Heroic Actions On The Battlefield

Any more bids?

Remember, there are usually the winners in a war who are allowed to write the historybooks afterwards...

[edit on 2004/11/8 by Hellmutt]

Originally posted by Bravon03

Almost nobody realizes that after 1066, no nation successfully raided a port on Britain's home soil until April 1778, when John Paul Jones unleashed his detatchment of devil dogs on two british ports.

I think the Dutch might have something to say about that.

As well as the French. During the Hundred Years War, French admiral Jean de Vienne sacked Rye and Lewes (June 1377), as well as Hastings (August 1377) www.maisonstclaire.org...

What about Jesus. He could have killed the entire earth but chose to die for "Us" instead. The war against evil is a pretty big war.

As for the topic of this thread... for me the true heroes are, among others, those who show noble character and humanity in war.

For example, Egyptian Sultan Saladin was at war with the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem from the 1170's to the 1190's. When king Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, who suffered from leprosy, died in early 1185, Saladin suspended hostilies long enough so the Christians could mourn and bury their king. Also, when Richard the Lionheart participated in the Third Crusade and fell ill with fever, Saladin reportedly had his men go into the mountain and find some ice to soothe the king.

Of course, those were the days of chivalry...

Also high on my list of heroism, troops who know there's a big chance they're going to die in an upcoming battle, but still go ahead. Among those, obviously, the first Allied troops to land in Normandy in June 1944.

There are lots of heroic actions happen on and off the battlefield, pretty much every day, we just don't hear much about them.
It doesn't really matter anyway, because those things are not for us to judge whether they are heroic, or not.

regards

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
My choice is a oldie but a think it was pretty heroic

The Battle of Thermopylae (The gates of Fire) in roughly the 5th century BC

300 Spartans and 700 Greek volunteers held off 100,000 Persians for one week until every one of the Spartans was killed.

That was a brave bunch of Spartans

Actually it was about 3000 Greek volunteers and Xerces army was more in the 1,000,000 range. But the 300 Spartans did form the core leadership and they held the line when their position was flanked by the 10,000 (an eliete Persian unit that was always kept at 10,000 members).

They held them for 3 days and killed something in the range of 25,000 enemy. Amazing...these dudes were BAD ASS.

And I agree...this was the most awesome display bravery I've ever heard of.

Read

Gates of Fire

for a good historic-fiction account of the battle and the events surrounding it.

Originally posted by DrHoracidWhat about Jesus. He could have killed the entire earth but chose to die for "Us" instead. The war against evil is a pretty big war.

"Now, the real measure of a man is not in the size of his wallet, or his estate; it is not in the size of the circle of his friends or his political influence; nor is it in the size of his 'harem' or 'arsenal'; nor the size of his intellect or charisma. The real measure of a man is in his ability to stand up under EXTREME STRESS AND PRESSURE without breaking, or losing his edge." *

Let me tell you a story of courage under fire.

A buddy of mine in the Army told me of his grandfather who was in the trenches in either World War 1 or 2.

The enemy lobbed a grenade into the fox hole and his grandfather yelled out "grenade" and dropped on it to protect the rest of the soldiers from the shrapnel.

"No greater love has any man than this - that a man should die for his friends."

There is a comraderie that is formed under fire that is indiscribable and, unless you have been there, you can't understand it, but it will cause some people to make the ultimate sacrifice for their friends.

In this particular instance, believe it or not, the Grenade didn't go off - it was a dud, and he lived to tell about it, as well as to raise a family.

Y'shua did the same thing, so to speak, knowing full well that the 'grenade' was going to go off and that he would die for his friends. He also knew about all the abuse he was going to suffer at the hands of his enemies and yet still he "set himself to go to Jerusalem" where he knew he would die. But for him not to make that final journey, would have been a sign of weakness to his enemies.

In other words, he would have backed down from his enemies, which is something he never did.

Today people think that this was a passive attitude but, in reality, it was just the opposite and to have stayed away would have been the passive - safe - thing to do and, I seriously doubt that there is a man alive that would have willingly walked into that particular battlefield, on that particular day, knowing what the outcome was going to be. And, also, knowing that all these friends that he was going to die for, were actually going to desert him at the time of his arrest.

Yet he went anyways...

