No Mad Jack Churchill‽ He has the last recorded kill with a longbow and invaded a beach with a Claymore! That's not even going into the more interesting stuff he did.
like complaining that the US lead tot he war ending too soon? But if you mentione Mad Jack Churchill you should also mention Wichard von Alvensleben. Churchill had been captured and the PoWs told Wehrmacht members that they feared the Waffen-SS would kill them, so a unit under von Alvensleben rescued the PoW convoy... among the prisoners? Mad Jack
nope, he had escaped from the concentration camp he had been interned at before that incident, but he had been recaptured. the convoy was heading for Tyrole, and after having been set free by von Alvensleben he marched through italy until he met with US forces "In late April 1945, Churchill and about 140 other prominent concentration camp inmates were transferred to Tyrol, guarded by SS troops.[24] A delegation of prisoners told senior German army officers they feared they would be executed. A German army unit commanded by Captain Wichard von Alvensleben moved in to protect the prisoners. Outnumbered, the SS guards moved out, leaving the prisoners behind.[24] The prisoners were released and, after the departure of the Germans, Churchill walked 150 kilometres (93 mi) to Verona, Italy, where he met an American armoured unit.[12]"
There's a famous story about Christopher Lee from while he was filming Return Of The King. Peter Jackson asked him to imagine what a person sounds like when they die from being stabbed in the back. Lee turned to Jackson and, absolutely deadpan, said "Peter, my dear, I don't HAVE to imagine." Damn dawg.....
Aníbal Milhais, Portuguese World War I hero: On 9 April 1918, during Operation Georgette, when the German Army attacked his division, Milhais stood up with his Lewis machine gun and defended against assaults by two German regiments by laying down intense fire, causing many German casualties. He managed to cover the retreat of Portuguese and British alike despite coming under heavy attack himself. He fired in all directions and stayed at his post until he ran out of ammunition. Finally, the Germans decided to go around and Milhais found himself alone in the rear of the enemy lines where he stayed for three days. On the third day, Milhais, still carrying his Lewis, rescued a Scottish major from a swamp and the two reached Allied lines. Milhais was warmly welcomed, but being a modest man he did not say anything about his experiences. It was through the officer he had helped reporting the story to the British HQ and several other testimonies that his deeds become known. A few months later, Milhais again held back a German assault, standing alone with his Lewis gun and allowing a Belgian unit to retreat safely to a secondary trench without casualties.
Baker street is basically Bond apparently since Bond took inspiration from them, but I definitely would want to see something of the Churchill club, the white death, and even rags and wojtek.
Imagine you, a young 18 year old guy joining the polish army to fight in the war only to be outranked by a bear. If your CO died, the bear was your superior.
That Häyhä thing, i'm pretty sure the temps are wrong, the '39-40 winter was one of the coldest in a century and temps were constantly around -40. 4 to -6 is almost t-shirt weather.
Yeah they also didn't mention the fact that when using his sniper rifle, HE DIDN'T USE A GODDAMN SCOPE, BECAUSE THE REFLECTION OF THE SCOPE MIGHT GET HIM DETECTED BY ENEMY SNIPERS. He literally sniped people WITHOUT A SCOPE. AND he would fill his mouth with snow, so that his breath couldn't be seen in the cold air, he was an absolute badass.
As always, I loved the video. In my opinion, you could have added Léo Major, a one eyed sniper Canadian sniper in WWII. He captured over a hundred soldiers on his own (imagine a single soldier walking back to your camp with 100 prisoners) and captured the Dutch city of Zwolle on his own.
You could also add Irena Sendlerowa to your list. In the Second World War, she saved about 2,500 Jewish children. In October 1943 she was arrested by the Gestapo, but "Żegota" managed to free her. During the Warsaw uprising Irena was a nurse in one of the insurgent sanitary facilities in Mokotów. She was a real war hero but for many years after the war, her actions during the German occupation were forgotten :(
Alan Turing is a great war hero, he is one of the main reasons the nazi's were beaten, He cracked the enigma code and even invented the first computer. Then he was told to keep quiet and arrested for being a Homosexual. I'm just glad that he's getting the recognition he deserves.
PP Hyjynx he's REALLY famous tho (this was about unheard of ones) but yeah, he was cool (and the computer he built was the beginning of modern computers)
He didn't decipher the Enigma, the Poles did it 7 years before the war started; but, to give credit where it's due, he improved the cracking's design by a lot. Anyway, it was supposed to be about the unheard-of heroes, and Alan Turing is a pretty recognisable name, getting the deserved recognition.
Martin Mortyry The Poles cracked the commercial version of the enigma machine and an earlier version of the military machine. They then ran out of time to crack further versions and handed it all over to the British. The teletype system that was used by the Germans for high level strategic/political messages was cracked entirely at Bletchley.
Hey WhatCulture! I don't know if you would read this or not as it might get drowned in the sea of comments but if you did, I want to say that your videos are just so good! You guys have inspired me to make the type of TH-cam content just like you guys! Now I also make and upload the same type of content as you guys! I just want to say A HUGE THANK YOU WHATCULTURE! NERD OUT!
Lauri Törni (a.k.a Larry Thorne) soldier of three armies. Awarded with Cross of Mannerheim, Iron Cross, Legion of Merit, Bronze star and a purple heart. Fought wars with Finnish armed forces, german SS Viking, and U.S Green beret. Also ranked as a captain in all three armies.
