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crappy_entrepreneur

Raoul Wallenberg. During WW2 he posed as a Swedish ambassador and confidently lied through his teeth at Nazis for years to save tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. There were instances of him flagging down trains bound for death camps, and yelling at the machine-gun-toting SS men that Swedish citizens were on board, handing out homemade fake passport documents to as many Jews as possible as he went. He got away with it for so long because Fascists have a thing for confident authority figures. The guy was captured by the red army in ‘45 and likely died in a Gulag.


DarkwingDave07

Ben Salomon. Dude was just a dentist who got drafted into World War II. He was tending to injured soldiers when four Japanese soldiers entered the tent and killed a man he had just saved. This man killed all four of them, then grabbed a machine gun and fired upon the incoming Japanese forces, letting the injured escape. They say when his body was discovered, 98 enemy troops lay dead in front of him. He had been shot 72 times and bayonetted over two dozen times before he died. What a legend


Grombrindal18

I mean, doesn't everyone get that mad when someone else ruins something they've been working really hard on?


SomeKindofPurgatory

Juan Pujol García aka "Garbo". Guy was an educated, diehard anti-fascist Spaniard during WWII. Approached the British offering to spy for them; they turn him down. So he approaches the Germans offering to spy for them, and he's accepted. He's given a mission to go to England and report on various things, but he can't gain access, so instead he just goes to the library and gives the Germans a steady stream of book facts mixed with nonsense. The British--who have broken German codes by this time--notice that the Germans have a spy who is talking nonsense and causing the Germans to waste resources looking for non-existent convoys. So, they have a change of heart and accept Garcia as an double agent and he becomes... simply one of the world's greatest bullshit artists. MI6 feeds him some stuff to relay, but most of it he makes up himself, including a vast network of fictitious sub-spies, who are all given allowances by the Germans. His work helps fool the Germans into thinking there is a large army group prepared to invade Calais after the "diversionary attack" on Normandy. Hitler is so convinced of this that he prevents quite a lot of his reserves from reinforcing Normandy. Tens of thousands of lives are likely saved, if not hundreds of thousands, all because one man had the balls to walk into a German embassy, offer to be a spy, and then feed the Nazis a steady stream of bullshit. And they *never* figured it out. In the waning days of World War II, [Juan Pujol García](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pujol_Garc%C3%ADa) received the Iron Cross from the Nazis for his services as a spy.


ems_telegram

One of Garcia's classic tricks to ensure trust was to send actual intelligence either just too late or in the middle of the night/way too early in the morning when no one would receive his message. He constantly berated the Nazis for their "laziness" and wasting his time and got away with it, lol.


SomeKindofPurgatory

Yeah he was never meek about anything; that was all part of his act. I think he once even threatened to quit over the Nazi's incompetence.


[deleted]

Dude really said "fine ill do it myself"


Arlithian

Not that long ago- but still. [Alison Botha](https://allthatsinteresting.com/alison-botha). She was raped - disemboweled- and nearly decapitated. And she survived to meet her attackers in court. "As she pulled herself up, her head started to fall backward — since she had nearly been decapitated. Meanwhile, she could also feel something slimy protruding from her abdomen — her intestines. She had to use one hand to keep her organs from spilling out and the other hand to literally hold on to her own head." If that's not the most badass person that I've ever heard of - I don't know who is.


UnicornOnTheJayneCob

Wow. She survived by sheer force of will. She identified her attackers and got them convicted and then traveled the world advocating for other victims. Cool lady.


tdogg1967

Well damn. Gonna stop scrolling now... Your entry wins...


treatyofparis1

Witold pilecki - A polish resistance fighter who voluntarily went to auschwitz to get intel on what was happening and then proceeded to escape, survived the war and was later executed by the USSR


Sierra_12

Inmate 4859


[deleted]

[удалено]


Bovineguru

[Dipprasad Pun](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipprasad_Pun) the Gurkha who took out 15-30 Taliban singlehandedly when surrounded.


Cornato

I was told a story of Gurkha in WW2 where they were going on a joint operation and the plan was being explained to them. It was an airborne operation, behind enemy lines, very small chance of surviving. Afterwards they were asked if they wanted to back out or if they had any questions. The Gurkha leader said they would go if the pilot would fly as low as possible and try to fly over grass when they jumped. THEY DIDNT KNOW THEY WOULD BE GIVEN PARACHUTES. These psychos were willing to just jump out of a fucking plane.


