War Stories

[Sugar Ape]

Post your favourite war stories here. Any war, American Civil War, Vietnam, World War II, whatever.

 

I'll start with a couple of my favourites.

 

Hiroo Onada, Japanese soldier who carried on fighting for almost 30 years after World War II ended in the Philippines.

 

Hiroo Onoda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Onoda was trained as an Intelligence officer by the commando class "Futamata" (二俣分校, futamata-bunkō?) of Nakano School, and on 26 December 1944 was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was ordered to do all that he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor, his orders also stating that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life.

 

When Onoda landed on the island, he linked up with a group of Japanese soldiers who had been sent there previously. The officers in the group outranked Onoda and prevented him from carrying out his assignment, which made it easier for US and Philippine Commonwealth forces to take the island when they landed on 28 February 1945. Within a short time of the landing, all but Onoda and three other soldiers had either died or surrendered and Onoda, who had been promoted to lieutenant, ordered the men to take to the hills.

 

Onoda continued his campaign, initially living in the mountains with three fellow soldiers (Private Yūichi Akatsu, Corporal Shōichi Shimada and Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuka). The first time they saw a leaflet which claimed that the war was over was in October 1945; another cell had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders which read: "The war ended on August 15. Come down from the mountains!"[1] However, they mistrusted the leaflet, since another cell had been fired upon a few days previously. They concluded that the leaflet was Allied propaganda, and also believed that they would not have been fired on if the war had indeed been over.

 

Towards the end of 1945 leaflets were dropped by air with a surrender order printed on them from General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army. They were in hiding over a year at this point, and this leaflet was the only evidence they had the war was over. Onoda's group looked very closely at the leaflet to determine whether it was genuine or not, and decided it was a hoax.

 

One of the four, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the others in September 1949 and surrendered to Filipino forces in 1950 after six months on his own. This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more careful.

 

In 1952 letters and family pictures were dropped from aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a hoax. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, following which Onoda nursed him back to health. On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men.

 

Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972, when he and Onoda burned rice that had been collected by farmers, as part of their guerrilla activities, leaving Onoda alone. Though Onoda had been officially declared dead in December 1959, this event suggested that it was likely he was still alive and search parties were sent out, though none was successful.

 

On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world and was looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order".[2] Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer.

 

Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese government located Onoda's commanding officer, Major Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. He flew to Lubang and on 9 March 1974 informed Onoda of the defeat of Japan and ordered him to lay down his arms.

 

Lieutenant Onoda emerged from the jungle 29 years after the end of World War II, and accepted the commanding officer's order of surrender in his uniform and sword, with his Arisaka Type 99 rifle still in operating condition, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades. This makes him the penultimate fighting Japanese soldier of the war, seven months before Teruo Nakamura.

 

Though he had killed some thirty Filipino inhabitants of the island and engaged in several shootouts with the police, the circumstances were taken into consideration, and Onoda received a pardon from President Ferdinand Marcos.

 

 

And Simo Häyhä a Finnish sniper with the highest recorded number of confirmed sniper kills in a major war.

 

Simo Häyhä - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Häyhä was born in the municipality of Rautjärvi near the present-day border of Finland and Russia, and started his military service in 1925. Before entering combat, Häyhä was a farmer and a hunter. At the age of 17, he joined the Finnish militia suojeluskunta and succeeded with his sniping skills in shooting sports in the Viipuri province. His farmhouse was reportedly full of trophies for marksmanship.

 

It was during the Winter War (1939–1940), between Finland and the Soviet Union, that he began his duty as a sniper and fought for the Finnish Army against the Red Army. In temperatures between −40 and −20 degrees Celsius, dressed completely in white camouflage, Häyhä was credited with 505 confirmed plus 37 unconfirmed kills of Soviet soldiers.[3][5] The unofficial Finnish front line figure from the battlefield of Kollaa places the number of Häyhä's sniper kills at over 800.[6] A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was conducted for the Finnish snipers. Besides his sniper kills, Häyhä was also credited with over two hundred kills with a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun, thus bringing his credited kills to at least 705.[5] Remarkably, all of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days at a time of year with very short hours of daylight.[7][8][9]

 