You missed Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who volunteered as a medic and went into battle not even carrying a gun. He single handily saved 75 of his wounded comrades on Okinawa
(Clapping) Incredible video WhatCulture---You really did your historical research. I can see movies being made about pretty much all of these people. I cant stop thinking about half of these people. I would love to see another video like this one again. Their's plenty of other unknown war hero's out their to be sure.
All of these deserve their own movie but especially the Irregulars. I first heard about them on the Cracked After Hours Live thing not so long ago and they just sound awesome!
I think you should do another top 10 military badasses in the future. There are so many. Correction on the Winter War part. Temperatures were ranging from -40 to -45 decrees in celsius.
Former soldiers and journalists use to go visit Wojtek in the Edinburgh Zoo and toss him cigarettes which he would eat because no one was there to light them for him. He was honored with at least three statues in three countries, best of which in in Princes Street Gardens and features him along side one of his comrades.
Hannie Schaft -- She was a Dutch Resistance fighter. She sabotaged and assassinated a bunch of Nazis. Seriously, read up on her... she was a total badass. My favorite thing about her, though, was her badass coolness during her execution. Even though it was 3 weeks before the end of the war (and there was an agreement to not execute people in occupied nations at that time), they shot her anyway. The first shot didn't kill her though. It is alleged that at that point, she turned to her Nazi executioners and mockingly said, "I shoot better than you". The finishing shot was then made.
I have two really great heroes in mind. This may be a shocking thought, but Erwin Rommel truly is a hero. A school teacher and veteran of the Great War, the German government forced him to return to the armed forces. He may have been on the wrong side, but he would teach his soldiers to treat the enemy with utmost respect. He would continue to spite the Nazi party by ignoring the antisemitic ideology. When a plan to usurp the Nazi party was discovered, Rommel was given a choice to lose his family, or commit suicide... My other favorite hero is General Butt Naked. This Libyan Civil War soldier led his troops while naked, trusting that he would have a psychological advantage when fighting enemy troops (if I remember correctly). He was known to be a monster who has committed numerous atrocities. Near the end of the war, a church in Libya has fasted for the Lord God to deliver the general from evil, which was a big deal since General Butt Naked literally made sacrifices to Satan himself. General Butt Naked had repented in a refugee camp, and was willing to be tried for any and all war crimes. He now gets heavily involved in his Libyan church. If you know any modern redemption arc that is greater than General Butt Naked's (Joshua Blahyi), let me know.
James Llewellyn Davies? I know he served during WWI but what he did was incredible, earning himself a posthumous Victoria Cross. A true hero of Wales and funnily enough my step mothers Great grandfather
Sir Nicholas Winton comes to mind, but his actions came just before World War II. He was in Czechoslovakia conducting banking shenanigans when Hitler was given possession of the country. Naturally, there were a number of parents who were (understandably) concerned about the well-being of their kids, but didn't have a safe method of relocating their kids out of Nazi hands. Enter Winton, who set up the Children's Section of the British Embassy, and through some methods that he himself admitted were skirting the law, successfully relocated 669 children to Britain. Another 250 were on a train that would take them to safer areas, but that train was scheduled to depart on September 1st, 1939- the day the war broke out. After doing what he could, Winton took all evidence of his actions, locked it in a trunk, and didn't open it for FIFTY YEARS, after which, he was knighted by the Queen, and is a national hero in the Czech Republic. He's personally responsible for hundreds of people being alive since then that wouldn't have been had he not acted. Sir Nicholas Winton died in July 2015 at the ripe old age of 106.
Feng-Shan Ho who was a chinese diplomat in Vienna who saved around 2000 jews. Chiune Sugihara was a japanese diplomat in Lithuania who saved around 6000 jews. Both saved them by giving them transit visas. Giorgio Perlasca was an italian who gave faked passport to jews, despite fighting alongside with Franco in the Spanish civil war. Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz was an nazi in Denmark who convinced the Swedish prime minister to allow danish jews to escape to Sweden wich saved over 6000. Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish humanitarian who worked in Budapest saving an estimated 100,000 people from the Nazis by giving them faked passports. He also rented 32 buildnings and declared them to be protected by diplomatic immunity and hanged Swedish flags outside and signs souch as "The swedish library" and other signs, there was around 10000 people housed in those buildings.
My guy, you forgot to mention Leo Major, a Canadian soldier who liberated the town of Zwolle alone during the second world war, a feat that only he has ever accomplished. He also captured a Hanomag tank on a recon mission. I think he deserves a place on the list haha.
Simo Häyhä isn't actually a person "you haven't heard of" if you have any interest at all in WWII. He's been mentioned on every single list of most legendary soldiers of that war for quite a while already.
There are tons of female war heroes in history - like The Night Witches (an all-female Soviet aviation/bombing squad), Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Deadliest female sniper in history with 300+ confirmed kills), Mariya Oktyabrskaya (Soviet tank driver, joined the army to avenge her husband, would fix her tank 'Fighting Girlfriend' in the middle of a firefight), and Noor Inayat Khan (British Spy, first female radio operator, Britain's first Muslim war heroine)
Leo major During the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944 major captured a German armed vehicle by himself that contained German communication equipment and German army codes. The next day he would lose his eye to a phosporus grenade while fighting an SS patrol. He continued fighting by say he only needed one eye to continue scouting and being a sniper he also said it made him look like a pirate. Major then single handedly captured 93 German soldiers during the battle of scheldt in Zeeland. He was chosen for a Distinguished conduct medal, he declined by saying that the general who was giving the award was incompetent and in no position to be giving out medals. The guy is pretty badass and there is more of his badassery.
