Heroic Actions On The Battlefield

are there any members of a UK para regt. here?
Im from RNZIR and im considering transfering to UK for para.
We dont have much para abilities here in NZ.
only about 50 pers get to do the course every year.
im hoping for some info to help me make my descision

love the WW1 xmas story kegs.
we used to get told about during our Battalion xmas celebrations.
my own contribution though is
Capt. Sir Charles Hazlitt Upham VC Bar of the 2nd New Zealand division in WW2.
there have only been 3 people in history who have recieved the Victoria Cross twice.
one was a medic in WW1.
another was a padre in WW1.
Capt Upham was the only combat soldier to recieve two.
however, he was actually nominated for 5!!
all for different events.
the only reason he didnt get 5 was because the King said he couldnt have that many it is simply unheard- of.
Mind you the truth is that he never even wanted any medals.
he has since said that if he was allowed he would have given all of his medals to the soldiers in his Coy.
unfortunately he died a few years ago but i am proud to say that i was a member of the Guard of Honour at his State Funeral with Full military honours.
which to have Full military honours at a state funeral in NZ is VERY rare.
and to think,
he was just a farm boy from the Canterbury plains in the South Island of New Zealand.
though i would just like to say that no matter who you are or what you did,
any man or woman who has gone to war for any reason is a hero in my book!!!

Most Heroic war - The Winter War 1939
Small country with poorly armed military of 180 000 men against Soviet Union with 1 300 000 men
Finland
total=22,830 KIA, 43,557 WIA, 2,000 POWs
Soviet Union
total=200,000+ KIA and MIA, 260,000+ WIA, 3,100 POWs

And the most heroic actions were battles at Raate Road, Taipale and Summa...

Biased opinion, since my grandfather fought with the Dragoon Regiment in this war


Some great heroes:
Sgt. Hari Vest (aka Harry Lehtonen) At the battle of Dien Bien Phu
-Voluntered to jump to DBP central even tough he was already wounded before the battle, led a commpany and and battalion sized counter attacks as a sargeant.

Cpl Simo Häyhä suring the winter war
Story of the greatest sniper ever

And all the men who have fought for their country, not giving up even against a superior enemy

Back to the original posting in the thread:

Originally posted by Hellmutt

"On 8th April 1940 The British destroyer HMS Glowworm, alone and outgunned took on the German Heavy Cruiser Admiral Von Hipper and her destroyer escorts. In spite of the heavy odds against her she managed to score hits on her mighty opponent and in a last act of defiance she rammed the Cruiser before she sank. Out of a total crew of 149, only 31 survived. The Germans congratulated the survivors on a good fight and treated them as equals. Captain Heye told the survivors that their Captain was a very brave man. Later Heye sent a message through the International Red cross, recommending Lt Cdr Roope for the Victoria Cross. The only time in British History that the VC was recommended by the enemy."

Actually. no, there is another case I know of the VC being awarded on the recommendation of the enemy:

Flying Officer Lloyd Allan Trigg DFC, VC (5-5-1914 - 11-8-1943) of Houhoura, New Zealand, was a pilot attached to 200 Sqn RAF Coastal Command flying a B-24 Liberator out of Bathurst (now Banjul, The Gambia). He engaged U-468 under the command of Klemens Schamong on 11 August 1943. His plane took multiple hits from the U-boats' guns and was on fire but he still pressed the attack and managed to drop his depth charges before the plane crashed killing all on board. U-468 sank a few minutes later, its 7 survivors, including Capt. Schamong, were later picked up by the Royal Navy, and Schamong recommended him for the VC, which was awarded in November 1943.

As before too many examples for one to be considered above others. Two to be added to the list:

Polish armoured @ Falaise. Through a combination of map reading errors and enthusiasm Polish 1st Armoured division found themselves on Hill 262 - the 'cork' in the neck of the Falaise Pocket. Exposed on a bare hill, attacked from 3 sides the Poles fought on for 48 hours.

On the second night the following order was given

“Gentleman, all is lost. I do not think the Canadians can relieve us. We have no more than 110 fit men. There is no food and not much ammunition: five shells per gun and fifty rounds per man! That is very little…. even so, fight on! It would be useless to surrender to the S.S., you know that! I give you my thanks: you have fought well. Good luck, gentleman, this night we will be dying for Poland and civilisation!”

