The exploits of Wehrmacht soldiers in the Second World War. Were Wehrmacht soldiers heroes?

A minute of history from Georgy Zotov

Impossible to believe? I think, yes. And yet, it was...

...On February 17, 1942, partisans from the “Death to Fascism!” detachment, who entered the village of Kurganovo (Smolensk region), were quite surprised to find a Wehrmacht corporal locked in one of the houses. The frightened elder explained: the German was a deserter; since last November he had been hiding in a neighboring village, but a patrol caught him there and brought him here. Tomorrow the guards will arrive - the German will be taken to Smolensk to be put on trial. The detachment commander thought about it and decided to take the prisoner with him to clarify the circumstances. This Nazi soldier turned out to be 26-year-old Fritz Schmenkel - the only soldier of Hitler’s army who was subsequently awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Lenin and... the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Hiding in my grandmother's underground

...Fritz Hans Werner Schmenkel (that's his name) full name) was born on February 14, 1916 in the tiny town of Varzovo near the city of Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland). Fritz's father, a member of the German Communist Party, was killed in 1932 when Nazi stormtroopers raided a party meeting. Shmenkel, who by that time was a member of the communist youth organization, vowed to avenge the death of his father. The guy worked at a brick factory until he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1938. Fritz pretended to be sick, but experienced doctors quickly figured out the simulation: due to draft evasion, Shmenkel was sentenced to two years of correctional labor. After Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, he decided that the time had come to help the “Soviet workers” in the fight against Hitler. The “simulator” declared that he was ready for service, and, having completed the “junior command staff” course, in the fall of 1941 he was sent to the 186th Wehrmacht Infantry Division in the USSR. Once on Eastern Front, Fritz deserted, but he was faced with a problem - how to go over to the side of the Russians? Will be seen in German uniform- They’ll shoot him, he doesn’t know the language. Wandering through the forests and eating roots, Shmenkel came to the village of Podmoshe, Yartsevo district Smolensk region, knocked on the hut and said to the old woman who opened it, “Lenin!” Stalin! Telman! He sat in the underground for 3 months, planned to go to the partisans, and was caught by “one of our own.”

2000 Reichsmarks per head

...At first the partisans did not trust Fritz, interrogated him endlessly, and even threatened to shoot him. How can this even happen - a German, and suddenly against his Fuhrer? He’s probably pretending to gain confidence, while he’s secretly spying. The corporal tirelessly tried to explain - he was for Soviet Union, against the Nazis, hates Hitler. He studied Russian, conducted “political information”, saying that in 1933, 5 million German residents voted for Ernst Thälmann’s party, not all Germans were convinced fascists. In the end, the prisoner persuaded the detachment commander to give him weapons. In the very first battle, Fritz killed a German machine gunner who was firing aimed fire at the partisans. In August 1942, dressed in a Wehrmacht uniform, Shmenkel single-handedly captured and brought into the detachment 11 local police officers from the “auxiliary units” who served the occupiers. When severe frosts hit in winter, and people in the detachment began to starve due to lack of food, Fritz “stole” carts loaded with bread and potatoes from under the noses of the German quartermasters. It got to the point that the Wehrmacht command printed leaflets - “Traitor Fritz Schmenkel is wanted. Take it alive or dead. The Russian for his help in the capture is awarded 8 hectares of land, the German soldier - 2,000 Reichsmarks and a two-month leave home.” In 1943, Fritz was interviewed by the war correspondent of the Pravda newspaper Boris Polevoy, the future author of the famous “The Tale of a Real Man.” He noted that Shmenkel already spoke Russian quite well, although he did not yet understand everything. In the detachment the German was respected and called “Ivan Ivanovich”, explaining: “for what good man Should I call him Fritz?”