The last entry is amazing. "Frankly, I enjoyed the war." No, he's not well at all. Maybe that's why he lived - too crazy to be killed by man. I love this guy.
Frankieonpc did an EXCELLENT war stories video on the last guy in the list, i think the video was called real life terminator or just the terminator. So worth the watch for that dude's FULL story. including receiving a goddamn victoria cross, which he LEFT OUT OF HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY because there was just so much else to cover
Léo Major should’ve been on the list. Fought in WWII and the Korean War; he liberated a town by himself in WWII, and commanded a group of under 20 persons to successfully defend Hill 355 in Korea from the assault of multiple divisons of the Chinese Army, among other things. He died less then 10 years ago at the age of 87.
and later on got his life saved by Wichard von Alvensleben, after he had been captured, when the prisoners of the convoy he was part off told members of the Wehrmacht that they feared that the Waffen-SS would kill them. And so von Alvensleben lead his men to rescue the PoWs
Official Winter War casualties on Finnish side were 26 662 dead, roughly about 1000 wounded and on Soviet Union's side 48 745 dead, 158 863 wounded. I have to say, I'm proud to be Finnish and proud of my grandfather, who served our country, was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade, and survived the WW 2. After the war he still had the strength to raise, clothe and feed 13 children in a small farm in the same town in the middle of Finland, where our family have lived for over 500 years.
Daniel Inouye. Japanese American from Hawaii who would go on to be that states senator, and one of the coolest dudes of all time. There isnt enough spance to me to list everything he did. but he ended up a Medal of Honor holder, awarded Order of the rising sun by Japan, and Legion of Honor by France. He was also made a honorary memeber of the Navajo Nation, and recived several honors in the Philippines. Seriously, go read about this guy, he was awesome.
I guess dogs in the army was a common thing so my grandpa emmet was in a squadron with his 3 brothers and some others but they also found a dog that fought alongside them too he survived ww2 but had lost his leg and my grandpa kept him untill he had died in 1968 and my grandpas brothers all died in the war and he died in 1993 march 12 (the day before my sisters birth) so if this could be liked in respects of my grandpa, his brothers , and their dog. I want to be in the army when I’m older =3
Lauri Törni was a soldier dedicated to killing the communists by serving in the Finnish army as the leader of a ski scuadron in the Winter War, the Wafen SS in Germany's attack as a machine gun leader, the Finnish army again as a special operations commander for sabotage missions earning him a bounty of 3,000,000 Finnish Marks, as a green beret for the US, served in Iraq, and as a special forces commander in Vietnam. He died in Vietnam not because of battle, but because of a storm. Link to his Wikipedia page: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_T%C3%B6rni
You missed two Second World War US soldiers: Guy Gabaldon, 2nd Marine Regiment. During the Battle of Saipan, he tricked two Japanese soldiers into thinking they were surrounded and surrendering. Although threatened with court martial, he continued his exploits and using the same tactics, captured 50 Japanese soldiers. He later convinced 800 soldiers to surrender by tricking them into thinking the Americans were on there way, earning him the nickname "The Pied Piper of Saipan" and the Navy Cross. He also captured approximately 1500 soldiers at the Battle of Tinian. Audie Murphy, 3rd Infantry Division. During the Battle of Alsace, he won the Distinguished Service Cross for killing several Germans after taking control of their machine gun, single handedly captured eleven soldiers after they killed his friend and, most famously, stood alone and held off the German reinforcements for an hour, even after he was wounded, only retreating after he ran out of ammo, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honour.
What about Leo Major, the Canadian John Wick. He took back an entire Dutch city by himself. Throughout the night he snuck around the town, firing his Submachine Gun all over the place, altering German patrols. He would eliminate the squads one at a time while sneaking the locals in hiding back to allied lines. He did this all night and by the morning he took the entire town. He enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces to fight with the Americans in the Korean War but I don’t know what came of that. Still an absolute badass though.
No James Nicholson? He was a Royal Air Force pilot in World War II who was in a dogfight with a German plane. His fighter was hit by cannon fire from his opponent, smashing his foot and setting the plane on fire, but he still held out long enough to shoot the German plane down before parachuting clear. Some members of the British home guard mistook Nicholson for an enemy parachutist and shot him multiple times, but he survived and went on to win the Victoria Cross.
What about Jack Churchill, he was a British war hero during WW 2 and he went into battle with only a long bow, bagpipes and a basket-hilted Scottish board sword. He survived and continued to serve in the military till 1996. The man is bloody action hero.
You guys could have picked some Americans, Australians etc I know every Hollywood war movie is about X American hero of X war but I'm sure there are some we haven't heard about and you never seem to hear about any from places like Australia that came to every ww with Britain
Guys, you forgot to mention that Ben L. started his impressive killing spree after getting pissed off when a Japanese soldier brutally killed a badly wounded and helpless American soldier whom the dentist had struggled long and hard to save. Having succeeded only to see the man murdered in a horrific way.
