Léo Major, kanadski vojnik u Drugom svjetskom ratu, je u aprilu 1945. sam oslobodio od Njemaca holandski grad koji je tada imao 50,000 stanovnika. Za to je dobio "Distinguished Conduct Medal".
Dakle, da sumiramo, ubio je minimum 6 njemačkih vojnika, a zarobio otprilike jednu četu, uždio Gestapov štab i razbucao štab SS-a te otkazao bombardovanje grada koje bi rezultiralo civilnim žrtvama.In the beginning of April, the Régiment de la Chaudičre were approaching the city of Zwolle, which presented strong German resistance.
The Commanding Officer asked for two volunteers to reconnoitre the German force before the artillery began firing at the city. Private Major and his friend Corporal Willie Arseneault stepped forward to accept the task.
In order to keep the city intact, the pair decided to try to capture Zwolle alone, though they were only supposed to reconnoitre the German numbers and attempt contact with the Dutch Resistance.
Around midnight Arseneault was killed by German fire after accidentally giving away the team's position. Enraged, Major killed two of the Germans, but the rest of the group fled in a vehicle. He decided to continue his mission alone.
He entered Zwolle near Sassenport and came upon a staff car.
He ambushed and captured the German driver, and then led him to a bar where an officer was taking a drink.
Inside he found that they could both speak French (the officer was from Alsace), and Major told him that at 6:00 am Canadian artillery would begin firing at the city, causing numerous casualties among both the German troops and the civilians. As a sign of good faith, he gave the German his gun back.
Major then proceeded to run throughout the city firing his machine gun, throwing grenades and making so much noise that he fooled the Germans into thinking that the Canadian Army was storming the city in earnest.
As he was doing this, he would attack and capture German troops. About 10 times during the night he captured groups of 8 to 10 German soldiers, escorted them out of the city and gave them to the French-Canadian troops that were waiting in the vicinity.
After transferring his prisoners to the troops, he would return to Zwolle to continue his assault. However, four times during the night he had to force his way into civilians' houses to get some rest.
He eventually located the Gestapo HQ and set the building on fire.
Later stumbling upon the SS HQ, he got into a quick but deadly fight with eight ranking Nazi officers: four were killed, and the other half fled.
He noticed that two of the SS he just killed were disguised as resistance members. The Zwolle resistance had been (or were going to be) infiltrated by the Nazis.
By 4:30 am, the exhausted Major found out that the Germans had retreated. Zwolle had been liberated, and the Resistance contacted. Walking in the street he met four members of the Dutch Resistance. He informed them that the city was now free of Germans.
Major found out later that morning that the Germans had fled to the west of the River IJssel and, perhaps more importantly, that the planned shelling of the city would be called off and his Régiment de la Chaudičre could enter the city unopposed.
Inače u bitci kod Šelde, u oktobru 1944. je takođe sam zarbio 93 njemačka vojnika. Već tada je trebao da dobije orden ali:
Durgi orden je dobio zbog uloge u Korejskom ratu:Because this was so insane, the British high command offered him a Distinguished Conduct Medal, but Leo told them to get bent and shove the medal up their asses.
In Major's opinion, Allied High Command General Bernard Montgomery was such an incompetent dickbrain that he wasn't qualified to be giving medals out to anyone, and any award issued by him was about as worthless as he was.
Try to keep in mind, now, that this is a Private talking about the most senior officer in his army.
20 good men :mrgreen:Major, who by this time had graciously been promoted to Corporal, was sent to infiltrate a key hill that had just been captured from the Americans by a huge force of nearly forty thousand Chinese soldiers.
Major snuck in with 19 other French Canadian hardasses, set up fortifications, and – for whatever reason – decided to open fire on the Chinese.
In a massive battle that lasted for three days and nights, Leo Major and his 20-man platoon somehow captured the hill and held off desperate counterattacks by two full divisions of the Chinese army.
Major was right in the middle of the whole thing, pumping up his men and calling mortar fire down mere feet from his position to ensure maximum detonation of his enemies. That's some stone-cold shit right there, but at this point we know it to be par for the course for this guy.
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