. By this means we forced them to give ground a little, but only that they might shower forth their arrows at a greater distance, where they thought themselves more secure from our arms. Even then our artilleryman Mesa made terrible havoc among them, standing as they did crowded together and within reach of the cannon, so that he could fire among them to his heart's content. Notwithstanding the destruction we made among their ranks, we could not put them to flight. I now remarked to our commander Diego de Ordas that we should rush forward upon the Indians and close with them. My motive for advising this was, because I saw that they merely retreated from fear of our swords, but still continued to annoy us at a distance with arrows, lances, and large stones. De Ordas, however, considered this not expedient, as the enemy's numbers were so vast that every single man of us would have had to encounter 300 of the enemy at once. There are many modern accounts downplaying Cortes victories, claiming the Aztecs were decimated by disease and that Cortes’s native allies formed the bulk of his army, but these reports bely the truth that smallpox was not introduced to the new world until later in the conquest, and that Cortes’ native allies were largely porters and the bulk of the battles were fought by Spanish troops, not their allied warriors. Cortes certainly didn’t have any native help during these early engagements.  So, after a number of battles like this and seeing virtually all of his force wounded multiple times, what does Cortes do? He burns the loving ships. Scuttles all but one, which he packs full of gold and booty and sends it off to Spain. Takes the 15 cannons and everything useable from them, adds the sailors to his army, and leaving 100 men to found a colony (Vera Cruz), marches right on the capitol city of Tenochtitlan, a fortress island city in a giant lake (Mexico City today) with a standing army of 200,000 warriors with naught but his small force of men and about 3000 conquered (and now allied) native warriors and porters. After fighting numerous more battles and ambushes, Cortes is welcomed into the city by the Emperor, Moctezuma, and take up residence in one of Moctezuma’s palaces. When Cortes learns that it was a trap, and that Moctezuma had just attacked Vera Cruz, he takes Moctezuma hostage in his own palace, essentially placing him under house arrest in his royal apartments and seemingly allowing him to continue rule as normal, while really extorting the Emperor to bend to his will. Including punishing the generals that attacked Vera Cruz. As Diaz states of this, “At last, we even fearlessly burn some of his generals to death in front of his own palace, and throw the monarch himself in chains while this was being executed!” While this is occurring, the governor of Cuba sends an expedition under Panfilo de Narvaez with 1,400 men, 80 horses, 20 cannon, and 150 crossbows and muskets for the express purpose of arresting Cortes and assuming control of the conquest. Cortes leaves 200 men to guard Moctezuma, marches back to the coast, and proceeds to crush Narvaez’s far superior force. He convinces Narvaez’s men to join him and hurridly marches the bulk back into the center of Tenochtitlan where the men he left had launched a preemptive attack (aka massacre) during a religious festival, and were now besieged and under heavy attack. Unable to break out due to the overwhelming number of Aztecs, Cortes found himself besieged and under constant attack for weeks. One of the battles in Tenochtitlan: quote:As soon as day had fully broken forth, we commended ourselves to the Almighty, and sallied out with our war-towers. This time again we killed a great number of the enemy; but with all our fighting we could not force them to yield ground, and if they had fought courageously the two previous days, they stood the more firm this time, and fought desperately. We however determined, if it were even to cost us all our lives, to push forward to the great temple of Huitzilopochtli. I will not detail the severe struggle we had against one house in particular, which was very strongly fortified, nor the critical position our horse were placed in. For whenever our cavalry galloped in upon the enemy's ranks, our horses were assailed by so many arrows, stones and lances, that they were immediately covered with wounds; while their riders, however courageously they fought, could make but little impression upon the foe. If they pushed further on, the Mexicans either jumped into the canals or into the lake, where the cavalry could not follow them, and where a whole forest of lances stared them in the face: equally fruitless were all our attempts to set fire to their houses, or pull them down, as they stood, in the midst of the water, and were connected to each other by drawbridges only. If at times we did succeed in firing a house, it took a whole day in burning down, nor did the fire spread, from the buildings being at too great distance from each other, and their being surrounded by water, so that all our efforts that way completely failed. At last we succeeded in fighting our way up to the foot of the great temple, but at that instant a body of above four thousand of the enemy rushed up the steps for its defence; besides that, other troops were already stationed on the top of this building, armed with long lances, stones and arrows. For a length of time the guns of our towers and the attacks of our cavalry could make no impression on the enemy, while our horses were scarcely able to step firmly on the smooth pavement of the court yards, but every moment slipped out and fell down. Though our cannon mowed down ten or fifteen of the enemy at a time, and a great many others were cut down by our sabres, yet their numbers were so vast that we could not beat them back, we therefore now determined to quit our towers, which were almost broken into pieces; and leaving them at the foot of the temple, we began fighting our way up the steps of the building.  