Häyhä used a Finnish militia variant, White Guard M/28 "Pystykorva" or "Spitz", of the Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle, because it suited his small frame (5 ft 3 in/1.60 m). He preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights to present a smaller target (the sniper must raise his head higher when using a telescopic sight), for more reliable visibility (a telescopic sight's glass can fog up easily in cold weather), and aid concealment (sunlight glare in telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper's position). Another tactic used by Häyhä was to compact the snow in front of him so that the shot would not disturb the snow and reveal his position.[citation needed] He also kept snow in his mouth, so that the vapor of his breath would not give him away.[citation needed]

 

The Soviets tried several ploys to get rid of him, including counter-snipers and artillery strikes. On March 6, 1940, Häyhä was shot in the lower left jaw by a Russian soldier during combat. The bullet tumbled upon impact and exited his head. He was picked up by fellow soldiers who said "half his head was missing", but he was not dead: he regained consciousness on March 13, the day peace was declared. Shortly after the war Häyhä was promoted from alikersantti (corporal) to Second Lieutenant by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim; no one else has gained rank so quickly in Finland's military history.

 

[Section_31]

SOMEWHERE out there, it has been said, we all have a bullet with our name on it. But for one war hero from Halton the phrase holds an air of truth.

 

Shot in the shoulder, captured and surrounded by dozens of German troops, Eric Goldrein – a young British officer of Jewish descent – would engineer a spectacular turnaround by single-handedly taking his captors prisoner.

 

The retired major from Hale Village celebrated his 90th birthday on Sunday but, as Britain prepares to mark the anniversary of D-Day, the sights and sounds of the campaign are still fresh in his memory.

 

Eric said: “We had been training for so long I certainly had a sense this was a momentous historical event in the making.

 

“The main body of my division went on the first day, although I didn’t get there until D-Day plus four, landing on Gold Beach in King Sector.

 

“I walked down the ramp of the LTC. The immediate danger on the beach itself had passed, but all around were the sounds of shellfire and mortars.”

 

Eric volunteered for service in 1939 aged only 18. But he was due to take his place at Cambridge University so the recruitment board advised him to go off to university for two years and then join up later.

 

But after 1940, when the war started going badly for Britain, Eric decided to join the OCTU – Officer Cadet Training Unit.

 

Joining the 11th Armoured Division Anti-Tank Regiment, he spent months in landing practices and manoeuvres on the Yorkshire moors.

 

As the invasion drew nearer, the regiment was moved to the south coast close to Southampton, before he found himself in Normandy.

 

Eric said: “As we moved forward there was no respite – 24 hours a day there was the continuous loud noise and vibration of shelling.

 

“At night the flashes lit up the sky all around. Oddly enough, it didn’t stop me sleeping. We were just so tired; I would just curl up in a slit-trench and be out for the count within minutes.”

 

Eric was a lieutenant in command of a troop of four artillery pieces, comprising 17-pounder anti-tank guns, each with a 12ft-long barrel.

 

Formidable in the field, each gun could fire an armour piercing shell with a muzzle velocity of 3,000ft per second and knock out a deadly tiger tank at a range of 800 yards.

 

Eric said: “We were, of course, constantly on the front line and were taking casualties from mortar fire all the time as the enemy naturally targeted the guns and supporting infantry.

 

“I think we were too busy to be frightened, but we didn’t dwell on the danger and just concentrated on the job we had to do.”

 

Having been on the ground in France for more than seven weeks, Eric and his gunners had experienced tough fighting all the way from the beaches.

 

In the aftermath of D-Day the German High Command recovered from their initial confusion and resistance became resourced, disciplined and fierce, with the Germans taking advantage of the high hedgerows, earth embankments and woodland to defend their positions.

 

On August 1 Eric fell into enemy hands after he and his driver went out in a jeep across German lines on a reconnoitre to find new gun positions.

 

He said: “It was early evening when I was caught. We’d just turned down a narrow lane and there was a burst of machine gun fire. I was hit from behind in my right shoulder.

 

“The driver had already stopped so we could check our position and a group of enemy soldiers appeared out of nowhere. I could still walk and we were both marched off to a nearby farm building, where I was presented to the commanding officer of this group. He was a colonel, probably in his late 30s. He didn’t speak any English at all and I made it clear that I couldn’t speak German.