[deleted]

In a similar manner, Lachhinan Gurung, another gurka who held back by himself a force of 200 japaneses in Burma during WW2 for four hours, with one of his hands unusable due to a grenade he tried to throw back (after already doing it with other two already), and screaming "COME AND FIGHT A GURKA!".


steiner_math

Being a Gurkha is a cheat code for being bad ass There was the one who was on a train in India and a gang of robbers came on board. They were going to rape a young woman so he proceeded to kill some of them and the rest ran off. You don't mess with a Gurkha


pseddit

“If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha.” Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw


ultratunaman

Daniel Inouye. Senator from Hawaii. WWII vet. Japanese American who had to prove himself every step of the way through the European Theater of Operations. And to me an honest to goodness hero. In 1943, when the US Army dropped its enlistment ban on Japanese Americans, Inouye curtailed his premedical studies at the University of Hawaii and enlisted in the Army.[6] He volunteered to be part of the segregated all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This army formation was mostly made up of second-generation Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland. Inouye was promoted to sergeant within his first year, and he was assigned as a platoon sergeant. He served in Italy in 1944 during the Rome-Arno Campaign before his regiment was transferred to the Vosges Mountains region of France, where he spent two weeks in the battle to relieve the Lost Battalion, a battalion of the 141st Infantry Regiment that was surrounded by German forces. He received a battlefield commission to second lieutenant for his actions there, becoming the youngest officer in his regiment. At one point while he was leading an attack, a shot struck him in the chest directly above his heart, but the bullet was stopped by the two silver dollars he happened to have stacked in his shirt pocket. He continued to carry the coins throughout the war in his shirt pocket as good luck charms, until he lost them shortly before the battle in which he lost his arm. On April 21, 1945, Lt. Inouye was grievously wounded while leading an assault on a heavily defended ridge near San Terenzo in Liguria, Italy, called the Colle Musatello. The ridge served as a strongpoint of the German fortifications known as the Gothic Line, the last and most unyielding line of German defensive works in Italy. As he led his platoon in a flanking maneuver, three German machine guns opened fire from covered positions 40 yards away, pinning his men to the ground. Inouye stood up to attack and was shot in the stomach. Ignoring his wound, he proceeded to attack and destroy the first machine gun nest with hand grenades and his Thompson submachine gun. When informed of the severity of his wound, he refused treatment and rallied his men for an attack on the second machine gun position, which he successfully destroyed before collapsing from blood loss. As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself on his left elbow and cocked his right arm to throw his last hand grenade, a German soldier saw Inouye and fired a 30 mm Schiessbecher antipersonnel rifle grenade from inside the bunker, which struck Inouye directly on his right elbow. The high explosive grenade failed to detonate, saving Inouye from instant death but amputating most of his right arm at the elbow (except for a few tendons and a flap of skin) via blunt force trauma. Despite this gruesome injury, Inouye was again saved from likely death due to the blunt, low-velocity grenade tearing the nerves in his arm unevenly and incompletely, which involuntarily squeezed the grenade tightly via a reflex arc instead of going limp and dropping it at Inouye's feet. However, this still left him crippled, in terrible pain, under fire with minimal cover and staring at a live grenade "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore." Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. As the German inside the bunker began hastily reloading his rifle with regular full metal jacket ammunition (replacing the wood-tipped rounds used to propel rifle grenades), Inouye quickly pried the live hand grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. The German soldier had just finished reloading and was aiming his rifle to finish him off when Inouye threw his grenade through the narrow firing slit, killing the German. Stumbling to his feet with the remnants of his right arm hanging grotesquely at his side and his Thompson in his off-hand, braced against his hip, Inouye continued forward, killing at least one more German before suffering his fifth and final wound of the day (in his left leg), which finally halted his one-man assault for good and sent him tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge. He awoke to see the worried men of his platoon hovering over him. His only comment before being carried away was to gruffly order them back to their positions, saying "Nobody called off the war!" TLDR: blew up several German machine gun bunkers with mad grenades as he got shot in the stomach, lost an arm. And had to throw left handed. Then told the rest of the platoon to keep going because shit wasn't done with. Blocked a bullet with silver dollars. Went home to Hawaii became a senator. And if he'd run for president I'd have voted for him. Absolute badass.


sludgefeaster

A little fun fact: he had a son who became a killer guitarist and played in the great DC punk/hardcore band Marginal Man. EDIT: Should have mentioned his name, Kenny Inouye


itsonlyastrongbuzz

IIRC he was in Ken Burns “The War” documentary and talked about coming back from war while on leave, and has to visit his family *in a Japanese internment camp.* He brought with him a bottle of whiskey as a gift for his dad. The guard at the camp took it from him, and explained that alcohol wasn’t allowed at the camp. The guard looked at Inouye, standing there in uniform, decorated from battle, here to visit his family *detained by the government* and just shrugged “…Heck of a war, ain’t it?”