So what did Cortes do? He immediately started planning to march back and conquer Tenochtitlan. After all, “Our troops, Cortes said, were now dwindled down again to the same number of men with which we had first set sail from Cuba, and entered the city of Mexico.” 420 Spanish with 6 cross-bows and 17 horse, and 4000 allied warriors began a campaign. Cortes was aided with the fortuitous arrival of reinforcements (a small vessel of one of his political foes, which Cortes’ men captured through subterfuge and integrated the 13 soldiers, 2 horses – and stores of dry powder- into the army), and later a few more ships with about 150 men intended to reinforce Narvaez. His carpenters constructed 12 brigantines which Cortes’ native allies carried in pieces to a canal connecting with giant lake surrounding Tenochtitlan. With these brigantines assembled, and crewed, Cortes was finally able to counter the canoe-borne troops that wrought such casualties upon his men during the night of sorrows. His men not on the brigantines were split into three divisions, each assaulting a different causeway. The siege lasted 93 days of constant heavy fighting, with Cortes’ men advancing daily across the causeways, tearing down houses and using them to fill in canals, then retreating back each night to find every morning the Aztecs had dug them back out. One particularly bad day for the Spanish: quote:Cortes, with his division, had fought his way across a very deep opening, of which the opposite sides were merely connected by an extremely narrow path, and which the artful Mexicans had purposely so contrived, as they justly foresaw what would take place. Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo is a free kindle ebook and fantastic read, btw. grover fucked around with this message at Nov 25, 2012 around 18:38 |
| # ? Nov 25, 2012 16:56 |
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Douglas Bader This guy had both legs amputated in a plane crash then proceeded to become an Ace fighter pilot got captured and sent to Colditz escaped and managed to do it again.  quote:Douglas Bader, the son of a soldier who died as a result of the wounds suffered in the First World War, was born in London in 1910. A good student, Bader won a scholarship to St Edward's School in Oxford. An excellent sportsman, Bader won a place to the RAF College in Cranwell where he captained the Rugby team and was a champion boxer.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2012 11:01 |
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I just wanted to add that Erich Hartmann was never shot down. He was only ever forced down due to mechanical failure or damage from flying through the debris of planes he shot down.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2012 19:15 |
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grover posted:Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo is a free kindle ebook and fantastic read, btw. There's some more modern scholarship that suggests Cortes wasn't quite so badass. I highly suggest Ross Hassig's "War, Politics, and the Conquest of Mexico," which was chapter nine of War in the Early Modern World, 1450-1815 by Jeremy Black. It may be reprinted elsewhere, I don't know. Basically Diaz provided the most detailed firsthand account...and there are NO accounts from the Aztec side. The extremely short version is that the Spaniards were days away from annihilation in those early attacks (where they had no local support). Yet somehow we're expected to believe that a city of tens of thousands (the Totonacs)then surrendered to him willingly. Cortes was also brilliant enough to understand the political climate, the position of his new city and its neighbors, and how to employ native armies immediately. OR, we can expect that Cortes was smart enough to know that he was effectively beaten and had no chance to survive but to accept a role as part of the Totonac army. Native combat was very prone to stalemate...it required a break through the enemy lines and exploitation to expand the fight behind the enemy and turn the flanks while they struggled to close the breach. The Spaniards had no way of doing this...their firepower and horses could open a breach but they didn't have enough men to exploit it. They became shock troops in a native army. The article/chapter basically hits the high points of the entire campaign and effectively refutes any suggestion that Cortes was the brains behind the operation. Diaz's book is still a fantastic read, though. And the impact of smallpox is still very much under debate. It was definitely there (and killed several prominent individuals), but there was no mention of it being a significant factor to the population until decades later. Diaz mentions it only once, and his paragraph is almost verbatim taken from an account written by someone who arrived years after the fall of the Aztecs. Diaz wrote his book when he was in his 80s iirc, not during or immediately after the campaign Godholio fucked around with this message at Nov 27, 2012 around 21:17 |