 

“Oddly enough, we conversed in French, a language at which we were both quite fluent.”

 

Eric – a retired barrister and former Lord Mayor of Hale – added: “My driver was taken outside but I was seated in a corner of the room while a medical orderly was brought in to tend my shoulder wound. Of course it hurt but I was lucky to have been hit with just one bullet which I learned was from a Schmeisser machine pistol.

 

“They just gave me a field dressing and hooked the wrist up with my own tie.

 

“I could understand German well enough to realise the colonel and his adjutant were dealing with a constant flow of grave news all through the night. I didn’t let on to my understanding of German but it was clear that every message coming in to this local centre carried with it another military setback.

 

“As an officer myself, I was held there awaiting an escort to take me off to their HQ for closer interrogation. By early morning the colonel was in a quandary and we had by then established something of a relationship.”

 

As the colonel was taking serious casualties and his defences were steadily weakening, with British and Allied troops pouring into Normandy, Eric eventually managed to persuade him to surrender.

 

He said: “Then of course there was the practicality of who would take the surrender.

 

“I heard myself saying ‘don’t worry about that, surrender to me’.

 

“I had my right arm in a sling so I couldn’t salute.

 

“I had no experience of taking surrender, at the ripe old age of 23!

 

“We set out at first light with me at the front, the colonel and his adjutant alongside, followed by 35 other ranks. In proper military order we marched along the narrow road, heading north toward the coast.

 

“Quite soon I heard tracked vehicles and we came upon a forward carrier patrol of the 1st Worcester Regiment. The patrol consisted of three bren carriers and I put one at the front and one bringing up the rear of our small column.

 

“I travelled in the third vehicle along with my two captive officers.

 

“Before long we reached a main HQ assembly area, where I was able to leave my group and report to the MO (military operations) in a tented area. Once there, and in good hands, I promptly passed out.

 

“I later awakened in the British military hospital.

 

“Treatment there was first class, and with all those pretty nurses around our spirits were uplifted.

 

“I was operated on and the bullet was removed. I still have it as a memento”

 

 

.

[Lee909]

Shahmed Khan, VC (1 July 1879 - 28 July 1947), was a Punjabi Muslim recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

 

He was 36 years old, and a Naik in the 89th Punjabis, British Indian Army (now 1st Battalion The Baloch Regiment, Pakistan Army) during the First World War, and serving on the Tigris Front in Mesopotamia, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

 

 

Naik Shahmed Khan, VC, 89th Punjabis, 1916."Shahamad Khan was in charge of a machine-gun section 150 yards from the enemy's position, covering a gap in the New Line at Beit Ayeesa, Mesopotamia on 12th/13th April, 1916. After all his men, apart from two belt-fillers, had become casualties, Shamahad Khan, working the gun single-handed, repelled three counter-attacks. Under extremely heavy fire, he continued to hold the gap, whilst it was being made secure, for three hours. When his gun was disabled by enemy fire, he and the two belt-fillers continued to hold the ground with their rifles until they were ordered to retire. Along with the three men who were sent to his assistance, he brought back to his own lines, his gun, ammunition and a severely wounded man. Eventually he returned to remove all remaining arms and equipment, except for two shovels. But for his action, the line would undoubtedly have been penetrated by the enemy."[1]

He later achieved the rank of Subedar. A Punjabi Muslim from District Rawalpindi in modern Pakistan, he is buried in his ancestral village of Takhti

[neko]

Ernest 'Smoky' Smith was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, on the 3rd of May 1914. He was educated at the Herbert Spencer Elementary School (just a block away from me - neko). Before enlisting in the army he engaged in contracting work. He enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and served with that unit until the 13th of April 1945. For some time following demobilization Ernest "Smokey" Smith worked in a photographic studio in New Westminster. In 1951 he re-enlisted in the Permanent Force retiring in 1964 with the rank of sergeant as a member of the Tri-Service Recruiting Unit in Vancouver and served as a sergeant at Headquarters of the British Columbia Army Command in Vancouver. Ernest "Smokey" Smith was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in November 1995.