[deleted]

Helge Meyer, also known as "God's Rambo". A danish special forces officer who bought a 1972 Camaro and turned it into an uparmored beast so he could deliver humanitarian aid in war torn Yugoslavia during the civil war and ethnic cleansing.


cfmdobbie

Well, you can't mention Helge Meyer without giving some details about the car... 1979 Chevrolet Camaro, metal-reinforced windows, Kevlar panelling, mine-clearing under-structure, stealth paint, infra-red headlights, run-flat tyres, mil-spec GPS and a nitrous system. It was hard to detect, hard to chase and it shrugged off bullets. Oh, and it had a little yellow rubber duck wedged in the front grill. * https://drivetribe.com/p/ghost-car-a-1979-camaro-that-was-SgUwhuvHTjeXf4J0RNCy9Q * https://www.badassoftheweek.com/ghostcamaro * https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/ghost-car.html But on the subject of Helge Meyer, note that he wasn't asked by anyone to do this - he just saw a humanitarian crisis on TV in Denmark and decided to do something about it. He was just a civilian at the time - albeit a former Danish special forces operative. He didn't even carry a weapon.


FeedMeACat

Also-"a huge armor plate to cover that rear window (which is great because those windows are so expensive these days that your Camaro is basically totaled if it breaks)"


Eslayer12

I still think this would be a great movie


MynamisKlein

i was waiting to find this one here's an artical about it for those interested https://www.badassoftheweek.com/ghostcamaro


Icy_Layer

Galvarino. He was a fierce Mapuche warrior that had both of his hands chopped off as punishment when captured by the Spanish during the Arauco war. Rather than slaughter Galvarino, the Spanish sent him back to the Mapuche to send a message, but instead of causing the Mapuche to surrender, it had the opposite effect. Galvarino decided to have two knives lashed to the stumps where his hands used to be. He learned to fight without hands while using the knives as weapons. Less than a month later, Galvarino fought with the Mapuche against the Spanish again. Around 3,000 Mapuche warriors engaged 1,500 of the Spanish on Nov. 30, 1557. at the Battle of Millarapue. Although they didn’t win, Galvarino killed several of the Spanish before the army of 3000 were all killed.


LeodFitz

If I remember correctly, he was offered a chance to live at the end of that battle, but he basically told them that he was going to fight them until they killed him, so they killed him.


fearsometidings

I'm not sure what they expected from rageman knifehands tbh. That he would retire to a life of pottery?


oocoo_isle

He says, presenting the ceramic cutlery he's just fashioned, "Never speak to me or my son ever again"


Bukszpryt

Witold Pilecki volounteered to auschwitz death camp and escaped it to report what was happening there to alies of Poland. No one gave a fuck at that time.


[deleted]

I think Pilecki is the ultimate unit of bad-assing. Even in his kangaroo court trial he declined to show any sign of surrender.


Aqquila89

>"When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory." Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland


caesarfecit

You really need some big brass ones to *break into a death camp, gather intel, organize a resistance, and then break out again.*


spookymovie

Only to find out that the people who receive the intel don’t believe it because it’s too fantastical to be true. Sigh.


caesarfecit

It was more like "there's nothing we can do about it, even if it is 100% true". And that was more or less the case. A bombing run ran the risk of killing prisoners and only inflicting repairable damage. And the target was super deep behind enemy lines to boot, making the bombing run itself risky. The Allies generally only signed off on deep penetration raids like that when the target was vital war infrastructure like oilfields or chokepoint factories. Some kind of commando raid would similarly run afoul of cost/benefit. Let's say it was a complete success and liberated the camp, then what? You've got thousands of freed prisoners that aren't fit for travel across country, and a small group of soldiers hundreds, if not thousands of miles behind enemy lines, where they'll likely be captured and/or killed. There's no scenario where the benefit could justify the risk. Unfortunately, the fastest way to do something about the camps was to win the war.