| # ? Nov 27, 2012 21:15 |
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Godholio posted:There's some more modern scholarship that suggests Cortes wasn't quite so badass. I highly suggest Ross Hassig's "War, Politics, and the Conquest of Mexico," which was chapter nine of War in the Early Modern World, 1450-1815 by Jeremy Black. It may be reprinted elsewhere, I don't know. The Spanish weapons and tactics gave them a marked advantage, as they were durable and designed to kill. If a Spaniard and Aztec crossed swords, the obsidian blade shattered but the steel blade did not. The cotton armor used by both sides was rather effective against Aztec weapons, but not the least bit effective against swords, muskets, crossbows or cannon. Tactics played a major role, too; the Aztec's main interest was in capturing prisoners, specifically the opposing king: if the king was captured, the war was won. Trying to capture the Spanish vice killing them as quickly as possible left them open and extremely vulnerable. We do see tactics change later in later years as the conquest moved south, and the Spanish took heavy casualties as a result. Another local custom heavily exploited by the Spanish was that of porters: if travelers requested porters, they were obliged to provide them. Thousands upon thousands of them. The Spanish also took shitloads of slaves during the conquest. grover fucked around with this message at Nov 28, 2012 around 00:38 |
| # ? Nov 28, 2012 00:34 |
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Need more Navy in this thread. First off, everyone in Taffy 3 in the Battle off Samar was awesome as hell, but this post is going to be about Ernest Evans. Some background (from the wiki): quote:It was eventually decided that MacArthur's forces would invade the island of Leyte in the central Philippines. Amphibious forces and close naval support would be provided by the 7th Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid. The US 3rd Fleet—commanded by Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., with Task Force 38 (TF 38, the Fast Carrier Task Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher) as its main component—would provide more distant cover and support for the invasion. So Taffy 3 is all that stands between the US landing forces in the Philippines and the Japanese naval "Center Force." So, how do they compare?  Oh. So to take an example, let's see how the USS Johnston, Evans's ship, stacks up to a Japanese cruiser: In the American corner, we have the "tin can destroyer" with...  And in the Japanese corner, we have the heavy cruiser with...  Oh. So what's a man to do when faced with this situation? Maybe a little pep talk to the crew: quote:A large Japanese fleet has been contacted. They are fifteen miles away and headed in our direction. They are believed to have four battleships, eight cruisers, and a number of destroyers. This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can. But what can a small destroyer task force do against a Japanese battle fleet that includes the largest, most heavily armed battleship ever built? quote:The three Fletcher-class destroyers —- affectionately nicknamed "tin cans" because they lacked armor —- were fast enough to keep up with a fast carrier task force. They had five single 5 in (130 mm) and light antiaircraft guns which were not designed to take on armored battleships or cruisers. Only their ten 21 in (530 mm) Mark-15 torpedoes -— housed in two swiveling five-tube launchers amidships -— posed a serious threat to battleships. Destroyer escorts like the Samuel B. Roberts were even smaller and slower, since they had been designed to protect slow freighter convoys against submarines. With two 5 in (130 mm) guns without automatic fire control, they carried only three torpedoes, and their crews were rarely trained for torpedo attacks. Since torpedoes only had a range of about 5.5 nmi (6.3 mi; 10.2 km), they were best used at night. During daylight, an attacker would have to pass through a gauntlet of shellfire that could reach out to 25 nmi (29 mi; 46 km). In this battle, they would be thrown against a fleet led by the largest battleship in the world. And then the Japanese retreated. Due to their disbelief that the Americans could be so balls crazy as to charge a main battle fleet with destroyers, they got the hell out of there.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2012 01:34 |
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I do not presently have Last of the Tin Can Sailors, but I have read it, and Ernest Evans is the man.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2012 01:53 |
