Unsung heroes of WWII

[Foxbat]

I’m not really sure if the Edelweiss Pirates qualify for this thread but here they are.

They were an anti-nazi and anarchic organisation of youths who used to enjoy ambushing Hitler Youth patrols and beating them up. During the war, they supported the allies and helped German army deserters evade capture.

Up until this point in their story, they seem to qualify as unsung heroes but after the war, they became more anarchic, attacking and beating up displaced people (Poles, Soviets etc). There are conflicting views on whether they actually were a form of organised resistance during WW2 but some of them were awarded the order of merit of the Federal Republic of Germany many years later.

I think the jury is still out on this one.

Edelweiss Pirates - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Toby Frost]

I read Quartered Safe Out Here and liked it a lot more than Flashman. It's a humane and surprisingly funny book. I'd also recommend Master of War by Robert Lyman and Road of Bones by Fergal Keane. Defeat Into Victory by General Slim is a bit heavy but the last chapter is very interesting, especially for anyone writing fiction about war.

 

[Montero]

I read Quartered Safe Out Here and liked it a lot more than Flashman. It's a humane and surprisingly funny book.

After Tom Brown's Schooldays I never much fancied Flashman, gave it a brief go and gave up. However I adore the three "MacAuslan" books by Fraser - it is an account of the rest of his army days in the aftermath of WW2 as a junior officer in a Highland Regiment. In the same style as Quartered Safe, possibly a bit funnier. Starts with "The General Danced at Dawn".
Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[alexvss]

In a word: CATS. They served as companions, pest control and even could sniff gas to alert the troops.

Cats? In the Military?! | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

 

[Foxbat]

And talking of cats, let's move on to dogs.
Specifically, Russian anti-tank dogs. These poor animals were trained to run under an enemy tank and blow up by way of a lever that activated the bomb when it touched the underside of the tank.

Unfortunately, there were some teething problems
To get the dogs used to the sound and smells of war, the Russians trained them by feeding them under their own tanks with their engines running. This led to some dogs running back to Russian tanks. It's not known if any Soviet tanks were blown up by this.

Not exactly unsung heroes but you've got to feel for them.

Anti-tank dog - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sargeant_Fox]

Has anyone mentioned Aristides de Sousa Mendes yet?

Aristides de Sousa Mendes: The Portuguese diplomat who saved Jews

 

[KiraAnn]

And talking of cats, let's move on to dogs.
Specifically, Russian anti-tank dogs. These poor animals were trained to run under an enemy tank and blow up by way of a lever that activated the bomb when it touched the underside of the tank.

Unfortunately, there were some teething problems
To get the dogs used to the sound and smells of war, the Russians trained them by feeding them under their own tanks with their engines running. This led to some dogs running back to Russian tanks. It's not known if any Soviet tanks were blown up by this.

Not exactly unsung heroes but you've got to feel for them.

Anti-tank dog - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I learned about those poor dogs a couple of years ago. IIRC, the Soviets did lose a couple of tanks and crews.

 

[CupofJoe]

Maybe not an unsung here in the classical sense...

Carry On films: The star who helped World War II prisoners escape

Peter Butterworth, who appeared in 16 Carry On films, was an officer for MI9 planning prison escapes.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[hitmouse]

The whole WW2 Burma front is often forgotten these days, but it was the scene of extremely fierce fighting, particularly at Kohima, where the British forces (including many Indian and Commonwealth troops) ultimately stopped and destroyed the Japanese army. Had the Japanese captured India, it would have been an absolute bloodbath.

One story that I'm surprised isn't better-known is that of Ursula Graham-Bower, an anthropologist who studied the jungle tribes of Burma prior to World War 2. When the Japanese invaded, she used her connections to obtain weapons for the locals, and helped train them into a very successful guerrilla force, which she often led into battle herself. Nobody has made a film about her, but the Americans produced a comic book based on her exploits - which, if they weren't true, would sound like the stuff of pulp fiction.

Ursula Graham Bower - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

When I was a bit younger I was introduced the grandfather of a friend, in Bombay. An affable old fellow, he talked about when he had been hit by Japanese light machine gun fire during the Sittang River campaign in Burma whilst serving in one of the Frontier Force regiments. He survived evacuation and major surgery, and went on to become very senior and quite celebrated in the Indian Army after independence.
What I did not know until I read a biography was that after he had been hit, his orderly had carried him 14 miles to the field hospital. Talk about unsung heroes.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Glyndwr Michael - an unsung and unwitting hero of WWII.
He was a tramp who died after eating rat poison. British Intelligence obtained the body and used it in Operation Mincemeat - a ruse to divert attention away from the invasion of Sicily in 1943.

Operation Mincemeat - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Watched the recent film of this and really enjoyed it.

 

[alexvss]

The Night Witches. Soviet women who bombed German positions at night. They were given old, dated airplanes to work with, and ended up being an advantage: the Germans were so much faster than them, that the Germans couldn't find their aim to target them.

Sabaton, the Swedish band that plays songs about war, wrote a song in their homage: