Real War Stories

[Megaberna]

Post here your or someone's real war stories (friends, family, etc)

[Jefferson]

This story gets garbled at points, where my Grandfather, (whos tale this is) has exaggerated and/or added bits in for no apparent reason. Nevertheless, here we go.

The first bit that we know for more or less certain:

So my Grandad was fairly young when the German And Russian armies conquered Poland. Even so he decided to leave, crossing Germany and then following the line of the German advance through France. It is likely that, living in Silesia he would have been deported to work in Germany if he did not escape. Having heard a rumour that he Polish army was regrouping in France, he set off to join up, only for the French to surrender and the Polish Free Forces be scttered across France, interned in Switzerland or escape to Great Britain before he got there, and found himself stranded in Vichy France. So he signed up to the French Foreign Legion,who I imagine sheltered him from the German government who demanded that Germans, Poles and Jews among others be handed over to them, most likely by posting him to a far flung region such as Chad.

When the British and Americans landed in North Africa, and the French colonies declared themselves French again, my Grandad left the Legion and signed up to the Polish Paratroop Brigade. He ended up posted in Scotland, and saw action of sorts at Arhnem, even though the majority of the Poles arrived late to the fight. For some reason after the war, he didn't go to Berlin with the rest of the Brigade. My Dad suspects that he may have been in prison at the time, but we can't find out until either we get his permission to access his records, or he dies.

Now for the most likely made up bit.

While entering France he claims to have found a bombed out tank column, which happened to conatin a rather large amount of money. According to him this money was hidden under a bridge in Northern France, and he kept making trips up there to collect cash while he was in the Foreign Legion. Apparently after the war he went back there to try and get the rest, only to find that said bridge had been destroyed in the fighting. So yes, a rather unlikely tale, but also quite cool.

Updated due to further research! (And to improve upon my scrappy writing style)

[Duuring]

My grandmother was about nine or ten when the war was ending. She lived in the north of the Netherlands (Assen, to be precise).

At one point, as the allies were fighting themselves a way in, my grandmother and her family went into the shelter (Well, actually it was just the basement). Her older brother however, who wanted to see the fighting, went to the house of the local baker (from whose house you could see the battle more clearly). The bullets were flying trough the streets as he crossed it, but he did make it back alive. My grandmother also recalls German soldiers running trough her family backyard, to safety, as the allies were closing in.

When they were eventually liberated, there was a column of tanks kinda paraded on a square not far from her house. She, and many other children, went to see and greet the Canadian soldiers, and they received all sorts of sweets and chocolate.  They also got a Canadian soldier quartered in their house, by the name of Anthony, if I remember correctly. She remembered his name, even after all those years.

So, maybe not a cool fighting story, but just an eyewitness account from someone who means a lot to me. 

[Skruf]

This is about my "Step Great-Grandfather" always considered him family though.
Hopes that is okay.

When Norway was invaded the 9th of April 1940 he was on a trade boat in the US. He got the news that Norway was invaded by the Germans and did not surrender to the German terms. According to him, his crew and himself went on the first boat to England and there they enlisted into the convoy fleets. He was delivering weapons, food, ammunition and all that stuff. They usually did the trip between the US and Britain but they also did many trips to Murmansk in Soviet Russia.

He survived four torpedo sinking's. Lost a leg and suffered from damaged nerves and the stuff that comes with being torpedoed four times. He also told me that only two of his Norwegian friends survived the war. Those convoys were pretty rough. 

I always looked up to him and he was always a great source of pride for me.

[Millander]

My granddad was an anti aircraft gunner on various battleships. He had 2 confirmed planes shot down from his gun. He saw kamikazes hit ships all around him. None went for the battleships though becuse the carriers were always the real targets.     Sorry for the little detaill he does when I was very young.