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grover posted:There's quite a bit of history from the Aztec side, actually. Nothing so detailed as Bernal Diaz, but what the Aztecs write pretty much corroborates the history as written by the Spanish. And it's not just Diaz, but letters written during the campain by Cortes and his officers, and account written by Cortes' political foes and so on- this was not a one sided whitewashing, many of the authors full intent was to denounce and crucify Cortes but that said nothing of the sort you're talking about. It doesn't pass the bullshit test; if Cortes was but a pawn in the Totonac army, how did the Spanish end up ruling Mexico? What were they doing while Cortes had Moctezuma prisoner? Why did they give up human sacrifices and reject their own religion and throw down captured temples and take up Christianity? There are five or six "credible" Spanish accounts, and two from the Aztecs, both written long afterwards, probably by non-witnesses (this is the accepted historiography, not my version). I've read The Broken Spears, too. The Spaniards didn't employ cannon often...they were cumbersome extremely difficult to haul over terrain. Their most significant use was in the final assault when they were installed on boats...and even then, the Spaniards were particularly bad at using them and after the Aztecs realized how awful the aim was, they didn't care much. Spaniards were often wounded in combat, they were not particularly invulnerable. They also lost a lot of horses. Their tactics were poo poo, anyway. It was literally shock and awe until the enemy ran away...which after the first meeting, they didn't. As far as how the Spanish came to rule, the collapse of the Aztec Empire left a power vacuum that no single city was able to fill in they way Tenochtitlan could. Don't make the mistake in thinking Mexico was ruled by a European-style government with loyal nobles ruling other cities. The region was FULL of warfare (and yes, there are several examples of the flower wars you're referring to regarding prisoners, but there were fight-to-the-death wars as well). Europeans came in-force not long after. Montezuma wasn't openly a prisoner until after Alvarado slaughtered thousands of unarmed nobles during a festival. After that, the people pretty much figured out Montezuma wasn't actually running things anymore. The reading I mentioned above goes into more detail. As far as the bullshit test...how did Cortes conquer a city of tens of thousands that owned the loyalty of other cities, possessing soldiers in the thousands, with 450 men (who btw were mostly NOT professional soldiers), then integrate himself into a complete different political environment than anything he'd ever known with enough savvy to own it until he was recalled to Spain?
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| # ? Nov 28, 2012 02:30 |
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Lance Sijan He was shot down over Vietnam in an F-4, and proceeded to go through what I could only imagine was sheer hell. quote:On the night of November 9, 1967, for his 52nd combat mission, Sijan and pilot Lt. Col. John Armstrong were tasked with a bombing mission over North Vietnam. As they rolled in on their target to release their ordnance, their F-4C was engulfed in a ball of fire, due to the bomb fuses malfunctioning and causing a premature detonation on their release. The Phantom then entered a banking climb before plunging into the jungle. Sijan managed to eject from the aircraft, and a search-and-rescue crew radioed him that they were attempting a rescue. After almost a whole day was spent locating his position and softening up air defences in the area, the SAR forces were finally able to get one of the big Jolly Green Giant helicopters roughly over Sijan's position. During this operation over 20 aircraft were damaged by anti-aircraft fire and had to return to base. One aircraft was shot down, though its pilot was rescued by a helicopter on station. Sijan, refusing to put other airmen in danger, insisted on crawling into the jungle and having a penetrator lowered by the helicopter, instead of sending down the helicopter's Para-Jumpers to carry him. However, the helicopter crew could not spot him in the jungle and after 33 minutes the rescue team, which faced enemy fire and the growing darkness, had to withdraw. Search efforts continued the next day, but they were called off when no further radio contact was made with Sijan. He was placed on MIA status. quote:Medal of Honor citation
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| # ? Nov 28, 2012 02:38 |
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SquirrelyPSU posted:I do not presently have Last of the Tin Can Sailors, but I have read it, and Ernest Evans is the man. One of the best military books I've ever read.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2012 05:01 |
