Heroic Actions On The Battlefield

Originally posted by mad scientist
The funny thing about the raid on the heavy water plant, is that in hindsight it made absolutely no difference to the war. The Nazi's were never close to building a bomb, they couldn't even build decent reactor.

Originally posted by fritz
Having read several newspaper accounts of this undoubtably brave young man's actions, I am at a loss to see why he has been awarded the coveted Victoria Cross.

Yes his actions were incredibly brave, but no more so than a Colour Sergeant who did something similar a couple of months ago. He was not awarded the VC.

Apart from the fact that the Victoria Cross may only be awarded for 'acts of heroism and bravery in the face of the enemy', how can this be justified, as the Prime Minister announced towards the end of last year, that the war was over?

Surely our forces out there are carrying out policing duties in support of the Iraqi government?

Othere, including my grandfather have been awarded the VC for doing less, but far more have been refused for carrying out even braver acts of selfless courage in the Gulf War.

Is there a hidden agenda? Why have the SAS operatives in Afghanistan and Iraq not been awarded VC's or is this yet another cynical attempt by this government to pander to certain politically correct and interested parties or, as I feel, this award is being used to give the army something in order to keep them (General Mike Jackson) quiet?

Originally posted by Kidbored
Charge of the Light Brigade [...] the battle of Balaclava [...]

Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh received the Navy Cross Medal from the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, during an awards ceremony Thursday at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

The strategy of Major General L J Morshead, of the Tobruk garrison, was simply this: to hold the town at all costs, and, by offensive forays, to force the enemy to divert greatly superior forces to hold a dangerous threat and thus weaken his drive against Egypt.

It was in the heat and dust of Tobruk that Australian tenacity and courage achieved its supreme expression. Air raids which had gone into the thousands before unofficial statisticians lost count had no more effect on members of the garrison than the enemy's artillery, strafing and attacks by tanks.
The siege was only a couple of months old when the renegade Lord Haw Haw, broadcasting from Berlin, said they were "caught like rats in a trap" and applied it to the garrison because most of its men could find shelter only underground while the bombers were overhead. Our men accepted the title with relish. To one another, they were "the rats." To the Axis they were rats with razor-sharp teeth. They became "The Rats of Tobruk"

the first phases of the siege the Australian garrison, concerned primarily with testing its strength, concentrated on defence. But as the troops proved their ability to repel thrust upon thrust by Germans and Italians, defence gave way to fierce aggression as the world's most daring patrol fighters went into action each night.

Tobruk patrols were of two types - fighting and reconnaissance. The job of the reconnaissance patrol was to gather information and, if possible, to secure prisoners for identification. Its members used all their bushcraft to avoid being discovered. Like stealthy shadows, they saw without being seen. But the fighting patrol went out to fight. Its aim was to do as much damage and to kill as many of the enemy as possible. Its members would creep up on an enemy post, surround it and then, at a given signal, rush in with the bayonet and kill-soundlessly A few brief minutes of bloody, sinew-straining work and the foray would be over, with not a shot fired.

So persistent and so deadly were the Australian night patrols that the enemy, living in the perpetual shadow of silent, stealthy death, was soon reduced to a state of almost panicky nervousness. On the slightest provocation, and often on no provocation at all, he would put down artillery and mortar barrages.

Two typical examples of AIF offensive patrols are quoted. In the first, the raiders crawled in single file for two miles through a minefield to attack an observation post, the position of which had been revealed by reconnaissance patrols on the previous day.
The patrol started on its journey after midnight and was preparing for the final assault when Very lights lit up the scene, and the enemy post opened fire with rifles and machine guns. Five of our men then charged in with bayonets, Tommy guns, and grenades. Despite a volley of hand grenades from the enemy, the patrol stormed on, killing 15 and wounding many of the estimated 50 enemy before crossfire from supporting posts forced a withdrawal. The patrol regained its own lines, suffering only slight casualties.

The second classic patrol won for its leader, Lieutenant William. Horace Noyes, the Military Cross. With an NCO, Lieutenant Noyes stalked and destroyed three light tanks and led a bayonet attack against the enemy garrison. His unit captured the post and killed or wounded the garrison of 130, as well as the crews of seven machine-guns and 11 anti-tank guns and their protective infantry. It also damaged a heavy tank.


Throughout the siege the AIF garrison operated with a perfect team work that ran from the front-line soldier, back through his immediate headquarters to the artillery, back to the higher formations, to the supply and ordnance workshops, and to the hospitals. In the entire garrison there was not one idle mouth to be fed.

And throughout the eight bitter months of heat and dust and blood and flies, the garrison retained those high spirits that are the hallmark of high courage. If Lord Haw Haw thought he could goad the Australians with his bitter tilt at the "Rats of Tobruk" he committed the grossest of his many misjudgments.

The men were proud of the title and some of them now treasure an unofficial medal, bearing the stamp of a rodent rampant, which was unofficially struck to commemorate the defence of Tobruk. see below left

That medal was fashioned from aluminum taken from the fuselage of a German bomber brought down by the anti-aircraft fire of the sharpest-teethed rats in history. Below right is a newer commemorative medal issued by the Association in 1977

Originally posted by Otts
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...