 

On August 3, 2005, Ernest Alvia “Smokey” Smith, died peacefully at his home in Vancouver, British Columbia, surrounded by family and friends at the age of 91. Many thousands paid their respects when he lay in state in Parliament Hill in Ottawa and at his military funeral in Vancouver.

 

Citation

 

"In Italy on the night of 21st-22nd October 1944, a Canadian Infantry Brigade was ordered to establish a bridgehead across the Savio River. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were selected as the spearhead of the attack, and in weather most unfavourable to the operation they crossed the river and captured their objective in spite of strong opposition from the enemy.

 

Torrential rain had caused the Savio River to rise six feet in five hours, and as the soft vertical banks made it impossible to bridge the river no tanks or anti-tank guns could be taken across the raging stream to the support of the rifle companies.

 

As the right forward company was consolidating its objective it was suddenly counter-attacked by a troop of three Mark V Panther tanks supported by two self-propelled guns and about thirty infantry and the situation appeared hopeless.

 

Under heavy fire from the approaching enemy tanks, Private Smith, showing great initiative and inspiring leadership, led his P.I.A.T.(1) Group of two men across an open field to a position from which the P.I.A.T. could best be employed. Leaving one man on the weapon, Private Smith crossed the road with a companion and obtained another P.I.A.T. Almost immediately an enemy tank came down the road firing its machine-guns along the line of the ditches. Private Smith's comrade was wounded. At a range of thirty feet and having to expose himself to the full view of the enemy, Private Smith fired the P.I.A.T. and hit the tank, putting it out of action. Ten German infantry immediately jumped off the back of the tank and charged him with Schmeissers and grenades. Without hesitation Private Smith moved out on the road and with his Tommy gun at point-blank range, killed four Germans and drove the remainder back. Almost immediately another tank opened fire and more enemy infantry closed in on Smith's position. Obtaining some abandoned Tommy gun magazines from a ditch, he steadfastly held his position, protecting his comrade and fighting the enemy with his Tommy gun until they finally gave up and withdrew in disorder.

 

One tank and both self-propelled guns had been destroyed by this time, but yet another tank swept the area with fire from a longer range. Private Smith, still showing utter contempt for enemy fire, helped his wounded friend to cover and obtained medical aid for him behind a nearby building. He then returned to his position beside the road to await the possibility of a further enemy attack.

 

No further immediate attack developed, and as a result the battalion was able to consolidate the bridgehead position so vital to the success of the whole operation, which led to the capture of San Giorgio Di Cesena and a further advance to the Ronco River.

 

Thus, by the dogged determination, outstanding devotion to duty and superb gallantry of this private soldier, his comrades were so inspired that the bridgehead was held firm against all enemy attacks, pending the arrival of tanks and anti-tank guns some hours later."

 

The London Gazette, 20th December 1944

 

 

Looks a bit like Joe Strummer...

 

[neko]

i like this one.

 

[YOUTUBE]W1XpbXpnF2E[/YOUTUBE]

[mattyq]

What a great thread! Reps all round

[cochcaer]

Both been covered on film and tv, one ingenious, the other bravery or stark staring madness.

 

Operation Mincemeat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

St Nazaire Raid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Sugar Ape]

I was thinking about buying this book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Random House Large Print: Amazon.co.uk: Laura Hillenbrand: Books anyone read it? It is about this guy :

 

Louis Zamperini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Louis Silvie Zamperini (born January 26, 1917) is a World War II prisoner of war survivor, inspirational speaker, and former American Olympic distance runner.

 

Olympic career

 

In the Olympic trials at Randalls Island, Louis finished in a dead heat against world-record holder Don Lash and qualified for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, though neither he nor Lash had much chance at winning the 5000 meter race. Louis has related several amusing anecdotes from his Olympic experience, including gorging himself on the boat trip to Europe. "I was a Depression-era kid who had never even been to a drugstore for a sandwich," he said. "And all the food was free. I had not just one sweet roll, but about seven every morning, with bacon and eggs. My eyes were like saucers.” By the end of the trip, Louis, in common with most athletes on the ship, had gained much weight - in Louis' case, 12 pounds. While the weight gain was not advantageous for his running it was necessary for his health, as he had lost 15 pounds while training in the summer heat in New York for the Olympic Trials.