"I am dying for a just cause"

… “A young blond man was sitting on a bench,” Polevoy recalled. “He was wearing a partisan uniform, a quilted sweatshirt and cotton pants, but something about him said that he was not Russian. – Fritz Schmenkel? - Yes sir! He said in Russian, but with the same chic with which German soldiers say “Yavol!” to their superiors. Soviet press interview with “partisan, comrade Sh.” didn't publish. “Your hero came to our land with weapons, like an occupier,” the authorities told Polevoy. “And we write in the editorial: “Death to the fascist occupiers!” And we do not have the right to “demagnetize” this slogan.” In March 1943 partisan detachment rejoined the attackers Soviet troops- by that time Shmenkel had already been awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After completing training at an intelligence school, he was appointed deputy commander of the Pole sabotage and reconnaissance group. Fritz was thrown behind the lines of the Wehrmacht troops, and he managed to complete several important tasks - with his characteristic recklessness and courage. Alas, in January 1944, Shmenkel was captured near Minsk - betrayed by a traitor who had wormed his way into the Belarusian underground. Fritz Schmenkel was brought before the tribunal, and on February 22 he was shot at the Minsk cemetery as “a traitor to the Fuhrer and great Germany" From prison he was able to hand over a letter, which was then delivered to his wife - “Forgive me for the trouble I have caused you. I boldly meet my execution, because I am dying for a just cause.”

"The One Who Didn't Shoot"

...Unfortunately, in the turmoil of the war, the feat of the only partisan in the history of the Great Patriotic War, the Wehrmacht soldier, was forgotten. It was only in the sixties that documents about his exploits were discovered in the archives of the USSR. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 6, 1964, Fritz Schmenkel was posthumously awarded the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin “for active participation in the partisan movement, and for the heroism and courage shown.” A street in the city of Nelidovo was named after the brave man, as well as (in 1976) a street in East Berlin: After the fall of socialism in the GDR, officials renamed it Reischsteinstrasse. In Minsk, on Freedom Square, you can still see a memorial plaque on the former premises of the SD (Nazi security service during the occupation), with Fritz’s profile, and the inscription - “In this building in February 1944 he was sentenced to death penalty German citizen Fritz Schmenkel, an active participant in the anti-fascist struggle, was fascist executioners.”

...Of course, we will forever remember how many civilians, women, children and old people were hanged, burned, starved to death, and poisoned by “gas chambers” by the occupiers on the territory of the USSR in 1941-1945. But something else should be remembered: in the words of Vysotsky’s song, “there was one who did not shoot.” The case of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Wehrmacht corporal Fritz Schmenkel, who gave his life for our country, is unique. That is why the name of this person should not be forgotten.
© Zotov

German soldiers of World War II were often portrayed, both during the war and during the following decades, as dull-witted, cruel, and unimaginative. IN Hollywood films and popular American TV shows, self-confident, talented and cool American G.I. For many years now they have been opposed to the stupid, cynical and cruel Germans.

"Propaganda is an inevitable ingredient modern conflicts", noted British journalist and historian Max Hastings. "During the Second World War, it was considered necessary that the Allied peoples be convinced of the qualitative superiority of their fighters over the enemy. One [American] infantryman or one [British] Tommy was worth three thick-headed Krauts. Hitler's robots could never match the imagination and initiative of Allied soldiers on the battlefield..."Famous American war films depicted German soldiers stupid. Hastings notes that in the decades after the war, “the spirit of military narcissism, fueled by films such as The Longest Day (about the Normandy landings), A Bridge Too Far (Battle of Holland) and the Battle of the Bulge, perpetuated the mythical images of the Allied and German armies."

In keeping with the prevailing propaganda image of the enemy, the British Prime Minister treated German soldiers and officers with contempt. In a 1941 radio address, Winston Churchill spoke of "the Nazi war machine, with its thunder, its dandy Prussian officers... [and] the dull, trained, obedient, brutal masses of Hun soldiers, as zealous as a swarm of locusts."

Like much that has been told to the public about World War II, this humiliating image bears no relation to reality. Military history experts who have studied this issue have come to the conclusion that the soldiers of the German Armed Forces - the Wehrmacht - combined unsurpassed ability and resourcefulness throughout almost six years of conflict.

Trevor Dupuis, renowned American military analyst, US Army Colonel, author numerous books and articles, studied the effectiveness of soldiers of World War II. “On average,” he concluded, “100 German soldiers were the equivalent of 120 American, British or French soldiers, or 200 Soviet soldiers." Dupuis wrote that: "German infantry invariably inflicted losses 50% more than the British and American troops under any circumstances [emphasis in original]. These proportions were observed both in attack and in defense, and when they had numerical superiority and when, as usually happened, they were in the minority, when they had air superiority and when they did not, when they won and when they lost. "

Other reputable military historians such as Martin Van Creveld and John Keegan have given comparable estimates. Max Boot makes a similar point in his detailed study, War Made New. “Face to face,” writes a military historian, “the Wehrmacht was probably the most formidable fighting force in the world, at least until 1943, if not later. German soldiers were known for taking more initiative than the soldiers of democratic France, Great Britain, and the United States.