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Lt Cdr Gerard Broadmead Roope and the crew of the HMS Glowworm The Glowworm was a G class destroyer whose anti-surface weapons were only four 4.1 inch popguns and some torpedo tubes. In April of 1940 she was part of a task group that was covering a minelaying operation off of Norway. On the 8th she was on her way back to the task group after searching for an overboard crewman when she encountered two German destroyers. Despite being outgunned she engaged. The German destroyers radioed for help, which was answered by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper: quote:Hipper initially had difficulty in distinguishing Glowworm from von Arnim, but opened fire eight minutes later at a range of 8,400 metres (9,200 yd) with her 20.3-centimetre (8.0 in) main guns. Glowworm was hit by Hipper's fourth salvo and she started making smoke. She turned into her own smoke in an attempt to break visual contact with Hipper, but the cruiser's radar-directed guns were not affected by the smoke. When the destroyer emerged from her smoke the range was now short enough that the cruiser's 10.5-centimetre (4.1 in) could fire. Glowworm's radio room, bridge, and forward 4.7-inch gun were all destroyed, and she received additional hits in the engine room, the captain's day cabin, and finally the mast. As this crashed down, it caused a short circuit of the wiring, causing the ship's siren to start a banshee wail. At 10:10 Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope, fired five torpedoes from one mounting at a range of 800 metres (870 yd), but all missed because Captain Hellmuth Heye had kept Hipper's bow pointed at Glowworm throughout the battle to minimize his risk from torpedoes. The destroyer fell back through her smoke screen to buy time to get her second torpedo mount working, but Heye followed Glowworm through the smoke to finish her off before she could fire the rest of her torpedoes. The two ships were very close when Hipper emerged from the smoke and Heye ordered a hard turn to starboard to reduce the range and possibly ram the destroyer. Hipper was slow to answer her helm and Glowworm struck the cruiser just abaft the anchor. The collision broke off Glowworm's bow and the rest of the ship scraped along Hipper's side, gouging open several holes in her hull and destroying her forward starboard torpedo mounting. One German sailor was knocked overboard by the collision. Hipper took on some 500 tonnes (490 long tons) of water before the leaks could be isolated, but was not seriously damaged. Glowworm was on fire when she drifted clear and her boilers exploded at 10:24, taking 109 of her crew with her. Here's one of the last known pictures of the Glowworm, laying smoke and engaged with the Hipper:  Lt Cdr Roope spent all his strength rescuing other members of the crew, so he wasn't able to hold on to the lifeline thrown to him by the Hipper after the engagement and drowned. He was posthumously awarded the VC for his conduct during the engagement, the first of WWII (although it wasn't actually presented/gazetted until after the war) and one of very few that was awarded based in part on the testimony of the enemy, as the captain of the Hipper wrote to the RN Admiralty after the engagement, praising Roope and the Glowworm's crew's courage and dedication to duty in engaging a vastly superior warship and recommending Roope for the VC. Also, regarding Taffy 3, the Center Force withdrew not so much because the IJN forces were intimidated by the insanity of destroyers engaging battleships but because the Japanese formation was disrupted during the battle so Kurita was out of communication with much of his force, and given the fury of the USN attack and his losses (three heavy cruisers sunk with another three damaged) he was convinced that he was fighting major fleet units as opposed to the escort forces of Taffy 3 (appropriate given the nickname the Sammy B earned...the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship"). Combine that with the fact that by this point in the war Kurita was a hard bitten veteran who did not believe in senseless waste of men and resources, that he received message traffic which stated that the Southern Force had been destroyed by Jesse Oldendorf at the Surigao Strait, and that he also intercepted (incorrect) U.S. message traffic that Halsey had sunk all four carriers in the Northern Force and was racing southward to engage Kurita's Center Force, and his decision to withdraw makes some sense (even if it was the wrong one given all the information.) Here's a fun fact: the IJN cruiser Chōkai was likely crippled from a lucky shot fired from the escort carrier USS Kalinin Bay's single five inch gun that set off deck mounted torpedoes. Talk about everything going wrong.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2012 10:38 |
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SquirrelyPSU posted:I do not presently have Last of the Tin Can Sailors, but I have read it, and Ernest Evans is the man. I came across a glowing recommendation for this book on SA, impulsively ordered it on my Kindle, and to this day I don't think I've spent $12 better. (drat publishers, should have been half that.) Just to imagine how outclassed they were -- some of the DEs attacked the Japanese battleships at point-blank range. What's the big deal about that? They had sailed through 25 miles or so of constant shelling with only some smoke to protect them to finally get very close to their target. How big was their target? It was so much larger that it was unable to depress its guns' elevation low enough to fire upon the DEs engaging it. Every man involved in that action, whether in the fleet or in the airplanes, had balls of steel, except of course for Halsey and the jagoff Army major who initially refused the Navy pilots the use of an airstrip and munitions on a nearby island "because Army planes are coming any day now." (Further cementing the badassitude going on, one of the pilots who was initially allowed to land then pulled a pistol on the major and locked him in a closet.)