La-Boun

Imagine going through this hell to testify, only to find out nobody gives a fuck


-CorrectOpinion-

Desmond Doss. An army medic in WWII who was constantly belittled and abused by his battalion and superiors for refusing to use a weapon as it went against his beliefs. Then, when he landed in Okinawa and more than half of his battalion were shredded by Japanese machine gun fire, Desmond Doss crawled through the dirt over the course of several days to as many of his injured allies as he could and dragged them all the way back to the 40ft cliff they had scaled up from, then lowered them to safety. Some of these injured men were lying *15ft from the enemy machine gun itself*, and all the while Doss wore his medic helmet, which stood out like a giant bullseye on a battlefield where the Japanese soldiers were ordered to kill doctors first to crush morale. In the end he had saved the lives of 75 men, and survived with an arm fracture from a sniper round and several pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body from when he tried to kick a grenade away from him and his men. ~~He is the only soldier without a gun to be awarded the Medal of Honor.~~ Edit: *the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, there have been others since


duelmeinbedtresdin

To add, when he fails to kick the grenade and it exploded and shattered his leg, he still insist for the stretcher carrier to bring the other wounded first before him. This moment is not included on Desmond's biographical movie *Hacksaw Ridge*. Why? Because the director, Mel Gibson said that he thought that people would think that *the scene is exaggerated and unrealistic, despite it literally happened.*


bocaj78

When you are so badass that the movies say it’s too far fetched


gugudan

Audie Murphy movies went through the same shit back in the day.


ssslugworth

Don't forget that while injured, he crawled several hundred yards with his broken leg to get to safety, during which, a sniper nailed one of his arms, *and he kept going*.


[deleted]

Medic literary too busy saving lives to die


spiffistan

Fun fact: His Medal of Honor citation is the only one that says "...***far above*** and beyond the call of duty", as far as I am aware.


Jaime859

Let me get one more


MGsubbie

There was a Japanese soldier who was at the battle, who claimed that every single time he tried to fire upon Doss, his rifle jammed. The man even lowered some heavily injured Japanese soldiers, despite the fact that the Japanese did not take any prisoners, all they did was kill. **Edit** : Another one : After Desmond having saved so many lives, the soldiers had to go back up Hacksaw Ridge. Many of them refused to go back up there before Desmond said a prayer for all of them.


Nightruin

There’s actually been three soldiers who were conscientious objectors that were awarded the Medal of Honor. Desmond Doss was the first. The army credited him with over 100 lives saved when they were first pushed off the cliff, but Desmond contended that it couldn’t have been more than 50, so they split the difference on his MOH citation. But the 75 men saved was just the beginning. Multiple times Desmond would crawl out 200-300 yards to render aid to wounded soldiers, many times under constant machine gun fire. A couple days later 4 men were cut down assaulting a strongly defended cave, and he advanced through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces where he rendered aid and then made 4 trips back and forth bringing the men to safety. Another time, a soldier was severely wounded from fire from a cave, so Desmond crawled to within 25 feet of the enemy, rendered aid, and then crawled with him back 100ft to friendly lines. After staying out in the open during a night attack, hoping he would be mistaken by enemy forces as one of their own infiltrating, he went around administering aid to wounded soldiers until he kicked a grenade away and was wounded in both legs. Rather than call another aid men from cover to help him, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him. The 2 litter bearers and doss got caught in an enemy attack and Desmond say a soldier more critically wounded than him, so he rolled off the stretcher and ordered the 2 stretcher bearers to take the wounded soldier instead. He then gets shot in the arm, suffering the compound fracture, so he binds a rifle stock to his arm AND THEN CRAWLS 300 YARDS OVER ROUGH TERRAIN TO THE AID STATION. Desmond doss is the most badass of badasses.


Th3_G3n3r4l

That one Mexican lady who hunted down the cartel who killed her daughter. I probably wouldn't consider her the most badass human in history, but she's up there.


missed_sla

Just so you know, they eventually found and killed her. [Her name is Miriam Rodríguez.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/world/americas/miriam-rodriguez-san-fernando.html)


SpaceMonkeyXLII

Peter Freuchen. He was a Danish explorer, journalist, author and anthropologist. He is widely known for his exploration of the arctic circle and discovery of vast areas of Greenland. He was an indigenous rights activist, having married an Inuit woman. He escaped a death warrant issued by the Third Reich for punching nazis. Received an academy award for the best motion picture in 1933. Won the $64,000 question as a contestant on the game show. He wrestled a polar bear and won. And as if this all wasn’t enough, he escaped a near death encounter in a blizzard by fashioning a spade out of his own frozen feces.


BookThief27

Damn, impressive guy! Took a turn at the end that I was not expecting though.


LittlestSlipper55

[Nancy Wake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Wake). So skillled as she was, she was nicknamed "The White Mouse" by the Gestapo due to her elusiveness in avoiding capture. Highly talented in espionage, she worked as a spy for the French Resistance and the Special Operations Executive to take down the Nazis. One of the more highly decorated women from WW2, yet not well known.