*SNIP*

The Balance-sheet of this fearful confrontation:
The Poles, who went into this fight with eighty-seven Sherman tanks against all the remaining weaponry of the German Seventh army surrounded on the plain of Tournai ? Aubry ? St-Lambert, lost 325 dead, 16 of whom were officers, 1,002 wounded and 114 missing. Eleven tanks were destroyed.
The Germans had about 2,000 killed, 5,000 taken prisoner, including a general, six colonels and 80 officers. They left on the battlefield 55 tanks, of which 14 were Panthers and 6 Tigers, 44 guns and 152 armoured vehicles, 359 vehicles of all types were destroyed.

Full story www.bbc.co.uk...

The second is the unamed Polish bugler who crawled forward under fire as Ypres was relieved in WW2 and blew continuous 'Last Posts' to honour the Empire dead commemorated on the Menin Gate and make up for the fact that the only nights the Last Post has not been played to honour those with no known grave who died defending Ypres in WW1 was during the German Occupation in WW2

Two examples of incredible heroism and sacrifice - just two reasons why the heroic efforts of Polish forces in WW2 are still appreciated in the UK.

Not forgotten

While I'm sure people will cruxifie me for saying this, I'm more and more thinking that Heroic acts unfortunately cover up mistakes at certain levels. Some people have to pay for those mistakes with their lives. Which is not exactly something to be pleased about.

Another thing I've noticed is that countries shamelessly resort to reporting Heroic actions when their main campaign/battle is going badly for themselves...so the reporting is reduced to individual acts of heroism to encourage others to help cover up and off set an otherwise dissmal battle situation.

s96920072.onlinehome.us...

s96920072.onlinehome.us...

I don't like much American pilot's but must say he is one heck of the hero to. fly F/A-18 in this condition over Avganistan (in war time)
Their is a story with this but server don't let me in (i have complete story offline). Best part of story is:
"....About this time my wingman came up and said, "Hey can you reach out and grab that thing, pull it in?" I looked over at him (not that he could see me) with a look of shock. Stick my arm out into that wind, get my arm blasted back and thrashed on the glass shards sticking up everywhere? "Have you lost your mind?!" "Oh yeah, guess it's kinda windy. Sorry." Like I said, it's strange the thoughts you have sometime..."

[edit on 12-3-2006 by Serbian_SPIRIT]

"I am William Wallace, and I see a whole army of my countrymen here, in defiance of tryanny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom. Will you fight?.....Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live. At least a while. Then, dying in your beds, many years from now, would be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, JUST ONE CHANCE, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take...our FREEDOM!!!".....
Gives me goosebumps.

[edit on 12-3-2006 by The Links]

My vote goes to the young men,boys really who lied about there age to join up in World war one.

There are not many veterans left here in britain ,and i heard recently that the last surviving world war one veteran will recieve a full state funeral, does any one else know any more on this?

This thread has reminded of my favorite poem of all time, called "The Soldier" by Ruper Burke. It was written in 1914, in response to World War I.

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

I'll tell you that war is futile, it is evil, it is digusting, and is detestable. However, war is futile. And the fact that we have human being who are willing to subject themselves to something so terrible so others won't have to, well, I guess if any good comes from war, its that in the end the goodness of man emerges, no matter how the war ended.

The poem exemplifies what selfless sacrifice means. Ultimately, all we want is peace, happiness and love, and we have a chance to get it all thanks to the men who will die without it.

My heroes are those men who participated in the Christmas Truce of 1914 during WW1. Quite an amazing story if you ask me. The English, French, and Germans calling a truce to celebrate Christmas together. The truce spread from one battlefield to others. This is the type of story that would make a great Christmas Eve sermon or any sermon for that matter. I may suggest it to my pastor for next Christmas. Its really an inspiring story.

There is also another interesting thread on ats containing war stories.

Any war stories from Grandad? Lets hear them! (by Mcphisto)


But you can still add stories here in this one if you like...

Eddie Chapman, one of Britain’s most successful double agents, offered to blow up Hitler on a suicide mission. But the Brit's wouldn't let him do it. He was the only Brit to receive the Iron Cross. After the war, he received an unofficial pardon for his numerous prewar crimes (he was a professional safe-breaker).


Eddie Chapman - Agent Zigzag


Times Online: The spy who offered to blow up Hitler on a suicide mission


He died in 1997.

I know one WW2 veteran, a wing commander.

He flew the rocket Typhoons during the war, and he flew on D-Day over Normandy.