Another scholar, Ben H. Shepherd, author of several books and lecturer in history at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, in his recent detailed work, "Hitler's Soldiers: The German Army in the Third Reich", debunks the myth of the German military being supposedly obedient zombies." In fact, the Wehrmacht encouraged qualities such as flexibility, audacity and independence", and "Nazi ideology imparted great importance qualities such as courage, endurance, resourcefulness, strength of character, and comradeship." Shepard also writes that "the German army was superbly organized. At all levels, the German army was more effectively organized than all the armies opposing it..."

Describing the 1940 campaign in France, Shepard writes: "... Exactly own strength the Germans allowed them to triumph so spectacularly. Among other things, they benefited from their creative and bold operational plan. At all levels, the Germans possessed the qualities of courage and adaptability, and the ability to respond to rapidly changing situations on the battlefield... The qualities of the German soldier, as well as the ability of commanders at all levels to think and act independently and effectively, were truly the key to German victory ..."

“Even after the tide of the war turned,” he writes, “the German troops fought well.” "The German army achieved its initial success thanks to high level training, cohesion and morale of his troops, and thanks to excellent coordination with the Luftwaffe [Air Force]... In the Normandy campaign [June-July 1944] much of the qualitative superiority of the German soldier was preserved. An exhaustive analysis of the [German] troops in Normandy concludes that, other than that, equal conditions 100 German soldiers win a battle against 150 Allied soldiers.”

"As a result of all this," says Shepard, "the Germans army units showed great restraint in defense [that is, in the last years of the war]. They also showed great resourcefulness and flexibility... Beginning in 1943, the German army carried out fighting with unprecedented tenacity, against the increasingly formidable Red Army in the East, as well as against the coalition Western allies, which was increasingly supplied with economic and military power U.S.A."
Max Hastings, in his study Overlord of the 1944 Allied landings in northern France and the campaign that followed, writes:

"The Allies in Normandy faced the best army this war, one of the greatest the world has ever seen... Great value had the quality of German weapons - primarily tanks. Their tactics were masterly... Their junior commanders were much better than the Americans, and perhaps also the British... Throughout the Second World War, wherever British or American troops met the Germans on more or less equal terms, the Germans prevailed victory. They had a historical reputation as formidable soldiers. Under Hitler, their army reached its peak."

In addition, Hastings points out that the Germans fought with equipment and weapons that were usually better than those of their opponents. “The quality of weapons and tanks, even in 1944, was significantly ahead of Allied models in every type of weapon except artillery and transport,” he writes. Even in the last years of the war, "German machine guns, mortars, anti-tank weapons and armored personnel carriers were superior to the British and American. Above all, Germany had the best tanks."

“Throughout the war, the performance of German soldiers remained unsurpassed... The Americans, like the British, never matched the extraordinary professionalism of the German soldier,” Hastings writes. "...German soldiers had an uncanny ability to transform themselves from butchers and bank clerks into real tacticians. One of the most absurd propaganda clichés was the image of the Nazi soldier as a slow-witted performer. In fact, the German soldier almost always showed much more flexibility on the battlefield than his Allied counterpart... the indisputable truth is that Hitler's Wehrmacht was the preeminent fighting force of the Second World War, one of the greatest in history."

After the war, Winston Churchill made a more truthful commentary than in 1941. In his memoirs, he compared the actions of the British and German troops in the Norwegian campaign of April–June 1940, the first time soldiers from these two nations faced each other in combat.

“The superiority of the Germans in planning, management and energy was quite common,” Churchill wrote. "In Narvik there are mixed German units a force of scarcely six thousand held the bay for six weeks from twenty thousand allied forces, and although they were driven out of the city, a little later the Germans saw how they [the allies] were evacuating... Seven days later the Germans crossed the road from Namsos to Mosjoen, which the British and French declared impassable... We who had naval superiority and could land anywhere on an unprotected coast, were taken out of the game by the enemy, who moved overland at a very long distances with serious obstacles. In this Norwegian campaign, some of our elite troops, the Scots and Irish Guards, were baffled by the energy, enterprise and training of the Hitler Youth."