What about Jack Churchill? Only confirmed kill in a major war with a longbow,invaded a beach armed with a claymore and played the bagpipes while in battle?
Douglas Bader, fighter pilot in wwii without legs had his plane shot down by German forces, he was captured, put in a PoW camp, and the Germans respected him so much as an ace pilot that they contacted the RAF to drop some new prosthetic legs for him after his got destroyed in the crash, and then they paraded him around celebrating him being a hero to his country. The largest building in my school is named after him.
Undoubtedly a hero but a flawed one, he lost his legs showing off to impress a woman, and according to my grandad who was a manager of an aircraft factory during and after the war and knew Bader, he was a bit of a twat. That said during war it tends to be the twats you need.
I swear, if Battlefield 1 had war dogs, I would've lost my shit. Call of Duty, you've got an excellent market to tap into this year. Bring on those war bears.
Just to list another couple unknown heroes, there's Franz Stigler, a german pilot who escorted a damaged allied bomber back to safe air space and Shunsaku Kudo, who saved 442 british and american sailors from drowning in the Java Sea.
My infant nephew is named after Daniel Daly, an American marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor twice. Daly was even nominated for a third Medal of Honor, but wasn't given it.
once while filming the Lord of the Rings Lee instructed Peter Jackson on the sound a person makes when stabbed through the back Christopher Lee was such a badass this barely touched on his record
![일상 속 기분 좋음 [Proto disco meme]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DwmEIaZ7XGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
No Mad Jack Churchill‽ He has the last recorded kill with a longbow and invaded a beach with a Claymore! That's not even going into the more interesting stuff he did.
like complaining that the US lead tot he war ending too soon?
But if you mentione Mad Jack Churchill you should also mention Wichard von Alvensleben.
Churchill had been captured and the PoWs told Wehrmacht members that they feared the Waffen-SS would kill them, so a unit under von Alvensleben rescued the PoW convoy... among the prisoners? Mad Jack
undertakernumberone1 mad Jack had already eascaped and ran into the Americans I think
nope, he had escaped from the concentration camp he had been interned at before that incident, but he had been recaptured.
the convoy was heading for Tyrole, and after having been set free by von Alvensleben he marched through italy until he met with US forces
"In late April 1945, Churchill and about 140 other prominent concentration camp inmates were transferred to Tyrol, guarded by SS troops.[24] A delegation of prisoners told senior German army officers they feared they would be executed. A German army unit commanded by Captain Wichard von Alvensleben moved in to protect the prisoners. Outnumbered, the SS guards moved out, leaving the prisoners behind.[24] The prisoners were released and, after the departure of the Germans, Churchill walked 150 kilometres (93 mi) to Verona, Italy, where he met an American armoured unit.[12]"
Apparently he ambushed German rifleman and they instantly surrendered, claiming that "it was the devil."
he's one of the better known war heroes. this list is supposed to focus on the lesser known ones
There's a famous story about Christopher Lee from while he was filming Return Of The King. Peter Jackson asked him to imagine what a person sounds like when they die from being stabbed in the back. Lee turned to Jackson and, absolutely deadpan, said "Peter, my dear, I don't HAVE to imagine."
Damn dawg.....
Aníbal Milhais, Portuguese World War I hero:
On 9 April 1918, during Operation Georgette, when the German Army attacked his division, Milhais stood up with his Lewis machine gun and defended against assaults by two German regiments by laying down intense fire, causing many German casualties. He managed to cover the retreat of Portuguese and British alike despite coming under heavy attack himself. He fired in all directions and stayed at his post until he ran out of ammunition. Finally, the Germans decided to go around and Milhais found himself alone in the rear of the enemy lines where he stayed for three days. On the third day, Milhais, still carrying his Lewis, rescued a Scottish major from a swamp and the two reached Allied lines. Milhais was warmly welcomed, but being a modest man he did not say anything about his experiences. It was through the officer he had helped reporting the story to the British HQ and several other testimonies that his deeds become known.
A few months later, Milhais again held back a German assault, standing alone with his Lewis gun and allowing a Belgian unit to retreat safely to a secondary trench without casualties.
true
How can german artillery come bearing down on you when you're fighting the Japanese in the Pacific??
Emperor PALpatine Weird right?
Maybe a German lend lease I guess?
Leif Mackey I don't think germany and Japan ever did that on a large scale.
Emperor PALpatine eh no idea then, I guess he misspoke.
they were allies, so they probably helped out in some ways. Although I don't recall that ever happening, it could have. Or he misspoke.
some great ideas for war films in these - churchill club, baker street etc.
I agree, would love to see one on Solomon too
Baker street is basically Bond apparently since Bond took inspiration from them, but I definitely would want to see something of the Churchill club, the white death, and even rags and wojtek.
A movie losely based on the exploits of The Churchill Club has been made. www.imdb.com/title/tt0101772/
The Churchill Club one sounds like fun.
The original ASBO chav's before chav's were even a thing, going around causing mayhem.
Imagine you, a young 18 year old guy joining the polish army to fight in the war only to be outranked by a bear. If your CO died, the bear was your superior.
Everyone probably thought the bear as a soldier was hilarious and a moral booster.