He has never talked about what he actually did, but he received the highest award you can get in the British air force for what he did on D-Day.

In my eyes he is a hero. Same with my dad, who was in Vietnam.

Some amazing stories when i read them it reminded me of of this guy

Norman Jackson en.wikipedia.org... what a guy and he survived.

My grandfather is a veteran of the world war 2 a tank commander, he refuses to discuss the war, this is all he says about it in so many words "Any veteran who likes to recite their war stories never saw enough fighting as far as i am concerned. I lost my two youngest brothers, a cousin and my brother in law and too many close friends i've spent the rest of my life trying to forget." The old man might sound bitter and he is unfortunately, my mom says privately he is full of remorse as he did some regretable things during the war. I guess he should of spent a few years in therapy allthough Post Traumatic Stress wasn't an ailment in those days. I use to stay with my Grandparents when i was young, my grandad had his own room to sleep in, his anguish and the distress at the nightmares he suffered hurt me deeply. When I was 19 i was two weeks away from reporting for my basic training(Army) and he approached me he asked me to give up the military as a career he had so much conviction when he asked me i just couldn't defy him.

I don't know if you've heard about the "Alamo Scouts" if not then please check their official site: Alamo Scouts

There was this raid that resulted the liberation of more than 500 prisoners of war (POWs) from a Japanese POW camp in Cabanatuan Philippibes during world war 2.

Raid at Cabanatuan

The Great Raid on Cabanatuan in the Philippines on 30 January 1945 by US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas resulted in the liberation of more than 500 prisoners of war (POWs) from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan and was a celebrated historic achievement involving Allied special forces during World War II.

The rest of the story here: Wikipedia

In fact, there is movie about this :
The Great Raid

The Great Raid is a 2005 war film which tells the story of the January 1945 liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco and Connie Nielsen with Filipino actor Cesar Montano. In the United States, it is rated R for strong war violence and brief language. The principal photography took place from July 4, to November 6, 2002, but its release was delayed several times from the original target of fall 2003.

It was the combined effort of Filipino guerillas, US Rangers & The Alamo scouts which contributed to its succes.

It is interesting to note that the Alamo Scouts spearheaded the attack, and due to their expertise in the field & the way they executed the raid, no KIA in the allied side except for one "friendly fire" incident. Three others died but not because of enemy fire.



[edit on 19-1-2007 by searching_for_truth]

[edit on 19-1-2007 by searching_for_truth]

Originally posted by northwolf
Most Heroic war - The Winter War 1939
Small country with poorly armed military of 180 000 men against Soviet Union with 1 300 000 men
Finland
total=22,830 KIA, 43,557 WIA, 2,000 POWs
Soviet Union
total=200,000+ KIA and MIA, 260,000+ WIA, 3,100 POWs

And the most heroic actions were battles at Raate Road, Taipale and Summa...

Biased opinion, since my grandfather fought with the Dragoon Regiment in this war


Some great heroes:
Sgt. Hari Vest (aka Harry Lehtonen) At the battle of Dien Bien Phu
-Voluntered to jump to DBP central even tough he was already wounded before the battle, led a commpany and and battalion sized counter attacks as a sargeant.

Cpl Simo Häyhä suring the winter war
Story of the greatest sniper ever

And all the men who have fought for their country, not giving up even against a superior enemy

Definately hats off to the Fins. One of the best examples I have ever seen of men defending their country and freedom.

Regards,
Maestro

I have too many to list. I'll just post the following for now:

Russian Spetsnaz in Beslan on September 1st, 2005. While I have read many news reports bashing these men and the opperation, to me these men gave their lives to save the hostages. I know alot of people call this opperation a failure, poorly conducted and all: this is not so, but lets not get into the details of this on this thread. I will only ask that if you have a negative opinion on this opperation please do not post it on here in respect to the men that have died that day.

Here's a list of the men that opperatives that lost their lives that day and how they died:

Major Aleksandr Petrov, Alpha - seeing a grenade roll near him he covered the three hostages he was escorting out with his body. Despite recieving fatal wounds he carried on fighting and for a short period of time was still directing his unit.

Clonel Oleg Los'kov, Alpha - ran into 4 terrorists who were trying to escape from the school using hostages as cover. He managed to get between the hostages and the terrorists and cover them with his body, also managing to cut off the escape root for the terrorists. Recieved fatal wounds but continued fighting.

Major Vecheslav Malyarov, Alpha - Covered the doorway, with his body, into which the terrorists were firing at the hostages. Recieved fatal wounds but continued fighting.

Major Andrey Vel'ko, Vimpel - Engaged in a firefight with a terrorist and eliminated him. Recieved several fatal wounds while covering the hostages with his body.

Leutenant Andrey Turkin, Vimpel - eliminated the terrorist guarding the doorway, through this allowing the assault group to enter the large room in which 250 hostages were held. Dived on a grenade which was thrown into the crowd by a retreating terrorist.

Clonel Denis Pudovkin, Vimpel - While giving first aid to the hostages he engaged in a firefight with a terrorist who ran into the room. Saved a woman by covering her with his body, eliminated the terrorist in the process, but died.

Lt.Clonel (if i'm translating correctly) Dimitri Razumovsky, Vimpel - discovered a location from which the terrorists were firing onto children. Using himself as a distraction he ran into the room, by doing this he saved the lives of the children. Recieved fatal wounds while rescuing the hostages.

Major Mihail Kuznetsov, Vimpel - During the rescue opperation of saving 20 wounded hostages while covering the assault team he engaged two terrorists in the building. Eliminated both of them and died.

Lt.Clonel Oleg Il'in, Vympel - Saved the escaping kids and a wounded MNS opperative by drawing the attention of the terrorist onto himself. Recieved a fragmentaion wound. Sacrificed himself so the assault unit could move on and eliminate the terrorists.

Major Roman Katasonov, Vimpel - Found two kids hiding in a room. While trying to get them out of the building he engaged a few machinegunners and died of fatal wounds.

This is merely the dead. These men literally ran into that building and were carrying kids out on their arms while getting shot in the back. They gave their lives so that those kids would still have their.

Regards,
Maestro

I also would like to mention the Russian 6th Company, part of 2nd Battalion, 104th Parachute Landing Regiment, 76th Guards Pskov Airborne (VDV)Division. This was at the end of the 2nd Chechen war (Dagestan).
I found a bit in english abuot it on wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org...
However the info on that page is very old, the latest information released/found through investigation shows the following.

That day the Russian general announced on television that the last of the Chechen warbands in the region were crushed, and all that remained were small fighting groups of remnants that were scattered as it was. Ironicaly enough later that day the Russian forces picked up rebel movement in the mountains. A platoon of 90 men was sent to block their path immediately. Befor they ever managed to dig in the platoon was engaged by the terrorists. The presence of the opposing forces this early was a surprise to both the Russians and the Chechens. The chechens eventually pulled up all the forces they could once meeting fierce resistance, and numbered around 2000 strong. This is one part the wikipedia article needs update, and it still remains a mystery how rebel movement so large could have slipped by Russian inteligance. My guess - $$$, the Russian goverement didn't give a damn about their soldiers during Yeltsin. Either way, these men held their ground to the last man: 90 vs 2000, the chechens would assault, and if they couldn't break through they'd pull back and continue shelling the Russian positions with mortar fire. Ironicaly one of the first men to go down was the Captain of the platoon. Also to this day it is still a mystery why these men were denied air support, supplies, or any kind of assistance, and to this day noone knows why sadly. The platoon held their ground until they were almost out of ammo. Eventually the Chechens drugged themselves (plenty of needles were found around their positions on the battlefield after) and, completely drugged up, overran the Russian positions with body mass. The 6 remaining survivors said "At the last assault they were walking slowly up the hill at us at full hight. None of them payed any attention to the fact the the person to their right had his head blown of, nor to the fact that they themselves were getting riddled with bullets. They were barely even shooting at us. They walked up to our positions and we went into hand-to-hand. Some with shovles, others with knives, bare hands, etc. The commander realized the battle was lost and called artillery on his position." The commanders last words were "Left 50, good bye guys." The survivors said after that all they could hear was single gunshots of the chechens finishing off the wounded. During the battle the chechens offered the Russians the option of surrender numerous times. Not a single person deserted his post on that hill. With the price of their lives they bought the Russian military enough time to pull up its forces into the area and cover any exit routs for the terrorists. They carried out their orders till the last drop of blood. Chechen casualties number a bit under 400 as most sources will tell you.

Regards,
Maestro

reply to post by maestro46



I had no idea so may Spetznaz were killed. How come they are all senior ranks, where are all the enlisted men, the ones actually trained to handle this situation.