Senior British military leaders were also amazed at the skill, tenacity and audacity of their opponents. "Unfortunately, we are fighting the best soldiers in the world - what guys!” wrote Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the 15th army group in Italy, in a report dated March 1944 in London. One of General Montgomery's best staff officers, Brigadier General Frank Richardson, later said of the German soldiers: "I have often wondered how we ever defeated them."

Similar views shared by other participants on both sides of the conflict. Italian artillery lieutenant Eugenio Conti, who took part with units of other European nations in the fierce fighting on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1942-43, later recalled: “I... asked myself... what would have become of us without the Germans. I reluctantly I had to admit that alone we Italians would have been in the hands of the enemy... I... thanked heaven that they were there with us in the column... Without a shadow of a doubt, as soldiers they have no equal. Lt. Tony Moody, who fought in Belgium in late 1944, later described how he and other American G.I.s characterized their opponents: “We felt that the Germans were much better trained, better equipped, and a better fighting machine than we were. "

Even in the last weeks of the war, when the prospects were truly grim, the Nazis continued to fight amazing power- as admitted in the report Soviet intelligence from March 1945: "most German soldiers realized the hopelessness of the situation after January arrived, although some still expressed faith in German victory. However, there are no signs of collapse morale enemy. They still struggle with stubborn persistence and unyielding discipline."

Milovan Djilas was an important figure in Tito's partisan army and served in high positions in Yugoslavia after the war. Looking back, he recalled the tenacity and skill of the German soldiers who slowly retreated from difficult mountainous areas in the most difficult conditions: "The German army left a trail of heroism... Hungry and half-naked, they cleared mountain landslides, stormed rocky peaks, cut detours. Allied planes used them as slow-moving targets. ... In the end they passed, leaving behind the memory of their military valor."

No matter how excellent the training, dedication and resourcefulness of the German fighters, and no matter how high the quality of their tanks, machine guns and other equipment, it was not enough to compensate for the great numerical superiority of their opponents.

Despite limited resources, and especially the constant shortage of oil, as well as other serious problems, German nation and its leaders showed exceptional organizational ability, ingenuity and adaptability in 1942, 1943 and 1944 in using available manpower and material resources for a sharp increase in the production of high-quality weapons and equipment. But during the same period, the Soviet Union and the United States used their much richer natural resources and personnel reserves to gain much large quantity weapons, ships, bombers, fighters, tanks and artillery.

First of all, the large allied powers there were many more people who could be sent to war, and even more people who could be used at home in the rear to provide everything they needed for their troops. It was numerical superiority that ultimately became decisive. Second World War in Europe was a victory of quantity over quality.

Even though their country endured even more crushing hardship, destruction and suffering as their cities were increasingly destroyed, the German soldiers at the front, supported at home by their people, showed enormous dedication, discipline and resourcefulness, defiantly withstanding the numbers superior forces of huge enemy powers.

This point was emphasized in the last grim communiqué of the German armed forces, issued on May 9, 1945: " German Wehrmacht, in the end, honorably submitted to the enemy's much superior forces. German soldiers, faithful to this oath, served their people and will forever remain in the memory of their compatriots. Until the last moment, their homeland supported them with all its might, in the most difficult conditions. History will later deliver its fair and impartial verdict and will appreciate the unique merits of the front and the population of the country. The enemy, too, will not fail to appreciate the exploits and sacrifices of German soldiers on land, at sea and in the air."

Bibliography:

Max Hastings, "Their Wehrmacht Was Better Than Our Army," The Washington Post, May 5, 1985. On the popular weekly American television show "Combat!" (1962-1967), small unit American soldiers, deployed to France in 1944, routinely and easily killed large groups of German troops. In every episode of the popular American television sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965-1971), the Germans, and especially the German military, were portrayed as timid, stupid and cowardly, while Allied soldiers, especially the Americans, were always smart, resourceful and creative.
. Churchill radio address of June 22, 1941. Quoted in: Winston Churchill, The Second World War, volume 3/ “The Grand Alliance” (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950), p. 371.
. This assessment by Trevor Dupuis first appeared in A Genius for War: The German Army and the General Staff", 1807-1945 (1977), pp. 253-254. An updated summary of his work on this topic in: Trevor N. Dupuy, David L. Bongard and R. C. Anderson, Jr., Hitler's Last Gamble (1994), Appendix H (pages 498-501). This quotation of Dupuy is given in: Max Hastings, Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy (New York: 1984), pp. 184, 326 (n. 30); John Mosier, Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin, 1941-1945 (Simon & Schuster, 2010), pp. 443-444 (note 48);
. Max Boot, War Made New (New York: 2006), p. 462. See also pp. 238, 553.
. Ben H. Shepherd, Hitler's Soldiers: The German Army in the Third Reich (Yale University Press, 2016), pp. 524, 87, 396, 525.
. Ben H. Shepherd, Hitler's Soldiers (2016), pp. 87, xi.
. Ben H. Shepherd, Hitler's Soldiers (2016), pp. 87, 437.
. Ben H. Shepherd, Hitler's Soldiers (2016), pp. 533, xiii.
. Max Hastings, Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy (New York: 1984), p. 24, 315-316.
. M. Hastings, Overlord (1984), p. 24; M. Hastings, “Their Wehrmacht Was Better Than Our Army,” The Washington Post, May 5, 1985.
. M. Hastings, “Their Wehrmacht Was Better Than Our Army,” The Washington Post, May 5, 1985.
. Winston Churchill, The Second World War, volume 1/“The Gathering Storm” (Boston: 1948), pp. 582-583.
. Max Hastings, Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 (NewYork: 2012), pp. 512, 520.
. M. Hastings, Inferno (2012), p. 312. Source cited: Eugenio Conti, Few Returned: 28 Days on the Russian Front, Winter 1942-1945 (1997), p. 138.
. M. Hastings, Inferno (2012), p. 572.
. M. Hastings, Inferno (2012), p. 594.
. M. Hastings, Inferno, pp. 586-587. Source cited: Milovan Djilas, Wartime (1980), p. 446.
. Final German OKW armed forces communique, May 9, 1945.

The answer to your question depends on who is considered a hero - the most effective military personnel different types armed forces or those who committed acts of resistance to the Nazi regime in the name of saving other people - and how to interpret the predicate “is” (i.e. whether there were such people at all or whether they are still alive).

As for military personnel who achieved high results in battles, Germany is perhaps the record holder in both quantitative and qualitative indicators. Two aviators, fighter pilot Major Hartmann and bomber Colonel Rudel, were already cited above as examples - yes, by general recognition, each of them achieved the most outstanding results throughout the history of the existence of their military branches. But the German military school was generally aimed at educating military personnel in a way that would help them maximize their talents, so in almost all types of weapons the Germans had a fairly significant number of champions of sorts - for example, among fighter pilots who shot down 100 or more enemy aircraft more than 30 people, while not a single aviator from other countries could even come close to this result (the closest is Finn Eino Juutilainen, 94 victories). There were many tankers who knocked out dozens of enemy tanks; submariners who sank dozens of ships (personally, I doubt whether those who acted against merchant shipping can be considered heroes; nevertheless, among them there were outstanding people, for example, Corvette Captain G. Prien, who carried out a risky operation to break into the enemy naval base and sank there battleship), infantrymen who participated in many battles and achieved their goals. The highest military award of Nazi Germany - the Knight's Cross Iron Cross and more high degrees- approximately 8,000 people were awarded. They can probably be considered heroes in the sense that in their field they achieved high combat results.

On the other side, Nazi Germany was totalitarian state, who unleashed terror both against their own citizens and against the population of the occupied territories, carrying out large-scale actions for the systematic destruction of entire peoples. Therefore, even spiritual resistance to him was not just associated with a risk to life, but was a manifestation highest altitudes spirit, a triumph of human dignity. Heroes, for example, can be considered those Germans who went on a multi-day demonstration in defense of their Jewish spouses, captured by the Gestapo to be sent to death camps (events of late February - early March 1943 in Berlin). The Catholic Bishop of Munster, Count Clemens von Galen, can be considered a hero, thanks to whose sermons the program of extermination of German disabled people and patients of psychiatric clinics was curtailed - he was not arrested only because of the strange whim of Hitler, who feared a negative reaction public opinion in other countries. General Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff can be called a hero - he decided to sacrifice his life by blowing up Hitler along with himself using time bombs (this action was not successful due to the fact that Hitler changed the program of the event at which the assassination attempt was supposed to take place , and the meeting with him did not take place - the general was forced to disarm the activated bomb fuses almost on the spot failed assassination attempt). The righteous of the world, figures of the Resistance, people who provided assistance to opponents of the regime - all of them are also heroes.