 

Louis finished eighth in the 5000 meter distance event at that Olympics, but his final lap of 56 seconds was fast enough to catch the attention of Adolf Hitler, who insisted on a personal meeting.[8] As Louis tells the story, Hitler shook his hand, and said simply "Ah, you're the boy with the fast finish."[9]

 

Two years later, in 1938, Zamperini set a national collegiate mile record which held for fifteen years. He was nicknamed the "Torrance Tornado".

 

Military career and beyond

 

Zamperini enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in September 1941,[11] and earned a commission as a second lieutenant the following August. He was deployed to Hawaii as a bombardier. He and his crew were assigned to a B-24 which they named Super Man. After this plane was shot up, they were assigned a different plane, The Green Hornet, to conduct a search for a lost aircraft and its crew. Mechanical difficulties caused the Green Hornet to crash into the ocean on May 27, 1943, killing eight of the eleven aboard. The three survivors, with little food and no water, subsisted on captured rainwater and small fish eaten raw, and were strafed by patrolling Japanese aircraft on several occasions. One of the survivors died after forty days adrift.

 

On the 47th day, Zamperini and pilot Russel Allen "Phil" Phillips were captured by the Japanese Navy. Zamperini was held in captivity and severely tortured until the end of the war. His family assumed he had been killed in action; when he eventually returned home he received a hero's welcome. Zamperini was held in a Japanese Navy camp at Ofuna for captives who were not labeled as Prisoners of War. Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington was held at the same camp and in Boyington's book, Baa Baa Black Sheep he discusses Zamperini and the Italian recipes he would write to keep the prisoners' minds off the food and conditions. While on a raft in the ocean for 47 days he recounts that their minds became more alert at the end of the ordeal than they had originally been because of the mind conditioning they did daily. One of the things he did was prepare (mentally) complete recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and later added brunches and snacks. He gave measurements or ingredients and oven temperatures. They all were "at the end of their rope" so they prayed continually to God. They caught an albatross and used some of the breast meat to catch fish. They found the bird repulsive to eat (smell), nonetheless a week later they caught a second one and forced themselves to eat a bit more than previously, and a week later caught a third one which Louie claims "tasted like a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream & nuts"! Louie's other misadventures while adrift included being strafed multiple times by a Japanese bomber, fending off multiple shark attacks, and nearly being swallowed by a storm.

 

The Torrance airport was renamed Zamperini Field in the 1960s.

 

After the war and suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder, Zamperini met Billy Graham, who helped him launch a new career as a Christian inspirational speaker. His wife was instrumental in getting him to go to Billy Graham's meetings and not leaving before he was saved. Louie had been a terrible alcoholic and was instantly released of alcoholism. He could immediately read the Bible and understood it for the first time in his life; he instantly felt total forgiveness towards all who had hurt and tortured him in the prison camps. One of his favorite themes is "forgiveness," and he has visited many of the guards from his POW days to let them know that he has forgiven them. Many of the war criminals who committed the worst atrocities were held in the Sugamo prison in Tokyo. In October 1950, Zamperini went to Japan, gave his testimony and preached to them through an interpreter (a missionary named Fred Jarvis). The colonel in charge of the prison encouraged any of the prisoners who recognized Zamperini to come forward and meet him again. Zamperini threw his arms around each of them. Once again he explained the Christian Gospel of forgiveness to them. The prisoners were somewhat surprised by Zamperini's genuine affection for those who had once ill-treated him. Most of the prisoners accepted copies of the New Testament which had been given by the Gideons.

 

For his 81st birthday in January 1998, Zamperini ran a leg in the Olympic Torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. While there, he attempted to meet with his chief and most brutal tormenter during the war, Matsuhiro Watanabe, who had evaded prosecution as a war criminal, but the latter refused to see him. In March 2005 he returned to Germany to visit the Berlin Olympic Stadium for the first time since he competed there.[12]

 

Torrance High School's home football, soccer, and track stadium is called Zamperini Stadium, and the entrance plaza at USC's track & field stadium was named Louis Zamperini Plaza in 2004. In his 90s, Zamperini continues to attend USC football games and befriended star freshman quarterback Matt Barkley in 2009.[13]

 

In October 2008, Zamperini was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, IL.