That Häyhä thing, i'm pretty sure the temps are wrong, the '39-40 winter was one of the coldest in a century and temps were constantly around -40. 4 to -6 is almost t-shirt weather.
laalki80 And his total kill count was around 750 of I'm not mistaken. He was quite fond of his submachine gun
yeah that's way too warm to be real.
they also failed to mention most of the badass stuff he did
Indeed. The white death got around 500 kills with his rifle, and the rest with his submachine gun. On -40 temperatures.
Yeah they also didn't mention the fact that when using his sniper rifle, HE DIDN'T USE A GODDAMN SCOPE, BECAUSE THE REFLECTION OF THE SCOPE MIGHT GET HIM DETECTED BY ENEMY SNIPERS. He literally sniped people WITHOUT A SCOPE. AND he would fill his mouth with snow, so that his breath couldn't be seen in the cold air, he was an absolute badass.
well said I was annoyed they omitted this but frankly they all had amazing long records
Where do I get a Wojtek?
Soviet Siberia
Dëfñøt Jâčk Well, Wojtek was Syrian brown bear, from todays Iran, so my guess - probably from Iran ;)
Zbykobyl Il book my flight now
Skyrim mod, perhaps.
Walmart. Order online with two day free ship to store!
As always, I loved the video. In my opinion, you could have added Léo Major, a one eyed sniper Canadian sniper in WWII. He captured over a hundred soldiers on his own (imagine a single soldier walking back to your camp with 100 prisoners) and captured the Dutch city of Zwolle on his own.
The Churchill club would make a really good movie
Ai XD there is already one, it's called "The boys from St. Petri"
Anne Boleyn Could use a remake though
Jan Christoffersen True
Inglorious bastards is a pretty close one to this
You could also add Irena Sendlerowa to your list.
In the Second World War, she saved about 2,500 Jewish children. In October 1943 she was arrested by the Gestapo, but "Żegota" managed to free her. During the Warsaw uprising Irena was a nurse in one of the insurgent sanitary facilities in Mokotów.
She was a real war hero but for many years after the war, her actions during the German occupation were forgotten :(
Maciej Urbański She's a true hero, and I thank her.
I think she is mentioned in the booth "The Righteous", which lists gentiles who saved Jews across Europe in WW2.
Maciej Urbański yeah she also lost the Nobel peace prize to Al Gore. There is no justice in the world.
Maciej Urbański her last name was sendlerowa? I’ve always written it as sendler
Maciej Urbański Whoa! Amazing! Thank you for sharing 😊.
Alan Turing is a great war hero, he is one of the main reasons the nazi's were beaten, He cracked the enigma code and even invented the first computer. Then he was told to keep quiet and arrested for being a Homosexual. I'm just glad that he's getting the recognition he deserves.
PP Hyjynx he's REALLY famous tho (this was about unheard of ones) but yeah, he was cool (and the computer he built was the beginning of modern computers)
He didn't decipher the Enigma, the Poles did it 7 years before the war started; but, to give credit where it's due, he improved the cracking's design by a lot.
Anyway, it was supposed to be about the unheard-of heroes, and Alan Turing is a pretty recognisable name, getting the deserved recognition.
It also wasn't just him told to keep quiet, everyone who worked at Bletchley Park had to keep their mouth shut.
PP Hyjynx This is a list of people we don't really know about in popular culture. In comparison Turing is very well known
Martin Mortyry The Poles cracked the commercial version of the enigma machine and an earlier version of the military machine. They then ran out of time to crack further versions and handed it all over to the British. The teletype system that was used by the Germans for high level strategic/political messages was cracked entirely at Bletchley.
Hey WhatCulture! I don't know if you would read this or not as it might get drowned in the sea of comments but if you did, I want to say that your videos are just so good! You guys have inspired me to make the type of TH-cam content just like you guys! Now I also make and upload the same type of content as you guys! I just want to say A HUGE THANK YOU WHATCULTURE!
NERD OUT!
Lauri Törni (a.k.a Larry Thorne) soldier of three armies. Awarded with Cross of Mannerheim, Iron Cross, Legion of Merit, Bronze star and a purple heart. Fought wars with Finnish armed forces, german SS Viking, and U.S Green beret. Also ranked as a captain in all three armies.
He got arrested for treason in finland
Häyhä fighting in 4to -6 C? Try -30 to -40 C instead..
that's more like it. -4 is essentially a tshirt weather for us
He probably meant Fahrenheit
-40 Fahrenheit is -40 celsius so no they didn't mean fahrenheit.
That was a good one WhatCulture
Lowest temperatures in Finland at the time of the winter war were around -40 degrees celsius, not -4. So Simo Häyhä was even more of a badass.
The original winter soldier
I had read about the "White Death" before, but the rest were amazing and informative also. Thank You!
This was an excellent segment. Thank you very much.
Also at the time Finland averaged about 5 hours of daylight each day meaning Simo averaged one kill per hour he could operate.
You missed Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who volunteered as a medic and went into battle not even carrying a gun.
He single handily saved 75 of his wounded comrades on Okinawa
Considering they just made a movie about him, they may no longer consider him "unheard of". But yeah, that dude was the shit.
Doesn't he have a film based off of his experiences?
NirvanaFrk97 Hacksaw Ridge
Blood Raven He had other times where he proved a great help (AND that the Lord was unambiguously on his side) Hacksaw Ridge is just his finest hour.