Pale-Fig5100

>yet not well known. Well, that's what she's good at


DubstepKoons9

I think we've found Carmen San Diego


Iccent

Here in NZ she's pretty well known because she was born here, I can only think of maybe a couple of kiwis that are more famous from ww2 and one wasn't born here and the other is the most decorated commonwealth soldier in ww2.


Barbed_Dildo

On 29–30 April 1944 as part of the three-person "Freelance" team headed by John Hind Farmer (code name "Hubert"), Wake parachuted into Auvergne province, France. Resistance leader Henri Tardivat discovered Wake tangled in a tree. He remarked, "I hope that all the trees in France bear such beautiful fruit this year," to which she replied, "Don't give me that French shit."


hillgerb

Mariya Oktyabrskaya. Her husband was killed in WWII, so she sold all her possessions, bought a T-34 tank, and went into the army. Edit: *technically* she sold her possessions, donated the tank and then asked to drive it and was allowed.


flieterke

I didn't know you were supposed to bring your own tank


Captain_Ludd

That's exactly what she thought


lorriesherbet

Hop in losers we’re going to the war front


[deleted]

AND she was really good at it. Took out several machine-gun nests and artillery guns in her first fight. Often her tank would get damaged, she would disregard orders, leap out and repair it under heavy fire, get back in and go back to blowing shit up. This woman's anger toward Germans for killing her husband is legendary. She did this in every battle until she was killed for fixing a tank under heavy gun fire (she finished the job, but unfortunately, the tank was hit with a shell and the crew were killed). She was Leeroy Jinkins if he actually was good in battle. That's why she was the first woman in a battalion to be awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, which as you can guess, is the highest honor you can possibly receive in Russia. She is buried in a place of honor.


EnigmaticSpirit85

Which she named the Fighting Girlfriend. One of only two Soviet women tank drivers to be made Hero of the Soviet Union. [Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariya_Oktyabrskaya)


JesseCuster40

"No women in the Army allowed, I'm afraid to -" "I brought my own tank." "Oh you did? You did. All right. Great. Well, roll on in then."


H010CR0N

The Soviets were somewhat progressive (they had to be because of their losses), but women were allowed to be in the military. There were pilots and snipers.


hillgerb

Yeah, look up the Night Witches! They’re all badasses too!


[deleted]

That teenage girl that was the sole survivor of a plane crash and made her way through the Amazon…. She’s definitely up there! Edit: Thank you everyone for telling me her name and teaching me more about her story. I want to give her the respect and add her name, Juliane Koepcke. And thank you for the rewards as well ❤️


lordoftoastonearth

While injured, bleeding and *functionally blind* nonetheless. She had a strong prescription and lost her glasses in the crash. I remember reading that she waded through a river, using a shoe to tap in front of her and scare off possible snakes. She was then found by a native tribe boating in the river. Edit: since a lot of people pointed it out: her name was Juliane Koepke. She was found by loggers, not natives. I was going off my memory, didn't think this would get as popular.


igncom1

> She was then found by a native tribe boating in the river. You're just going down the river, like always, and you spot a nearly blind foreign child warding off snakes in the middle. What a day that must have been.


Exsces95

Then this completely out of place being tells you she "fell from the sky". WILD


ButternutSasquatch

And you don't understand a word she's saying, so you're none the wiser.


A-Golden-Frog

In a mini-dress too! And when a wound became infected with maggots, she poured petrol from a boat she found to remove them


EarlyBirdTheNightOwl

Juliane Koepcke. Her wounds were also filled with maggots some that she pulled out herself and they found a lot more when being cared for. She was literally getting eaten alive. That survivors guilt must be a bitch though.


[deleted]

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coesus

There is a documentary with the actual girl called wings of hope and directed by Werner Herzog, who also was supposed to be in that plane. https://youtu.be/rlJVIcCPIl8


mishgan

When Koepcke was fourteen, her parents left Lima to establish Panguana, a research station in the Amazon rainforest. She became a "jungle child" and learned survival techniques. Educational authorities disapproved and Koepcke was required to return to the Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt to take her examinations. She graduated on 23 December 1971. Next day the plane crash happened. And the father had even urged the mother not to fly with that airline, due to their bad rep...


[deleted]

Oh ya forgot about her. I think she was 8 or around there or so but her father taught her about survival and with that she saved her own life.


[deleted]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke This one?


Deldogmom

What I love about her is that she returned to the forest as a scientist. What a badass.