There was heroism of a different kind. When the protracted war required the conscription of all men who could serve in the army, women and children took their place - at the machines, in the mines, in the fields. And if women began to be recruited to work in enterprises only at the very end of the war (Hitler believed that attracting women to industry could negatively affect the image of his party - imagine, he was guided by such considerations), then boys and girls are not only from the Hitler Youth and the Union German girls(senior sections of youth organizations Nazi Party for boys and girls, respectively), but also from the younger ones Jungfolk and Jungmedel - began to be actively exploited approximately from the middle of the war. They took the place of agricultural workers, extinguished fires after bombings, cleared rubble (and retrieved corpses - imagine what it’s like for a 12-year-old child to see mutilated, burned dead bodies), served in anti-aircraft artillery crews (my dad was such an “anti-aircraft gunner assistant” in his early youth -Emerit Benedict XVI). At the very end of the war, their leaders told them that they must defend their homeland with arms in hand and “die for the Fuhrer, the people and the fatherland.” And they, sincerely believing the maniac who plunged their country into the fire of world war, were the last soldiers of this country. Many of them earned “adult” awards at their posts - many child firefighters, child workers were awarded Crosses of Military Merit, and some were awarded the highest military award- Iron Cross (the youngest recipient was 12 years old). In general, older youths from the Hitler Youth were drafted into the SS troops from 1943 (an entire SS division was made up of them, named after this youth organization, which achieved high military successes in a very short period of its existence).

War has brought many things to humanity: death, disease and villains who make John Rambo look more like Ned Flanders. These 10 ordinary soldiers performed amazing feats and somehow managed to make the story quite exciting.

10. Dirk J. Vlug.

Dirk J. Vlug, born in 1916, served as a Private First Class in the 126th Infantry Division based in the Philippines. On December 15, 1944, Dirk's squad and the checkpoint they were defending came under fire from Japanese forces. Leaving his cover, with a rocket launcher and five rounds of ammunition, Vlug rushed into machine-gun fire. He charged a rocket launcher single-handedly and destroyed an enemy tank.

Not satisfied with this, he killed the gunner of the second tank with a pistol shot and destroyed the tank with another missile. Seeing three more tanks moving along the road, Vlug took aim at the first one and eliminated it. He rushed forward to destroy the fourth tank of the day. Finally, he sent the last tank down the slope. In total, he destroyed five tanks single-handedly.

9. Charles Carpenter.

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Carpenter (“Bazooka Charlie” to his friends) was a US intelligence pilot during World War II. While he was primarily flying reconnaissance missions, during the Allied siege of Lorient in 1944, Charles decided he had not seen combat and installed missile launchers designed for infantrymen on his aircraft. Just six. Dubbing the aircraft "Rosie the Rocket", Charles used it in a series of attacks he carried out alone, destroying as many as six enemy tanks and several armored vehicles by the end of the war. On a reconnaissance plane. With bazookas mounted on it.

8. James Hill.

British officer Hill commanded the 1st Parachute Brigade, deployed to North Africa. While his brigade was trying to liberate the town of Goo Hill from the Italians, he accomplished a crazy feat on November 22, 1942. You might think that anyone who took on the less successful Italians would have had a fun time, but destroying three Italian tanks was definitely not a walk in the park. His battalion came across a fortified Italian and German camp, including 300 Italian soldiers and three light tanks.

Hill planned to force the enemy to retreat into a minefield behind them that a group of Royal Engineers would lay, but a faulty grenade in their weaponry resulted in an explosion and the death of 25 of the 27 engineers before they could set up the minefield. Now under fire from Italian soldiers and tanks, Hill had to think quickly or risk his subordinates. Armed only with a revolver, Hill took aim at the tanks. Skillfully avoiding fire, James was able to subdue the commands of two tanks by pointing a revolver at the observation hole. During the attack on the third tank, he was wounded three times, but survived.

7. Fritz Kristen.

We, especially I, the site administrator, do not consider his act heroic, but the fact remains a fact. Fritz was a soldier in the Totenkopf Waffen-SS unit during the war. They acted as the spearhead of the German invasion of the USSR and saw more than most. On the morning of September 24, 1941, Christen was manning an anti-tank fortification. During a firefight with Soviet soldiers, most of the soldiers working on the fortification were killed. He only had a 50-mm gun left, and there were no soldiers left, no food or any help. In the three days that his fight lasted, he destroyed 13 Soviet tanks and killed almost 100 soldiers.