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(Clapping) Incredible video WhatCulture---You really did your historical research. I can see movies being made about pretty much all of these people. I cant stop thinking about half of these people. I would love to see another video like this one again. Their's plenty of other unknown war hero's out their to be sure.
"...saw his first Pacific theatre combat... German artillery bearing down on you... Japanese forces overwhelmed the tent"
Fucksake.
Léo Major. Seriously, look up the shit this Canadian did in WWII. He's a real life action hero
Leo Major. Took back a city from nazis in one night by himself with 3 machine guns and a bag of hand grenades.
All of these deserve their own movie but especially the Irregulars. I first heard about them on the Cracked After Hours Live thing not so long ago and they just sound awesome!
I think you should do another top 10 military badasses in the future. There are so many. Correction on the Winter War part. Temperatures were ranging from -40 to -45 decrees in celsius.
Ben !! Perhaps your finest work on WC. Thank you !!
Former soldiers and journalists use to go visit Wojtek in the Edinburgh Zoo and toss him cigarettes which he would eat because no one was there to light them for him. He was honored with at least three statues in three countries, best of which in in Princes Street Gardens and features him along side one of his comrades.
Hannie Schaft -- She was a Dutch Resistance fighter. She sabotaged and assassinated a bunch of Nazis. Seriously, read up on her... she was a total badass. My favorite thing about her, though, was her badass coolness during her execution. Even though it was 3 weeks before the end of the war (and there was an agreement to not execute people in occupied nations at that time), they shot her anyway. The first shot didn't kill her though. It is alleged that at that point, she turned to her Nazi executioners and mockingly said, "I shoot better than you". The finishing shot was then made.
"War heros you've never heard of" has Christopher Lee
I have two really great heroes in mind.
This may be a shocking thought, but Erwin Rommel truly is a hero. A school teacher and veteran of the Great War, the German government forced him to return to the armed forces. He may have been on the wrong side, but he would teach his soldiers to treat the enemy with utmost respect. He would continue to spite the Nazi party by ignoring the antisemitic ideology. When a plan to usurp the Nazi party was discovered, Rommel was given a choice to lose his family, or commit suicide...
My other favorite hero is General Butt Naked. This Libyan Civil War soldier led his troops while naked, trusting that he would have a psychological advantage when fighting enemy troops (if I remember correctly). He was known to be a monster who has committed numerous atrocities. Near the end of the war, a church in Libya has fasted for the Lord God to deliver the general from evil, which was a big deal since General Butt Naked literally made sacrifices to Satan himself. General Butt Naked had repented in a refugee camp, and was willing to be tried for any and all war crimes. He now gets heavily involved in his Libyan church. If you know any modern redemption arc that is greater than General Butt Naked's (Joshua Blahyi), let me know.
Thank you very much for telling us about those fairly unknown heroes!!
James Llewellyn Davies? I know he served during WWI but what he did was incredible, earning himself a posthumous Victoria Cross. A true hero of Wales and funnily enough my step mothers Great grandfather
Awesome list guys, great job.
Sir Nicholas Winton comes to mind, but his actions came just before World War II. He was in Czechoslovakia conducting banking shenanigans when Hitler was given possession of the country. Naturally, there were a number of parents who were (understandably) concerned about the well-being of their kids, but didn't have a safe method of relocating their kids out of Nazi hands.
Enter Winton, who set up the Children's Section of the British Embassy, and through some methods that he himself admitted were skirting the law, successfully relocated 669 children to Britain. Another 250 were on a train that would take them to safer areas, but that train was scheduled to depart on September 1st, 1939- the day the war broke out.
After doing what he could, Winton took all evidence of his actions, locked it in a trunk, and didn't open it for FIFTY YEARS, after which, he was knighted by the Queen, and is a national hero in the Czech Republic. He's personally responsible for hundreds of people being alive since then that wouldn't have been had he not acted.
Sir Nicholas Winton died in July 2015 at the ripe old age of 106.
Now this is the type of list I expect from What Culture.
Witold Pilecki was a badass
Warcrab
Finally
3:12 what's the name of movie?
They're all good dogs, Bront. Fantastic quote.
"Frankly, I enjoyed the war," and that friends... is a man you do not f#ck with. XD
Feng-Shan Ho who was a chinese diplomat in Vienna who saved around 2000 jews.
Chiune Sugihara was a japanese diplomat in Lithuania who saved around 6000 jews. Both saved them by giving them transit visas.
Giorgio Perlasca was an italian who gave faked passport to jews, despite fighting alongside with Franco in the Spanish civil war.
Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz was an nazi in Denmark who convinced the Swedish prime minister to allow danish jews to escape to Sweden wich saved over 6000.
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish humanitarian who worked in Budapest saving an estimated 100,000 people from the Nazis by giving them faked passports. He also rented 32 buildnings and declared them to be protected by diplomatic immunity and hanged Swedish flags outside and signs souch as "The swedish library" and other signs, there was around 10000 people housed in those buildings.
as a history nerd and doing a degree in the subject, loved this video about real heros
Another war hero we've never heard of is the person who has Chicago's O'hare International airport named after him!
My guy, you forgot to mention Leo Major, a Canadian soldier who liberated the town of Zwolle alone during the second world war, a feat that only he has ever accomplished. He also captured a Hanomag tank on a recon mission. I think he deserves a place on the list haha.