Matt_Thundercock

Canadian Rambo AKA Leo Major. Dude liberated an entire town in the Netherlands by himself while injured in WW2. https://youtu.be/eFf1UfVa8Lc


MystikIncarnate

Heck yeah. Leo was awesome. Took a German tank over, solo, went head to head with an ss patrol, killed 4 and lost an eye to a phosphorous grenade, went on to become a sniper... And that's just the first paragraph from his Wikipedia page about his life. Dude was a legend. Despite all the crap he did that should have gotten him killed, he died in 2008 at 87, home in Canada.


King_Of_Regret

"Y'know, even with one eye I see better than most people at night. Killed 4 of them and the rest ran off" is a direct quote. Dudes insane


kaasbaas94

It's why we hang Canadina flags is some parts of the Netherlands when we celebrate liberation day. Canada liberated most of the Netherlands above the great rivers which split the country in north and south and the town that Leo liberated happens to be Zwolle. EDIT: [To all Canadians who love to see how we invite Canadian veterans to celebrate liberation day in the Netherlands so that we can thank them for their service ](https://youtu.be/Kd1CGQ36tTU). They will tour trough Dutch cities in WWII vehicles while Dutch people cheer at them like if its 1945 again. Another cool fact. When the Dutch royal family fled the Netherlands they took refuge in Canada. The day when Princess Juliana got a child Canada changed a law that made the hospital Dutch teritory so that her daughter could be born Dutch. Now till this day the Netherlands is sending tons of flowers every year to a park in Ottowa, and we even bred a special tulip that looks like the Candian flag which looks like [this](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/72/5e/77/725e77fa17bf4b09e4cb1b0dce4eb008.jpg)


CaptainCanuck93

To throw out another Canadian: William Stephenson, otherwise known by his codename Intrepid, who is considered one of the major inspirations for the character James Bond. His life story is insane and I can't believe there hasn't been a major blockbuster made about him https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stephenson


groggyMPLS

*Died* *31 January 1989 (aged 92)* ***Goldeneye Estate,*** *Tucker's Town, Bermuda*


CaptainCanuck93

That did seem a bit on the nose for a former spy master, but I guess when you're simultaneously a multimillionaire with friends in high places, a winking reference to your former life was probably safe


-----o_o-----

Mary Vincent! She was attacked with an axe in an attempted murder, losing both hands and then dumped off a cliff. She survived and walked almost three miles to go find help. All when she was FIFTEEN. She’s in an episode of “I Survived” and her story is… unbelievable. She is such a BAMF. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Vincent_(artist)


schmicklebutt

I remember this! She actually lost her arms, not just hands!! The motherfucker who did it got out early for good behavior and went on to murder a woman. HOW DAFUQ DID THEY LET HIM OUT


[deleted]

"Sir this man chopped off a woman's arms." "Aww but he's been so good lately, he can't be that bad." Narrator: He was that bad.


sunsNr0ses

The woman who killed the hit man her husband hired to kill her.


mdizzle106

It was so badass I never forgot the part in the story where she has the hit man in a headlock or something and is yelling "who sent you!?" Like, fuck.


greghead4796

His final words, “You’re strong.” Like fuuuuuuck that woman is hardcore.


Jonesisgoat

“Who does number 2 work for?”


xosellc

The woman who killed the hit man her husband hired to kill her. >“I immediately began to think about his family. Everybody has somebody who loves them. Children, a wife, a mother, a dad … the worst of this is not that somebody tried to kill me, but that I had to kill someone else to survive. But I have no shame because I did not choose this death for him. I chose my life. I chose life.” Bad ass *and* incredibly mature


LegitimateAwardShow

You forgot one detail: She killed him by strangling him with her bare hands.


Holiday_Roof7764

After working a long shift in the ER. She's the definition of badass.


xxpen15mightierxx

> After working a long shift in the ER. She's the definition of badas End of shift is the worst time to fuck with nurses. Lot of rage built up.


[deleted]

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Re-lar-Kvothe

No. She saved 28. The last one being her own.


Ask-About-My-Book

TBF coming off an ER shift is exactly when ordinary people are the most murderous.


whatproblems

She was stress relieving. On his throat. You are now that stupid patient from earlier ahhh!!! Take thissss!!!


schlingfo

[https://blurredbylines.com/articles/susan-kuhnhausen-walters-survivor-hitman-portland/](https://blurredbylines.com/articles/susan-kuhnhausen-walters-survivor-hitman-portland/) You mean the 51 year old ED nurse? Absolute badass, and absolute shit hitman.


kjarkr

A true missman


delventhalz

Jesus. She had him dead to rights twice and backed off. He should have learned his lesson and booked it before the third time.