6. Ivan Pavlovich.

Ivan was a cook for the 91st tank regiment Red Army. One day in August 1941, Ivan was preparing dinner. He noticed german tank who stopped near field kitchen.

Taking a rifle and an ax, Ivan waited until the soldiers began to leave the tank to refuel it. The team seeing someone moving towards them Soviet soldier with an ax, she quickly returned to the tank. When the tank began to load the machine gun, Pavlovich climbed onto the tank and bent the machine gun bushing with his ax. He covered the observation hole with a piece of tarpaulin and loudly ordered his imaginary comrades to throw him an imaginary grenade, banging on the body of the tank until the four men gave up, thinking that the entire Red Army was already nearby.

5. Aubrey Cozens.

Born in Latchward, Ontario on May 21, 1921, Aubrey served with Queen's Own Rifles of Canada during the war. In Muschof, Germany, on February 25 and 26, 1945, Cozens proved certain Canadian stereotypes wrong by capturing an enemy stronghold alone. After his platoon came under heavy counterattack during an attempted capture of three rural houses by the Germans, Cozens took control. He emerged from cover under heavy fire to direct the last remaining Allied tank towards last Stand. The tank rammed one of the buildings, killing several residents, and Cozens took the rest prisoner. He then proceeded to kill or capture enemies in the second and third buildings. After capturing the buildings, he was mortally wounded in the head by an enemy sniper.

4. Havildar Lachiman Gurung.

Havildar Lachiman Gurung, born in Nepal on December 30, 1917, served as a rifleman in the 8th Gurkha Rifles, a unit of the Indian Army during World War II. Serving in Burma, this short, 150 centimeter man stood up to the ferocity of the Japanese Empire. On May 12 and 13, 1945, Gurung was sent to the forward post office in Taungdaw. At this time, the Japanese, numbering 200 people, attacked this department. They threw grenades at him, he successfully threw back two grenades that fell near him, but the third exploded and damaged him right hand. Over the next four hours The havildar repeatedly reloaded his rifle with one hand, fighting off the enemy until reinforcements arrived. 31 dead Japanese soldiers were found nearby. He killed everyone with one hand.

3. Leo Major.

Canadian Leo Major served in the Régiment de la Chaudière during the war. Born in 1921, he also participated in Korean War. On the night of April 13, 1945, in order to save the city of Zwolle, Holland, from bombing, Leo voluntarily tried to liberate the entire city, only one person volunteered to help him. At midnight his partner was killed and Major went on the attack alone. After capturing the driver of the vehicle that shot his friend, he drove to a bar in the city where the German official was drinking while on leave. He told the official that at 6:00 the artillery would level the city if they did not surrender and ran out into the street. Leo lost his temper and began running around the city, firing a machine gun and throwing grenades. He made so much noise that the Germans thought the Canadians were attacking great strength. Taking advantage of the confusion among the Germans, he seized the advantage. About 10 times he escorted groups of prisoners to the city limits and waiting Canadian Forces. When he found the Gestapo headquarters, he set it on fire and fought eight Nazi soldiers, killing four of them before the rest escaped. By 4:30 the Germans had abandoned the city and Zwolle was saved from the bombardment.

2. Warren G. H. Gracie.

Warren, tank commander of the 761st Tank Battalion, earned the nickname "Worst Man in the 761st" after his actions on November 10, 1944. After his tank was disabled, he appropriated vehicle, armed with a machine gun, throwing out German soldiers who destroyed his tank and a group of forward observers. When his replacement tank began to sink into the mud, he used a machine gun. Warren single-handedly held the enemy's pass, forcing them to retreat. Described as a “quiet, good-natured, gentle fellow,” Warren was awarded the Medal of Honor.

1. Fazal Din.

Serving in the 7th Battalion of the British Indian Army, Fazal Din was born on 1 July 1921. His troops were deployed to Burma on March 2, 1945, near Meiktila. Fazal's unit came under machine gun fire while attacking a Japanese camp. After attacking the camp, Fazal came across a bunker from which six Japanese soldiers emerged, led by two generals. One of Fazal's soldiers was able to kill one general before he was killed by another. Seeing this, Fazal rushed to attack and was wounded in the chest. Although wounded, Fazal captured the Japanese general's sword, killing him and another Japanese soldier. Returning back to the camp, Fazal wrote a report before dying of his wounds.

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