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Somehow it does not take so much courage when you are aimed with a machinegun from behind...im sure quite a deal of soldiers run into minefields.
sounds a lot like the german words Strafe (=punishment/penalty) and Rotte (=some kind of unit). is it derived from that?Originally posted by Suvorov
Close enough...
singular: shtrafrot
plural: shtrafroty
Most probably...
Hell, it makes sense to take words linked to disciplin (Strafe) and the military (Rotte) from German, doesn't it?
Buterbrod (sandwich) also exists as a Russian word. How this is to be explained is beyond me, however...
Yeah I recently stumbled upon the word reading Antony Beevor's Berlin, the Downfall 1945. It seems the Russian fronts, and the 1st Belorussian Front in particular was quite good in using the so called shtrafroty for cleaning up minefields or being used as cannon fodder.
I had been wondering about the word... It sounded too German to be true
Grandpa told me about the Butterbrot thing His explanation went "They didn´t have that before". ::shrugs::
And to get this back on topic I´d like to nominate my Grandpa as a tough individual. Went into WW2 right from the beginning with the 31. Infanteriedivision and pretty much spent the war on he eastern front in this 1st wave unit being a sniper assigned to "between the lines jobs" as he called it... easternmost point he saw was Tula. as they were driven back he managed to stay alive to be captured during the fall of Königsberg and went into russian captivity till his return in summer 1948. The sole fact he survived the horror physically and mentally to later become a 83 years old shweet grampa makes him one tough guy.
His explanation went "They didn´t have that before". ::shrugs::And to get this back on topic I´d like to nominate my Grandpa as a tough individual. Went into WW2 right from the beginning with the 31. Infanteriedivision and pretty much spent the war on he eastern front in this 1st wave unit being a sniper assigned to "between the lines jobs" as he called it... easternmost point he saw was Tula. as they were driven back he managed to stay alive to be captured during the fall of Königsberg and went into russian captivity till his return in summer 1948. The sole fact he survived the horror physically and mentally to later become a 83 years old shweet grampa makes him one tough guy.
In war what is the difference?
The only thing that matters is to survive.
Killing makes noone tough.
Surviving does.
Well, some coward could get lucky and slip through. It wouldn't make him tough, though. Some hero might have saved the life of one or more comrades by sacrificing his own. It makes him tough, but not a survivor.
Re: Re: The toughest individual WW2
It's not easy at all, you can try it. He used iron sights not any optics at all. You can read more about him and his deeds here:
http://www.mosin-nagant.net/simohayha.htm
It's not easy at all, you can try it. He used iron sights not any optics at all. You can read more about him and his deeds here:
http://www.mosin-nagant.net/simohayha.htm
Yeah, I think German U-boats had something 75% casualties (or more, in men that is), enough to make them the most fatal branch of service ever.
The Japanese Soldier you are Talking about was Hiroo Onoda, A Japanese Officer who was sent to Lubang Island (a small Island in the Phillapines) on February 28th of 1944. He later joined a small group of soldiers who were on the island waiting for reinforcements from the Home Islands. All but 4 soldiers of the group surrendred to US Forces. All Decided to continue to fight on. When the Americans came in 1945, the four retreated the hills and backwoods of the Islands. In september of 1949, The first to go was Private first class Yuichi Akatsu, who surrendered to US and Philiapine forces after growing tired of the war. In 1953, there were search parties looking for LT Onoda ,Corporal Shimada and Kozuka. They refused to surrender and began to ignore all saerch parties believing they were "American tricks"
In 1953, Coperal Shimada was shot and killed instantly after the 3 soldiers went on a raiding party, taking food and supplies from local villagers. After Shimada was buried, Kozuka and Onoda continued fight from the backwoods of Lubang Island, hoping one day The Japanese would arrive to reatke the Island. In 1n 1965, they captureda radio from a Philipino plus batteries and used it to listen to what was going in Japan. They evebtually found out that Japan was an industrial power and was "continuing the war" They deduced this when they heard about US troops fighting in Indochina. They would continue to raid town villagers until 1972 when Kozuka was shot and killed during a scuffle with local police men. Lt. Onoda continued to hide out in the jungles of Lubang until February/March 1974, when a Japanese university drop out named Suzuki found him in February. Suziki asked Onoda if he was willing to return to Japan. He said he couldn't without orders. So, suziki sends for Onoda's olds commander, Major Taniguchi and he was read the order to surrender and was taken to Manila where he formally surrenderd to President Ferdinand Marcos. After giving Marcos his sword, the President officialy pardoned him for crimes (Onoda and his men killed 30 Islanders and wounded appoximately 100) and he was sent back to Japan via Air and was given a heroes welcome.
is the last example tough? or rather stubborn? even outright dumb? At leat one of them grew tired of the war...
Very cool story either way!
Very cool story either way!
David Stirling. And if he wasn't the toughest. then he was up there with the maddest, along with quite a few of the LRDG.
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My vote too. He was one tough sob, and still managed to get out of Nuremburg without being convicted for anything.
It'll probally go to some faceless (not literally) person in Bhurma or some other terrible place.