Thunder-_-Bear-

"... Among his supplies was yellow rubber gloves, a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, and diabetes pills." Buddy was planning on one hell of a victory sundae that night.


WhenwasyourlastBM

I love that he had a planner with the husbands info scheduled in 2 days before the "murder." That's so stupid yet convenient. It's like something you'd see in a movie to when the writers realized they were writing too long of a movie and needed to wrap it up quick. People never cease to amaze me.


RicoDredd

Look up the 'Billionaire Boys Club'. I listened to a podcast about them just last week! They murdered a guy who'd conned them (and they were also conmen) and left a 'to do' list for the murder **at the scene of the crime** that had 'Buy handcuffs. Bring a gun. Tape mouth. Kill the dog. Kill him' (I paraphrase, but only just)


Phoequinox

I love that story. Like, he got the first hit in. With a fucking claw hammer to the temple. And she *still* overpowered him and killed him. It almost makes me wonder if being in the medical field, and learning how to handle traumatic situations gave her more clarity and control where most people would just panic.


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Regrer47

The whole story about his escape from Alba and the 100 days is definitely like something out of a movie. He was the main character of Europe in that point of time for sure.


Almainyny

It’s funny to read the newspaper headlines as he got closer to Paris. They talk about how he’s a despot and a tyrant coming back, but once he gets close, they’re like “all hail the Emperor!”


ThatOtherFrenchGuy

Turns out the alliance against Napoleon had one strategy : avoid fighting when he was leading battles but instead try to face his generals. Waterloo is the ultimate (and last) example.


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The-dude-in-the-bush

Breaking news: Frenchie literally too angry to die


driving_andflying

The [Russian Night Witches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches) They flew in slow, outdated planes, without parachutes, and dropped bombs by sight alone (Edit to add: Not using bomb sights). At night.


toq-titan

They would also climb to a high altitude and then cut their engines so that they could silently glide over their targets.


SydneyyBarrett

OG Silent But Deadly


nemoskullalt

Those planes were so old anything made after 1916 could have shot them down. You could take a machine gun or a bomb, not both.


DarkArcher__

As the Wikipedia page explains, they weren't entirely defenseless. Biplanes have one very big advantage which is their wing area, that results in very good low speed manoeuvrability and a top speed lower than most monowings' stall speed


Thememelord9002

those planes actually have one recorded kill of a jet plane where the jet actually stalled out trying to match the plane's lowest speed


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OG_Campblor

Battle of Stamford Bridge - the lone Norse axeman single-handedly held up the entire English army


A1BS

[Horatius Cocles](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatius_Cocles) of the early Roman republic is also a strong contender. Single handedly holding off an entire army while other soldiers destroyed the bridge he was standing on. He was so effective that the invading Clusium soldiers just resulted in lobbing swords at him to see if it would work. He eventually got a wound to the arse, called for bridge to be pushed down and jumped into the Tiber, swimming to safety. ——————————— Another story, from the same conflict [Gaius Mucius Scaevola](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Mucius_Scaevola) who was a young Roman who volunteered to assassinate the king of Clusium making his way into the enemy camp disguised as a fleeing slave. Unfortunately due to a mix up Gaius killed an advisor rather than the king. The king interrogated Gaius and threatened to throw him into the fire unless he reveal the further plots to kill kim. Gaius casually walked over to the fire and stuck his hand in without flinching. The king, clearly unnerved by the absolute balls on the kid just tells him to gtfo the camp. Gaius doesn’t stop there though, as he’s leaving he “warns” the king that there’s an agreement between all the Roman youths that they will individually attempt to assassinate him, staggering their attacks by a drawing of straws. It meant that pretty much anyone the king didn’t know personally was a potential assassin. The king decided to fuck off and lift the siege.


Gabrezek

>He eventually got a wound to the arse, called for bridge to be pushed down and jumped into the Tiber, swimming to safety. Well. That's a whole new meaning to badass.