[König]

My great-grandfather was with the US army on the Japanese island of Okinawa (he got sent there after some time in Europe). While he was there, there was a giant typhoon (think Sandy x2) so they all had to find shelter. So they found some of the caves the Japanese had previously occupied, and used them for shelter. While they were in them, the caves started to become flooded, add falling power-lines to the mix, and you have quite the... electric combination.

While they were there, they also came across a box full of what would turn out to be a lot of Japanese money (kind of like a pirate's treasure  ). But they didn't know what it was, so they proceeded to do all the things that twenty-something GIs do when they find stuff like that. Including but not limited to: throwing it, taking some as souvenirs, and then leaving it where they found it...

[HammingtonMuffin]

My grandmother was about nine or ten when the war was ending. She lived in the north of the Netherlands (Assen, to be precise).

At one point, as the allies were fighting themselves a way in, my grandmother and her family went into the shelter (Well, actually it was just the basement). Her older brother however, who wanted to see the fighting, went to the house of the local baker (from whose house you could see the battle more clearly). The bullets were flying trough the streets as he crossed it, but he did make it back alive. My grandmother also recalls German soldiers running trough her family backyard, to safety, as the allies were closing in.

When they were eventually liberated, there was a column of tanks kinda paraded on a square not far from her house. She, and many other children, went to see and greet the Canadian soldiers, and they received all sorts of sweets and chocolate.  They also got a Canadian soldier quartered in their house, by the name of Anthony, if I remember correctly. She remembered his name, even after all those years.

So, maybe not a cool fighting story, but just an eyewitness account from someone who means a lot to me. 

Canada

My grandpa and grand-uncle lived in Taiwan and they joined the Japanese Air Force to fight Nationalist China, as money was scarce and the Japanese paid it's pilots well compared to the Chinese, they had a family to feed you know. They flew for the whole war, I think together they had 7 kills against Chinese forces, and 12 American planes. Both survived the war, but many of their friends who they flew with died. Also they told me of how over the war, the quality of Japanese pilots decreased so much, in a training both of them "shot down" 10 Japanese new pilots at once, to none of them getting hit even. Both flew the Mk. 1 Zero. After the war they moved to Canada with there family

TLDR: I'm Chinese not Japanese

[James Grant]

In the Anglo-Zulu war my Great great great grandfather led the cavalry charge at Kampula.

He lived with his family in Jersey, Channel Isles, from 1870 to 1875, and then at Wilsbridge, near Bath, till 1878. Having been ordered to take a complete change, and the Kaffir rebellion of that year having broken out, he sailed for the Cape, offered his services to Colonel Buller, commanding the Frontier Light Horse, was at once accepted, and made adjutant of the regiment. On the suppression of this rebellion he accompanied Colonel Buller's force on its march through Kaffraria, Pondoland, across Natal to Pieter-maritzburg, thence through the length of Natal, across the Transvaal to Pretoria, and on to Lydenburgh, where the regiment was employed against the chief Sekokuni. This was reputed the longest cavalry march which had ever been made. On the outbreak of the Zulu war the Frontier Light Horse marched to the Zulu border at Kambula, where they joined the column under Sir Evelyn Wood, who had his base at Utrecht. While there, the finances of the regiment requiring reorganisation, the paymaster's department was added to Captain Hutton's other duties, and the work was, as usual, carried out to the complete satisfaction of his superior officers. He was present with Colonel Buller on patrol at the finding of the Prince Imperial's dead body, afterwards handed over to the regular cavalry sent out to search for it, and also at the Hlobana affair, where, after storming the mountain, several corps were caught on its summit by the sudden appearance of a Zulu impi, and lost heavily, having to retreat down an almost precipitous native footpath, where the horses had often to jump down steps in the rock, six feet at a time, and where many of the wounded men, and, indeed, others too, blew out their brains rather than fall alive into the hands of the Zulus. Captain Hutton and others ably seconded Colonel Buller's efforts to keep the men cool and to get them safely away, and was one of the comparative few who succeeded in saving their horses. Once down the mountain, a running fight took place for some miles, the Zulus doing their best to cut off the troops, and those who still had horses conveyed those unhorsed well to the rear, and helped to keep back the pursuing enemy. It was on this occasion that Colonel Buller won the V.C. by saving the lives of six or seven men. The next day the battle of Kambula was fought, when the Zulu impi, 20,000 strong, the pick of Cete-wayo's army, made repeated and desperate assaults on the camp from early morning till four o'clock in the afternoon, and were so thoroughly defeated that they never again made anything like a determined stand. Captain Hutton was the last of the mounted men who were sent out to draw the enemy on, who entered camp as the Zulus came charging to the assault, and he led the pursuit which followed the breaking of the enemy, when ample reparation was exacted for the companions who had fallen the day before; he was mentioned in despatches by General Wood for his gallantry and distinguished services during the two days. He accompanied his regiment on the advance to Ulundi, and was present at the battle of that name, which ended the war. Captain Hutton returned to England in September, 1879. Already possessed of the New Zealand medal, he now received the South African one with clasp.

[Landrik]

During the Invasion of Iraq, my father was an artillery battery commander. I forget where, but he was in a make-shift taskforce that was only a little over battalion strength. Well, they were tasked with taking and capturing a town with about 2 Divisions worth of Iraqi Guards in it and they had ordnance stacked to the ceiling and the entire town turned into a deathtrap with blockaded streets and tons of killzones for their heavy weapons. Thing was, every one of them abandoned the town and everything in it.

Scary thinking of how easily they could've wiped those Marines and my father off the map. Really, hearing it from him is much more detailed and better.

[Moldplayer]

One of my relatives on my mother's mother's side fought for much of the first world war (Canada) I do not recall all of the story, but i do remember that he rose through the ranks to at least a captain. He fought for the majority of the war, probably through the hells of Ypres the Somme etc. Unfortunately he died a few weeks before armistice.

I do apologies if i embellished a bit of the story, as i do not recall all of it.

Some interesting stories here. Keep it up.

[Hawke]

In the First World War, my great uncle served as a Machine-gunner for the British army. I can't say a massive amount, because I don't know all of the story. But I do know that he fought at one of the Ypres battles, Passchendaele, and the Somme. He survived all three, however, on the final few days of the Somme, he was gassed, and then shot in the leg and sent home. Although he's not well known at all, I still consider him to be a War Hero.

[Skyz]

My Grandfather served in the Korean War in 1950. I cant remember which division he was in, but he was in some Intelligence. I remember him telling me that he was on the USS New Jersey for bombardment on Yangyang and other areas. He never did actually see action on the ground.

[34th Artimus]

Details are incredibly scarce, but based on what my grandparents tell me: My great grandfather fought in the North Africa campaign as a desert rat in the British Army. Other than that, I'm not sure what he did or where he went. He never used to talk about the war, though. We have his medals and his army paybook and that's all that's left. He died when I was very young.

[Jacob]

When my great grandfather was in the 7th Armored Division, he was driving a flamer tank in north Africa and when he came back he used to tell stories of the men screaming as the flesh burned off their bones, some would even throw themselves under the tracks of the tank because they would rather die by being crushed than burn to death.

[KillerMongoose]

I had an ancestor in the 8th (Belgian) Hussars at Waterloo. During the battle Ghigny's Brigade (8th Belgian Hussars, 4th Dutch Light Dragoons) charged the French lancers who had been butchering up the British cavalry. During the ensuing cavalry melee, my ancestor was stabbed in the torso by a French lancer but when the lancer withdrew his lance and raised it for the death blow, my ancestor grabbed his lance and tore it from his grip and then broke it over the lancer's head and jammed the broken end into his neck. My ancestor survived and passed on his story through my family, I believe he kept the lance head as a souvenir but I'm not sure and if he did I have no idea as to its location.