 

On April 24, 2011, Zamperini received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters from Azusa Pacific University. The following month, on May 20, 2011, Zamperini delivered Bryant University's 2011 baccalaureate address and received Bryant's inaugural Distinguished Character Award. The following day, May 21, Bryant presented Zamperini with an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. The next day he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Red Sox-Cubs game at Fenway Park in Boston.

 

Zamperini currently resides in Hollywood, California.

[Sugar Ape]

He seems to have been a bit of a racist according to Wikipedia, but he must have had balls of steel.

 

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader (play /ˈbɑːdər/) CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL (21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.[1][2]

 

Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired on medical grounds.[3] After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments.

 

In August 1941, Bader was forced to bail out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and befriended Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace.[4] The circumstances surrounding how Bader was shot down in 1941 are controversial. Recent research strongly suggests he was a victim of friendly fire. Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the POW camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until the camp was liberated by the First United States Army in April 1945.

 

Bader left the RAF permanently in February 1946 and later worked in the oil industry. During the 1950s, a book and a film, Reach for the Sky, chronicled his life and RAF career to the end of the Second World War. Bader campaigned for the disabled – for which he was knighted in 1976 – and continued to fly until ill health forced him to stop in 1979. He died three years later, on 5 September 1982, from a sudden heart attack.

 

Douglas Bader - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[VladimirIlyich]

I was a PFC on a searchpatrol, hunting Charlie down.

It was in the jungle, wars of '65.

My weapon jammed and I got stuck way out and all alone

and I could hear the enemy moving in close outside.

Just then I heard a twig snap, and I grabbed my empty gun

and I dug it scared while I counted down my faith.

And then a big marine, a giant with a pair of friendly eyes

appeared there at my shoulder and said: "Wait"

When he came in close beside me, he said: "Don't worry son, I'mhere..

if Charlie wants to tango, now he'll have two to dodge.

I said: "Well, thanks a lot". I told him my name and asked himhis.

And he said"The boys just call me Camouflage"

[Guest The Big Green Bastard]

Edwin Hardy Amies.

 

was approached by SOE to become an agent despite hiding his homosexual tendencies, eventually orchestrated dozens of assassinations across europe of nazi collaborators.

Not much is known about the guy and he refused to talk about it after the war, denying that he was involved in such operations.

 

Edwin Hardy Amies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Pony Princess]

Best story of war, loss, growing up and victory I know of:

 

Final Fantasy VII begins with Cloud joining AVALANCHE in a series of raids against the Mako reactors surrounding the city of Midgar. Although the first mission is successful, AVALANCHE is trapped at another reactor during a subsequent raid. The reactor explodes, launching Cloud from the upper levels of Midgar into the slums below. He lands on a flower bed, where he is formally introduced to Aerith.[22] Prompted by the arrival of Shinra's Turks operatives sent to capture Aerith, Cloud agrees to be Aerith's bodyguard and defends her from the Turks.[23] After the Shinra discover the location of AVALANCHE's hideout,[24] they destroy it by demolishing the entirety of Sector 7, killing its population and three members of AVALANCHE. The Turks also capture Aerith, who is revealed to be the last surviving "Cetra",[25] a race closely attuned with the planet and previously thought to be extinct. President Shinra believes Aerith can lead him to the "Promised Land", a mythical land of fertility, where he expects to find Mako energy.[26]

The remaining members of AVALANCHE infiltrate Shinra corporate headquarters to rescue Aerith. After freeing her and Red XIII, they escape because most of the personnel in the building, including the president, are killed by Sephiroth, a man presumed to be dead, who stated that he would never allow Shinra to claim the Promised Land.[27] The party also learns that during Sephiroth's attack on Shinra, the headless body of a creature named "Jenova" disappeared from the building's research facility.[28] While the president's son, Rufus Shinra, assumes control of the company, AVALANCHE pursues Sephiroth across the planet, fearing his intentions for the Promised Land may be more destructive than Shinra's. The party is joined by Cait Sith and Cid, and optionally by Vincent and Yuffie. The full scope of Sephiroth's plan is eventually revealed: if the world is significantly damaged, the Lifestream will gather in an attempt to heal the wound. Sephiroth intends to use a powerful spell called "Meteor" to cause this injury, and then merge with the planet's energy, allowing him to be reborn as a god and rule over the planet.[29] Aerith sets off to stop Sephiroth on her own. AVALANCHE follow her to the northern continent, where they enter an ancient Cetra city. After finding Aerith praying to the planet for aid, Sephiroth fatally impales Aerith with his sword.[30]

