Favourite Story From History

[JoondalupJ]

I don't know whether "love" is the word I would use to describe something as horrible as the children's crusade!

Well they went with good intention to cover over the feel of desperation in that time. I read a book on it, horrible story, as it was meant to be.

They were living in Christianity fantasy land , but in those times where else could you be, life was miserable for unconnected people specially children and most of the childrens' crusade were kids of course , and life was shitty.

 

[Werewolf]

Not my favourite story from history, but quite remarkable nonetheless. Henry V is famous for winning against heavy odds at Agincourt, but he almost didn't live to be king. He was shot in the face by an arrow at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, a wound that would normally have been fatal (and for over 400 years thereafter). But the royal physician sterilised the wound with honey and alcohol and managed to remove the arrow head.

Here's a more detailed account: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bradmore

 

[Present Not Past]

Read Stephen Ambrose's book D-Day, especially the chapter "I'm a Destroyer Man".
As the 1st and 29th US Division were being cut to pieces on Omaha Beach, the US Navy unleashed their fleet of destroyers against the German defences, at point blank range often at times the destroyers scraped their hulls on the sea floor.
I loved the story about the crew of a German gun emplacement that signalled to a US destroyer that they were surrendering and to cease fire after being pounded incessantly and proceeded to march down to the beach with their hands up.
Also, the story of a US soldier trying to stay alive on the beach and seeing a destroyer heading straight toward him, only to see it turn hard to starboard and then see it firing every gun it had on board against the beach defences, only to see it then stop and reverse back up the beach still firing the whole time and then head back out to sea.

 

[Mofra]

To here the story from the Russian perspective, you wonder whether Stalin was a genius or just a Campaigner

This quote probably sums him up best:

At his wife's church funeral, as Montefiore claims, Stalin said, "This creature softened my heart of stone. She died and with her died my last warm feelings for humanity."

 

[Proud SJW]

An interesting one from World War 2 - This was a story I ran across mentioned in passing in a book I read years ago, and I've just found it again on the internet.

Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean who was pressed into the Japanese Kwantung army in 1938, just before Khalkin Gol, was captured by the Soviets during that battle, then pressed into service again in the Red Army in 1942 due to manpower shortages. Captured by the Wehrmacht at the third battle of Kharkov, sent to the Western Front as part of the Ostlegionen and ended up stationed near Utah beach, where he was finally captured again in 1944 by the Americans during the Normandy Campaign. Ended up in a prison camp in England, migrated to the USA after world war 2 and died in Illinois.
So he fought for Japan, then the Soviets, and finally the Wehrmacht, the only person known to have been a part of three different armies on both sides of the war.

I've not been able to find it how much truth there is to the story, as it appears it's Yang's version of events and precious little evidence is available to back it up.
It is known that several Asians in Wehrmacht uniform were captured in Normandy, and there is photographic evidence, but doubters believe they may simply be asian-looking Russians who served in the Ostlegionen. The Americans who recorded their capture at the time, due to time constraints and obvious language barriers, simply recorded them as "Japs in German uniforms" or something similar.

 

[Wallaby]

One I found out recently.

The country with the worst Radio communications during WW2 was Italy. Fair enough, it had to be someone.

However - the primary 'imnventor' of radio was Marconi (there were several, but he was the most important). Marconi was Italian.

The best man at Marconi's wedding was Benito Mussolini.