I have read the stories of the Alamo and Thermophyle and, as great an example of courage that they are, their courage was fed by the presense of their fellow soldiers. In Y'shua's case, he stood down the entire nation - alone.

If you want a modern day example, it would be for one man to walk into Washington D.C. alone - knowing full well that the government wanted him dead, and to do so, solely to save the life of the very friends who had deserted him...

Napoleon said, "I am a good judge of men and I tell you that this man Jesus [color=b]WAS NO ORDINARY MAN.

This from the man that conquored continental Europe.

"In this respect, there never has been, nor ever will be, a greater man then THE LORD Y'SHUA BAR Y'HOVA, and I still want to be like him. I like to call it THEOFERRUM." *

Godsteel...

(www.geocities.com...) *



[edit on 10/28/04 by jesterbr549]

I think many of the older or wiser heads on this thread realise war in any age has not been romantic noble or glorious, but we can all recognise that in the general darkness of it, the individual and group acts of barbarity and cruelty, there have been those actions by individuals which have been truely brave, and in many case selfless, as well as momements of great compassion and humanity - The Christmas Truce of 1914, The Burial Truces at Gallipolli 1915, The U-Boat Commander who tried to tow (whilst surfaced) survivors of an allied passenger ship to safety despite coming under repeated air attack by allied patrol bombers off the African East Coast in 1943.

My first nomination for bravery on the battlefield are the women and children who have sufferred from it in any war, including those of both sides who have had first hand attention of those we wished had not been amongst our forces.

Next "Evans of the Broke"

Who's Who: Edward Evans
Updated - Sunday, 16 June, 2002

Edward Ratcliffe Evans (1881-1957) achieved a heroic popular reputation both within the Royal Navy and among the general public following an action undertaken while serving with the Royal Navy in 1917 in which he led a successful attack upon six German destroyers which resulted in the sinking of three.

Evans was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1897 and was Second-in-Command of Scott's Antarctic Expedition of 1909. Following Captain Robert Scott's death in 1913 Evans gained renown for safely bringing the expedition's survivors home to England.

When war broke out in August 1914 Evans held the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy and served aboard HMS Broke in the Dover Patrol (the latter overseen by Reginald Bacon).

It was while serving aboard HMS Broke that Evans mounted a remarkable attack upon six German destroyers on 20 April 1917. Along with HMS Swift Evans engaged the German destroyers in darkness off the Dutch coast. During the encounter he sunk one destroyer by ramming it and another following hand-to-hand fighting on the deck of HMS Broke. A third was additionally sunk - the remaining three German destroyers were then driven off.

'Evans of the Broke', as he became best known, was subsequently promoted to Captain and awarded the DSO. He died in 1957.


The reason I like Evans is because of an entry I saw in a 1986 (75th Anniversary edition of the history of the RAN.

" 15 May 1929. RA E.R.G.R. Evans, CB, DSO, of "Evans of the Broke" Fame and a member of the Antarctic expedition of Capt. Robert Scott, RN, was appointed the Flag Officer Commanding His Majesty's Australian Squadron.Flagship: Kent Class Heavy Cruiser HMAS Australia"

" 28 May 1929. Evans led a march of 2,000 sailors, with bayonets fixed, through the streets of Sydney in protest against the Australian Government's proposal to either scrap or drastically cut the strength of the RAN (as an economy measure). The sailors were drawn from the Australian and NZ Squadrons"

Within two weeks of taking up his appointment ? THAT took balls!

Despite his actions, he saw out his full three year term before his scheduled replacement was appointed, during this period he cultivated the careers of some of the RAN's best wartime officers of WW2.

Evans last offical duty was as Chief Warden of London during 1940 to 1943.

Cheers.

Captain (Major General Sir) Neville Reginald Howse VC KCMG KCB

First Australian VC winner. Only VC to medical personnel (at the time) Captain Neville Reginald Howse from the NSW Medical Corps carrying a wounded soldier from the 2nd Mounted Infantry Brigade.

This incident took place in 1900 during action near Vredefort where the soldiers were attempting to capture the Boer commander De Wet.

For this act of bravery Captain Neville Howse received the first Victoria Cross to be awarded to an Australian, it is also the only Victoria Cross to have been awarded to medical personnel.

www.diggerhistory.info...