 

 

Sephiroth kills Aerith in a scene which has been referred to as "the most shocking moment in video games".[31]

Influenced by Sephiroth, Cloud becomes suspicious of his memories and insists he is not a real human, but instead a specimen created from Jenova's genetic material by Professor Hojo. Jenova was an interstellar creature who crash-landed on the planet roughly 2,000 years prior to the game's events. Jenova had intended to infect all living organisms on the planet with a virus inducing insanity and monstrous transformations;[32] among its victims were most of the Cetra. Attempting to defend itself, the planet created giant monsters called "WEAPON"s. The majority of humans fled rather than fight Jenova; however, a small group of Cetra survivors managed to defeat and confine Jenova.[33] Eventually, the remains of Jenova were unearthed by Professor Gast, a researcher for the Shinra Company. Mistaking the creature for a Cetra, Gast was given authorization to conduct an experiment to artificially produce a Cetra by combining cells from Jenova with the fetus of an unborn child.[32] Sephiroth learned that he was the product of this experiment while on a Shinra mission in Cloud and Tifa's hometown, Nibelheim. He concluded that he was a Cetra who had been produced solely from Jenova's genetic material. He burned down Nibelheim, intending to kill all descendants of those he believed had abandoned his ancestors in the defense of the planet. Cloud confronted Sephiroth during this massacre, after which Sephiroth vanished under unknown circumstances and was presumed dead until his reappearance in the Shinra building. When AVALANCHE travels to the Northern Crater to confront Sephiroth, he tells Cloud that he was not in Nibelheim, showing him images of a SOLDIER with dark hair who occupies Cloud's place in his memories.[34] Tifa is unable to refute Sephiroth's claims, and Sephiroth casts the Meteor spell, causing the planet to awaken the WEAPONs in response. During the earthquake that follows, Cloud is separated from his companions and falls into the Lifestream.

As the Meteor summoned by Sephiroth slowly approaches the planet, the Shinra Company focuses its efforts on protecting humanity from the WEAPONs, as well as defeating Sephiroth, in the hopes that this will dismiss Meteor itself.[35] Meanwhile, the members of AVALANCHE find Cloud in a catatonic state on a tropical resort where he washed up following the casting of Meteor. The WEAPONs' destructive activity causes the island to split open, and Cloud and Tifa fall into the Lifestream, where she reconstructs Cloud's memories and learns the truth about his past. It is revealed that Cloud never succeeded in joining SOLDIER, and that the dark-haired SOLDIER from his memories was actually Aerith's first love and Cloud's best friend, Zack Fair. Zack, Tifa, and Cloud had fought Sephiroth during the burning of Nibelheim. Although Tifa and Zack were defeated, Cloud and Sephiroth severely wounded one another. After decapitating Jenova, Sephiroth was thrown into the Lifestream by Cloud, taking the creature's head with him. Rather than dying, his body and consciousness were crystallized in Mako inside Jenova's crater.

Cloud and Zack were among the wounded survivors who were apprehended by Shinra as part of a cover-up of Sephiroth's massacre. Professor Hojo subjected these survivors to an experiment, performing the same enhancements given to SOLDIER members—a procedure which included Mako showers and the injection of Jenova cells. All but Zack entered a comatose state, and nearly five years later, Zack broke free from his confinement and took Cloud with him. However, the alien Jenova cells in Cloud's body still allowed Sephiroth to modulate his behavior. Moreover, the cells' ability to duplicate information allowed Cloud's mind to construct a false persona built around Zack's behavior. This was prompted by Zack himself, who was killed outside Midgar by Shinra soldiers during the escape; he urged Cloud to live both their lives before passing on. Afterward, Tifa discovered Cloud, who was wearing a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform, and offered him a job with AVALANCHE.[32]