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| # ? Nov 30, 2012 02:12 |
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Real psychopath of a villain here: Joshua Milton Blahyi aka General Butt Naked aka 'The most evil man in the world' General Butt Naked participated in his first human sacrifice at age 11, when he was initiated as a tribal priest. During the 3-day sacrifice ritual where they slaughtered, dismembered and ate a little girl, he had a vision where the devil him him he'd become a great warrior and that he should continue to practice human sacrifice and cannibalism to increase his power. And practice, he did! Wikipedia posted:Blahyi has said he led his troops naked except for shoes and a gun. He believed that his nakedness was a source of protection from bullets.[8] Blahyi now claims he would regularly sacrifice a victim before battle, saying, "Usually it was a small child, someone whose fresh blood would satisfy the devil." He explained to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Sometimes I would enter under the water where children were playing. I would dive under the water, grab one, carry him under and break his neck. Sometimes I'd cause accidents. Sometimes I'd just slaughter them." In January 2008 Blahyi confessed to taking part in human sacrifices which "included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat." 
grover fucked around with this message at Nov 30, 2012 around 03:34 |
| # ? Nov 30, 2012 03:28 |
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I think the Vice Magazine guys ran into him on their trip to Liberia, for real. Those guys are nuts.
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| # ? Nov 30, 2012 04:33 |
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DoktorLoken posted:I think the Vice Magazine guys ran into him on their trip to Liberia, for real. Those guys are nuts. Yeah it was a good watch, second half is almost all hanging out with ~butt naked~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuSS0iiFyo
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| # ? Nov 30, 2012 04:35 |
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DoktorLoken posted:I think the Vice Magazine guys ran into him on their trip to Liberia, for real. Those guys are nuts. Their North Korea trip guide was amazing.
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| # ? Nov 30, 2012 05:45 |
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HeyEng posted:Their North Korea trip guide was amazing.
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| # ? Nov 30, 2012 07:08 |
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Casimir Radon posted:Check out the North Korean Labour Camps one they did. North Korea and Siberia, two really hosed places for the price of one. Yeah, that one is arguably better than their North Korean one, which is really saying something.
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| # ? Nov 30, 2012 08:29 |
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 Hans-Ulrich Rudel Rudel was a card-carrying member of the Nazi party, but also (I'm gonna guess) the most destructive ground attack pilot to ever live. Over the course of about 2,500 missions, primarily in a Stuka, Rudel destroyed 800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery pieces, a destroyer, two cruisers, one Soviet battleship (!), 70 landing craft, 4 armored trains, several bridges and 9 enemy aircraft (in aerial combat). Rudel sunk the Russian battleship Marat in coordination with another Stuka pilot as they simultaneously dropped 1,000kg bombs on the forward superstructure, detonating the magazine and cracking the ship in half killing 326 sailors. Rudel was never shot down by another pilot though aa fire forced him to land 32 times, though he was only wounded four times and even flew some missions in a leg cast. He also did this crazy poo poo: Wikipedia posted:According to his autobiography, on one occasion, after trying a landing to rescue two downed novice Stuka crewmen and then not being able to take off again due to the muddy conditions, he and his three companions, while being chased for 6 km by Soviet soldiers, made their way down a steep cliff by sliding down trees, then swam 600 meters across the icy Dniester river, during which his rear gunner, Knight's Cross holder Hentschel, succumbed to the cold water and drowned. Several miles further towards the German lines, the three survivors were then captured by Soviets, but Rudel, knowing there was a bounty on his head, again made a run for it. Despite being barefoot and in soaking clothes, getting shot in his shoulder, and being hunted by several hundred pursuers with dog packs, he eventually managed to make his way back to his own lines. He finally surrendered to US forces in 1945, and moved to Argentina after his release in 1948. He eventually returned to West Germany where he maintained his unrepentant nazi ideology and ended up becoming a successful businessman. His input also went into the development of the A-10. He died peacefully in 1982. He was the most decorated member of the German military of the only recipient of the knight's cross with golden oakleaves, swords, and diamonds.
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| # ? Dec 2, 2012 00:49 |
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Eliahu Itzkovitz Perhaps not Heroic, Villainous, or Psychopathic, but certainly Interesting. A concentration camp survivor learns that the man who lead his parents to the gas chamber is serving in the FFL and deserts the IDF to join up and track him down. StMichael's Modern Elite Forces posted:Eliahu Itzkovitz was barely 20 years old, yet there was murder in his heart. It was the early 1950's and the young Romanian Jew was serving in the 3e Regiment Etranger d'Infanterie in Indo-China. Eliahu's fixation was not with killing the communist Viet Minh, however - he had a more personal enemy. Itzkovitz was drafted into the IDF and was serving as a paratrooper when he learned that Stanescu had enlisted in the FFL. He got a transfer to the navy and Jumped ship when docked in Italy, made his way to france, and thus the Legion. He discovered what battalion Mr Fascist was serving in and managed to get a posting to his unit. He then played the waiting game until he was on patrol with Stanescu and Murdered him on Route Coloniale 18. Oddly enough, Either the Legion did not care or did not find out, because he continued to serve until his enlistment until discharged in '58. He then returned to Israel and served a year in the clink for desertion. 
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| # ? Dec 8, 2012 14:59 |
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That story is nuts 
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 00:24 |
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brb writing a screenplay about that
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 01:02 |
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Mentioned by Bernard Fall in Street Without Joy, I believe.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 05:23 |
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Smiling Jack posted:Mentioned by Bernard Fall in Street Without Joy, I believe. Correct, although IIRC it wasn't by name.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 06:35 |
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Dilettante. posted:Eliahu Itzkovitz Holy poo poo
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| # ? Dec 10, 2012 21:07 |
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grover posted:To add another: 
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| # ? Dec 18, 2012 00:23 |
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This isn't a specific guy, but just a little comment. Senator Inouye was not exceptional in his unit. In fact, he was part of the most decorated Army unit in fuckin' history. I took a quote from the wiki article, but you should read the whole thing if you have time; it's drat interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States). There is also a movie called "Go for Broke" (1951), which I just downloaded and watched, that is pretty good if you're into old war movies. It's also public domain, so you can find it on a torrent site.The Lost Battalion posted:
I am positive every soldier in that unit earned a Purple Heart or died during WW2.   
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| # ? Dec 18, 2012 18:42 |
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Colonel Joshua Chamberlain quote:Chamberlain achieved fame at the Battle of Gettysburg, where his valiant defense of a hill named Little Round Top became the focus of many publications and stories, including the novel The Killer Angels and the film Gettysburg.  quote:Appomattox Dude's a hero. ClemenSalad fucked around with this message at Dec 28, 2012 around 18:54 |
| # ? Dec 28, 2012 18:52 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 16:30 |
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Always liked this one quote:Benfold resolutely moved from position to position in the face of intense hostile fire, treating the wounded and lending words of encouragement. Leaving the protection of his sheltered position to treat the wounded when the platoon area in which he was working was attacked from both the front and rear, he moved forward to an exposed ridge line where he observed 2 marines in a large crater. As he approached the 2 men to determine their condition, an enemy soldier threw 2 grenades into the crater while 2 other enemy charged the position. Picking up a grenade in each hand, HC3c Benfold leaped out of the crater and hurled himself against the on-rushing hostile soldiers, pushing the grenades against their chests and killing both the attackers.
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| # ? Dec 30, 2012 01:30 |
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