You should check out Leo Major - his record spans multiple wars and in each he was a legend.
Simo Häyhä isn't actually a person "you haven't heard of" if you have any interest at all in WWII. He's been mentioned on every single list of most legendary soldiers of that war for quite a while already.
Top ten badass last words. A list of amazing words spoken just before death.
There are tons of female war heroes in history - like The Night Witches (an all-female Soviet aviation/bombing squad), Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Deadliest female sniper in history with 300+ confirmed kills), Mariya Oktyabrskaya (Soviet tank driver, joined the army to avenge her husband, would fix her tank 'Fighting Girlfriend' in the middle of a firefight), and Noor Inayat Khan (British Spy, first female radio operator, Britain's first Muslim war heroine)
Leo major
During the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944 major captured a German armed vehicle by himself that contained German communication equipment and German army codes. The next day he would lose his eye to a phosporus grenade while fighting an SS patrol. He continued fighting by say he only needed one eye to continue scouting and being a sniper he also said it made him look like a pirate. Major then single handedly captured 93 German soldiers during the battle of scheldt in Zeeland. He was chosen for a Distinguished conduct medal, he declined by saying that the general who was giving the award was incompetent and in no position to be giving out medals.
The guy is pretty badass and there is more of his badassery.
The biggest hero was German Oberst Rudel....he wiped out whole Soviet divisions ALONE with his plane!
The last entry is amazing. "Frankly, I enjoyed the war." No, he's not well at all. Maybe that's why he lived - too crazy to be killed by man. I love this guy.
Pablo Carballo and Carlos Poltronieri are 2 of the most famous heroes of the "Falklands War" or "South Atlantic Conflict",1982.
You know it's only a matter of time before the 'The Churchill Club' gets turned into a film
Frankieonpc did an EXCELLENT war stories video on the last guy in the list, i think the video was called real life terminator or just the terminator. So worth the watch for that dude's FULL story. including receiving a goddamn victoria cross, which he LEFT OUT OF HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY because there was just so much else to cover
Léo Major should’ve been on the list. Fought in WWII and the Korean War; he liberated a town by himself in WWII, and commanded a group of under 20 persons to successfully defend Hill 355 in Korea from the assault of multiple divisons of the Chinese Army, among other things. He died less then 10 years ago at the age of 87.
You could do a whole series of these lists, and I think you should.
What about John 'Mad Jack' Churchill? Took on a German emplacement with just a sword
and later on got his life saved by Wichard von Alvensleben, after he had been captured, when the prisoners of the convoy he was part off told members of the Wehrmacht that they feared that the Waffen-SS would kill them. And so von Alvensleben lead his men to rescue the PoWs
Captain 'Mad' Jack Churchill will always be my favourite... stormed the beaches with a claymore and bagpipes
#1 is why everyone's terrified of dentists. XD
--IronDuke
Official Winter War casualties on Finnish side were 26 662 dead, roughly about 1000 wounded and on Soviet Union's side 48 745 dead, 158 863 wounded. I have to say, I'm proud to be Finnish and proud of my grandfather, who served our country, was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade, and survived the WW 2. After the war he still had the strength to raise, clothe and feed 13 children in a small farm in the same town in the middle of Finland, where our family have lived for over 500 years.
Daniel Inouye. Japanese American from Hawaii who would go on to be that states senator, and one of the coolest dudes of all time.
There isnt enough spance to me to list everything he did. but he ended up a Medal of Honor holder, awarded Order of the rising sun by Japan, and Legion of Honor by France. He was also made a honorary memeber of the Navajo Nation, and recived several honors in the Philippines.
Seriously, go read about this guy, he was awesome.
Woelke Yeah, but lots of people have heard of him... So he doesn't make sense for this list.
Woelke he is actually really famous and is still well known in the Senate.
I was only passing aware of him as a senator, wasn't till his death that i learned of his military career
I guess dogs in the army was a common thing so my grandpa emmet was in a squadron with his 3 brothers and some others but they also found a dog that fought alongside them too he survived ww2 but had lost his leg and my grandpa kept him untill he had died in 1968 and my grandpas brothers all died in the war and he died in 1993 march 12 (the day before my sisters birth) so if this could be liked in respects of my grandpa, his brothers , and their dog. I want to be in the army when I’m older =3
Respect
Can't forget Cher Ami, the WW I decorated pigeon. She helped save about 200 men during the Argonne Battle even though she was greatly injured.
My question would now be why they didn't put Saloman in the ways people faced up to their death video.
Lauri Törni was a soldier dedicated to killing the communists by serving in the Finnish army as the leader of a ski scuadron in the Winter War, the Wafen SS in Germany's attack as a machine gun leader, the Finnish army again as a special operations commander for sabotage missions earning him a bounty of 3,000,000 Finnish Marks, as a green beret for the US, served in Iraq, and as a special forces commander in Vietnam.
He died in Vietnam not because of battle, but because of a storm.
Link to his Wikipedia page:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_T%C3%B6rni
You missed two Second World War US soldiers:
Guy Gabaldon, 2nd Marine Regiment. During the Battle of Saipan, he tricked two Japanese soldiers into thinking they were surrounded and surrendering. Although threatened with court martial, he continued his exploits and using the same tactics, captured 50 Japanese soldiers. He later convinced 800 soldiers to surrender by tricking them into thinking the Americans were on there way, earning him the nickname "The Pied Piper of Saipan" and the Navy Cross. He also captured approximately 1500 soldiers at the Battle of Tinian.