After Cloud awakens, it is revealed that Aerith, in her final moments, was casting the spell "Holy" with the White Materia, the only means of opposing Meteor. Although she succeeded, Sephiroth had since prevented the spell from taking effect. Deciding to protect humanity from the WEAPONs before approaching Sephiroth, Shinra and AVALANCHE destroy the WEAPONs, although nearly all of Shinra's executives are killed in the process. Among the few survivors are Reeve Tuesti, who is revealed to be the repentant controller of Cait Sith,[36] and Professor Hojo, who is revealed to be Sephiroth's biological father. He explains that he and his wife were assistants to Professor Gast, and offered up their unborn child as a test subject to research involving Jenova.[37] After finding out that Hojo is trying to help Sephiroth gain mastery over the Lifestream, AVALANCHE kills him. In their final assault against Sephiroth, the group travels through the Northern Crater to the planet's core. They defeat Sephiroth and free Holy, but the spell is unable to destroy Meteor alone. Selected as Meteor's target, Midgar is almost completely destroyed. However, the Lifestream rises from the planet to aid Holy in destroying the Meteor.[38] During the epilogue, taking place 500 years after the game's events, Red XIII runs through a canyon with two cubs at his side. He proceeds up a cliff-face, which reveals a lush land of greenery where Midgar had once been.

[WaltonRed]

The dude the enemy at the gate is based on

[Lee909]

The dude the enemy at the gate is based on

 

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaytsev

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaitsev

[Lee909]

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko

[Lee909]

Mikhail Devyatayev

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Devyataev

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhandari_Ram

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazal_Din

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_Ram

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhanbhagta_Gurung

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachhiman_Gurung

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaman_Gurung

 

Some of the stories of the Nepalese troops are amazing,anyone who has a issue has a issue with them coming here after there service can fuck off IMO.

[WaltonRed]

My grandad was a POW in Burma in WW2 and he apparently loved the gurkhas with a passion

[Sugar Ape]

Thomas Baker (Medal of Honor)
 

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Baker_(Medal_of_Honor)
 
 

Baker was born on June 25, 1916, in Troy, New York and later joined the Army from that city in October 1940^.  By June 19, 1944, he was serving as a private in Company A of the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. On that day, on Saipan in the Marianas Islands, he advanced ahead of his unit with a bazooka and destroyed a Japanese emplacement which was firing on his company. Several days later, he single-handedly attacked and killed two groups of Japanese soldiers. On July 7, Baker's position came under attack by a large Japanese force. Although seriously wounded early in the attack, he refused to be evacuated and continued to fight in the close-range battle until running out of ammunition. When a comrade was wounded while trying to carry him to safety, Baker insisted that he be left behind. At his request, his comrades left him propped against a tree and gave him a pistol, which had eight bullets remaining. When American forces retook the position, they found the pistol, now empty, and eight dead Japanese soldiers around Baker's body

 

 

Some good stories here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_for_World_War_II

[the chimp]

Saw the preview for the upcoming film about Zamperini last week in the cinema. Looks decent.

[Jennings]

I was thinking about buying this book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Random House Large Print: Amazon.co.uk: Laura Hillenbrand: Books anyone read it? It is about this guy :

 

Louis Zamperini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I have read this book. Very good. I recommend it highly - read it before you see the movie (usually better that way).

I won't make further comment at the risk of spoiling it for the people of the GF.

[Jennings]

As an aside , one of my favourite WW2 heroes is a guy who was a conscientious objector, refused to carry a gun and wouldn't train on the Sabbath...

 

...he still ended up with the Medal of Honor...the highest award for bravery in the US military.

 

There's loads about him on t'interweb-super-highway-net, but here's his citation for bravery...

 

 

 

He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet (120 m) high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar andmachinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On May 2, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards (180 m) forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards (7.3 m) of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On May 5, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet (7.6 m) from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards (91 m) to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On May 21, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, by a sniper bullet while being carried off the field by a comrade, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards (270 m) over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.