[snip] to remove copious cut and paste (Netchicken)

Ninety-six Australians have been awarded the VC including four in Vietnam, as members of the military throughout the Commonwealth were eligable for the medal, even though British forces was not involved in that war.

As I recall in the early 1980s the Australian Government amended the military awards regulations, creating a series of Australian Service awards, and ending the eligability of Australians for awards such as the Victoria Cross.

The person who mentioned that everyone on the Glowworm should have got the VC. I had the pleasure on several occassions to meet veterans who had served with or in the vicinity of medal winners. The topic came up if the gongs caused resentment. the answer was no, because most of the troops felt that the award and its receipient was representing them all.

Besides, as a now dearly departed WW1 vet said to me at Anzac Day in 1987....."Problem with being a medal winner is alot of the time they get them Postumous mate........I was never that keen to get one!"



[edit on 7-11-2004 by Netchicken]

Oh for goodness sake, you can't call the WTC a battlefield. If you do then their actions are outshone by the Siege of Stalingrad, the Sinking of the Luisitania, the firebombing of Dresden, the fall of Singapore, etc, etc, etc,

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by EnronOutrunHomerun
If the WTC can be called a battlefield then I would say the men and women of service who risked their lives or died trying to help the victims.

In the more taditional sense of the word, I would have to say the POWs who upheld their oath

I should also add my grandfather...whom I never met and lived to tell his tale of being aboard the USS Saratoga which was sunk by kamakazis

The WTC site was very definitely a battlefield and all three of your examples are worthy of note.

[edit on 04/8/12 by GradyPhilpott]

All reputable choices as Battlefields in my book.

And WTC for its impact is as eligable as any other here.

THE GREATEST HERO IN AMERICAS 200 YEAR HISTORY IS AUDE MURPHY! NOT ONLY DID HE GET THE MEDAL OF HONOR AND 20+ OTHER MEDALS HE SINGLE HANDLY KILLED 50+ GERMANS WITH ONE MACHINE GUN WHILE PROTECTING HIS PLATOON. AUDE MURPHY WAS VERY FAMOUS IN HIS TIME.

One thing you haven't mentioned about Thermopylae is that the Spartans would probably have been successful in defending the pass if a traitor hadn't led the Persians arround the back to attack them on 2 sides. I vote for Thermopylae, or maybe an ancestor of mine who obeyed his orders to detonate the powder magazine of a Turkish castle, even though it would kill him. Among the casualties were some Greek prisoners. A descendant of the man who blew up the castle and a descendant of a prisoner later married (2 of my ancestors)

[edit on 8-11-2004 by Odd Man]

there is no most heroic action because every action is takes courage and you cant measure courage.
but the most sadest ones are the ones from ww1, the best way to exsplain is to listen to, "Private William McBride" , a very sad song but oh so true.

Good point Devilwasp. It's true that courage isn't measurable. Like I've said before, anybody who has served on the battlefield is worthy of being called a hero. I think that everybody has their own battlefield hero to look up to, and all heros are equal in the end.

What is the most heroic action on the battlefeild?

Going back the second time

truely said Cyberdude 78. Perhaps we should ask Hellmut to slightly amend the thread title a little.

But it truely doesn matter. All we all have our hero or heros.

Another group I'd vote for:

The men and women of the small Australian Army Medical Unit and thier protective security detachment from the Royal Australian Infantry Corps (RAInf) at Kibeho, Rwanda in 1993 (?) and the UN Namibian Rifle Company....Edit sorry some else told me it might be the Nigerians....I'll leave both as I'm not sure

They were conducting a medical clinic at Kibeho village, whose population of several hundred had been swelled to more than 100,000 by refugees fleeing to the boarder.

Thier escape had been blocked by several thousand new Rwandan Government Forces intent in finding members of the militia and thier supporters to punish for the initial massacres that sparked the civil war and humanitarian crisis.

The UN had brokered an arrangement to process people wanting to cross the boarder so as to keep the Government forces from sweeping through the camp of predominately women and children.

As the processing began Rwandan troops surrounded the camp and the few militia men and thier supporters inside began to get agitated and tried to escape by causing a panic. Rwandan Government troops responded with a massacre using automatic weapons and mortars, sweeping through the camp as feared.