Audie Murphy, 3rd Infantry Division. During the Battle of Alsace, he won the Distinguished Service Cross for killing several Germans after taking control of their machine gun, single handedly captured eleven soldiers after they killed his friend and, most famously, stood alone and held off the German reinforcements for an hour, even after he was wounded, only retreating after he ran out of ammo, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honour.
6:56 MY IRISH BOYS!!!
Was expecting "The white mouse" and Charles Upham
What about Leo Major, the Canadian John Wick. He took back an entire Dutch city by himself. Throughout the night he snuck around the town, firing his Submachine Gun all over the place, altering German patrols. He would eliminate the squads one at a time while sneaking the locals in hiding back to allied lines. He did this all night and by the morning he took the entire town. He enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces to fight with the Americans in the Korean War but I don’t know what came of that. Still an absolute badass though.
No James Nicholson? He was a Royal Air Force pilot in World War II who was in a dogfight with a German plane. His fighter was hit by cannon fire from his opponent, smashing his foot and setting the plane on fire, but he still held out long enough to shoot the German plane down before parachuting clear. Some members of the British home guard mistook Nicholson for an enemy parachutist and shot him multiple times, but he survived and went on to win the Victoria Cross.
Gotta love the first 60 seconds, he talks about German artil not caring about dental work when the guy served in the Pacific.
Nothing about the ghurkas?
I think Ghurka is a pretty cool guy. eh has a bent knife and doesn't afraid of anything.
Or the Sikhs, you don't mess with either of them.
There's actually a book about Rags. Short, but still a good read, though I can't remember it's title.
I'd like more of these
I wouldve been so upset if I didnt see Simo on this list, but jeezus that last one 😳
All of these need to be movies
For all the Fins wondering. Yes. Simo Häyhä is in the list.
What about Jack Churchill, he was a British war hero during WW 2 and he went into battle with only a long bow, bagpipes and a basket-hilted Scottish board sword. He survived and continued to serve in the military till 1996. The man is bloody action hero.
I hope they do a follow up and include Garbo.
I saw Wiart in the thumbnail and thought he was Moshe Dayan. I guess there's more than one war hero who wore an eyepatch.
You guys could have picked some Americans, Australians etc I know every Hollywood war movie is about X American hero of X war but I'm sure there are some we haven't heard about and you never seem to hear about any from places like Australia that came to every ww with Britain
123 456 like Ben L. Salomon.
123 456 Or Douglas Hedghal
This is one of the craziest lists I've ever seen.
Lt.clnl 'Mad Jack' Churchill.
Stormed the beaches with a broadsword, last confirmed kill with a longbow in war time, total badass and eccentric gent
Guys, you forgot to mention that Ben L. started his impressive killing spree after getting pissed off when a Japanese soldier brutally killed a badly wounded and helpless American soldier whom the dentist had struggled long and hard to save. Having succeeded only to see the man murdered in a horrific way.
Lloyd Bridges and Christopher Lee
What about Jack Churchill? Only confirmed kill in a major war with a longbow,invaded a beach armed with a claymore and played the bagpipes while in battle?
Douglas Bader, fighter pilot in wwii without legs had his plane shot down by German forces, he was captured, put in a PoW camp, and the Germans respected him so much as an ace pilot that they contacted the RAF to drop some new prosthetic legs for him after his got destroyed in the crash, and then they paraded him around celebrating him being a hero to his country. The largest building in my school is named after him.
Inanimate Potato Not exactly unknown though, which is the intent of this video.
Undoubtedly a hero but a flawed one, he lost his legs showing off to impress a woman, and according to my grandad who was a manager of an aircraft factory during and after the war and knew Bader, he was a bit of a twat. That said during war it tends to be the twats you need.
THEY DIDN'T TELL US THAT IN SCHOOL
i feel betrayed
I swear, if Battlefield 1 had war dogs, I would've lost my shit.
Call of Duty, you've got an excellent market to tap into this year. Bring on those war bears.
When a bear is higher rank then many other solider m
"Growing up in Finland..."
*Shows a picture of Irish troops*
Whoa there Ben did you just throw James Bond Honey Ryder and Saruman Count Dooku star? Madness but including Ian Fleming is too much.
Just to list another couple unknown heroes, there's Franz Stigler, a german pilot who escorted a damaged allied bomber back to safe air space and Shunsaku Kudo, who saved 442 british and american sailors from drowning in the Java Sea.
I read about the churchhill club they also called themselves the RAF ( Royal Air Force) named after the British RAF
Christoper Lee is a legend in so many ways
*Robert Henry Cain* (who was also Jeremy Clarkson's father in law) had an amazing story in the Battle of Arnhem vs German tanks... Look it up.
My infant nephew is named after Daniel Daly, an American marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor twice. Daly was even nominated for a third Medal of Honor, but wasn't given it.
once while filming the Lord of the Rings Lee instructed Peter Jackson on the sound a person makes when stabbed through the back Christopher Lee was such a badass this barely touched on his record
“Like Michael Myers if he was on your side.” 😂😂😂😂
The white death when asked what he felt when he shot someone to death..."recoil" and then proceeded to walk away