UN Rules of Engagement prevented the UN detail from fighting back and doing so would probably have been suicide in any case. The Australians determined to do something, and began dragging as many fleeing women and children as possible within thier clinics perimeter, where Australian UN soldiers put themselves between the Rwandan Government troops and the refugees in thier care, and levelled thier weapons at the ready at the RGFs.....Both sides knew the UN rules of engagement only allowed UN Forces to fire back if fired upon first. RGFs had apparently been well threatened by thier superiors of the consequences of doing so.

As a result, the Diggers saved several hundred lives without firing a shot, but it was a high risk gamble.

The aftermath was still tragic.The Australians began burying the dead, and were ordered by the senior Australian's on the spot to keep an accurrate account with a view towards warcrime allegations. Using pace counters the Australians counted some 4,000 bodies and passed this information onto media covering the crisis. Angry UN officials ordered them to abandon the count, as the UN was trying to broker a new peace deal and had already downplayed the massacre claiming only a couple of hundred had been killed, provoking an equally angry response from the Diggers at the scene.

[edit on 9-11-2004 by craigandrew]

I would like to add one story please. I hope that you can enjoy the spirit of heroism, courage, determination and defiance in the face of overwhelming odds.

First let me set the stage.......

Beginning on December 16, 1944, the German forces attacked through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, which was to become known as the Battle of the Bulge. For this assault the Germans massed an army of 350,000 men. If successful the attack would cut off an entire army would removing 1/4 of the Allied fighting force with a pincer manuver. The initial advance was greatly assisted by surprise. The first few days were vital, and many American troops were over-run.

On December 21 the German forces had completely surrounded Bastogne, defended by the 101st Airborne Division. When General Anthony McAuliffe was awakened by a German invitation to surrender, he gave a one-syllable reply "NUTS!" That reply had to be explained both to the Germans and to non-American Allies.

The chips were down and the circumstances were dire, but the Germans now had to face............PFC Martin!

At this point the story is told from 2 different perspectives.

1. From the perspective of Sergeant John Banister of the 14th Cavalry Group.

Late on the night of December 23rd, Sergeant John Banister found himself meandering through the village of Provedroux. He'd been separated from his unit during a retreat,and joined up with Task Force Jones. Now they were in retreat. The Germans were closing in on the village from three sides.

American vehicles were pulling out, and Banister was once again separated from his new unit, with no ride out. A tank destroyer rolled by; somebody waved him aboard and Banister eagerly climbed on. They roared out of the burning town. An hour later they reached the main highway running west from Vielsalm.

There they found a lone soldier digging a foxhole! Armed with bazooka and rifle, unshaven and filthy, he went about his business with a stoic nonchalance. They pulled up to him and stopped. He didn't seem to care about the refugees. "If yer lookin for a safe place," he said while continuing to dig, "just pull that vehicle behind me. I'm the 82nd Airborne. This is as far as the bastards are going."

The men on the tank destroyer hesitated. After the constant retreats of the last week, they didn't have much fight left in them. But the paratrooper's determination was infectious. "You heard the man," one man shouted out "Let's set up for business!" 20 minutes later, two truckloads of GIs joined their little roadblock. All through the night, men trickled in, and their defenses grew stronger.

Around that single paratrooper was formed the nucleus of a major strongpoint.

2. From the perspective of another witness.

PFC Martin, during the battle in the Ardennes Forest, asked a retreating tank destroyer commander, "Are you looking for a safe place?" When the tank commander answered yes, PFC Martin replied, "Well buddy just pull that vehicle behind me -- I am the 82d Airborne and this is as far as the bastards are going." He was not Joking. The Germans never made it past his foxhole, and the momentum of the battle was reversed.

This was one mans courage, agains all odds. It was such a heroic story that it was used as a recruiting tool at one time. Most of the world has heard this story in some form. Generals still quote him. PFC Martin gets my vote.

PFC Martin

Originally posted by craigandrew
Perhaps we should ask Hellmut to slightly amend the thread title a little.
But it truely doesn matter. All we all have our hero or heros.

You`re not the first to ask. Done.
I changed title and added a brief explaination in the first post.

Ah the Battle of the Bulge. Quite a bloody battle. I've probably said this before, but my great grandfather was in that battle.

Another person I respect is my great granduncle, he was American but he served with the British in Egypt as a tank mechanic. He also ended up fighting in some harsh battles in Italy, I'll ask a few relatives for some more details when I get the chance.