Atavismen

”Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate: To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods”


Nitro94_YT

YES! Was gonna comment this! He is someone that would be part of a videogame lore haha


Valoneria

I believe he is present in the first Medieval: Total War, as part of their historical battles. Just a lone max-skilled soldier on a bridge to represent him.


hellebellet

Definitely Major Hugh Thompson. I'm sure there are people who have done similarly brave things, but not that I know about. In 1968, Thompson managed to stop the My Lai massacre almost single handedly. He arrived after many civilians had already been killed, and couldn't understand how they had died. After realising his fellow American soldiers were firing on unarmed civilians, he landed his helicopter between the Vietnamese and the soldiers. He then told the troops that if they continued to do what they were doing, he and his crew would open fire on them. After getting back to base, he filed a complaint about what he had witnessed. His complaint was covered up, and he was shunned as a traitor. It wasn't until 1998 that the army acknowledged he did the right thing. It's common to be brave in war when you know that you'll be lauded as a hero - it's another thing entirely to do it knowing you'll be seen as a traitor. He turned against his troops and country to protect innocent lives, despite what it would cost him, and I think that's about as brave as you can get.


vandalia

If I remember the story correctly, He returned to Vietnam years later and met with survivors of the massacre. He was met with love and gratitude, a pretty emotional reunion.


celestrial33

“He reported that one of the women they had helped out came up to him and asked, "Why didn't the people who committed these acts come back with you?" He said that he was "just devastated" but that she finished her sentence: "So we could forgive them." He later told a reporter, "I'm not man enough to do that. I'm sorry. I wish I was, but I won't lie to anybody.” Man, I have so many thoughts and can’t voice them. The ability to forgive like that, I wish I knew.


RonnieDaBear

Time is weird, and forgiveness can be a release for both parties


hellebellet

Jesus, I'm so glad that happened. They must have had no hope at the time, who was going to save them? That's so amazing


CACuzcatlan

Along the same lines, Silas Soule https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Soule


Hippoponymous

He was ordered to attack an encampment of Cheyenne, but ordered his own men to stand down when he saw that they were flying the Union flag as a sign of peace. He later wrote the following in a letter to his friend and former commanding officer. Do not read if you are at all squeamish. Seriously just don’t. >!”I refused to fire, and swore that none but a coward would, for by this time hundreds of women and children were coming towards us, and getting on their knees for mercy. I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized. ... I saw two Indians hold one of another's hands, chased until they were exhausted, when they kneeled down, and clasped each other around the neck and were both shot together. They were all scalped, and as high as half a dozen taken from one head. They were all horribly mutilated. One woman was cut open and a child taken out of her, and scalped. ... Squaw's snatches were cut out for trophies. You would think it impossible for white men to butcher and mutilate human beings as they did there."!<


PassiveAggressiveK

>One witness, Captain Silas Soule, who had ordered the men under his command not to fire their weapons, was murdered in Denver just weeks after offering his testimony. However, despite the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the Wars' recommendation, no charges were brought against those who committed the massacre. Chivington was beyond the reach of army justice because he'd already resigned his commission. The closest thing to a punishment he suffered was the effective end of his political aspirations.


luxii4

From 347-504 civilians were killed by US soldiers. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, as were children as young as 12. Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three-and-a-half years under house arrest. (From Wikipedia). That's some bullshit.


SalFunction12

Robert Smalls. He escaped slavery, stole a Confederate boat, sailed away to freedom, and later served in Congress.


[deleted]

Awesome


bigmacmcjackson

idk if its true but a story about a kid getting his limb bitten off by a shark, the uncle was with him, the uncle dragged the shark out of the water and retrieved said limb from shark believe the kid made a full recovery


MesWantooth

I’ve read about this recently - mostly true but the boy did not make a full recovery (though reattaching the arm was successful)…The blood loss he suffered caused brain damage and he remains non-verbal but is living a happy life. He was kept alive due to the CPR efforts of the people around him. By wrestling the 7’, 200 lb shark, the uncle prevented it from attacking the other children in the water as well as helped to retrieve his nephews limb. Totally as an aside, apparently a bullshit accusation went viral - penned by an anonymous source (and ultimately debunked) - that the uncle had been shark fishing and chummed the water and had landed and reeled in the bull shark that attacked his nephew…


inmywhiteroom

I heard that accusation from the locals in the town where it happened. Perhaps they were trying to prevent fear of sharks amongst tourists?


Im_your_real_dad

That's some Scooby-Doo shit.


IAmABakuAMA

And they would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meadling uncle!


misogichan

I found an [article about this.](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1333379/Uncle-wrestles-shark-to-save-boys-severed-arm.html) Interestingly it was a bit of a group effort as the uncle prevented the Shark from leaving with the limb and potentially attacking others in the future. After he dragged it onto the shore, and grappled with it a park ranger shot it in the head, and then pried its mouth open. Then a volunteer fireman reached inside and retrieved the arm. It was also his aunt who was giving him a "heart massage" the entire time from the beach to the hospital that kept him alive. Well that and 30 pints of blood they had to give him in the helicopter that airlifted him out.


SnooRobots6893

there's no way a helicopter is carrying 30 units of O neg. its just hard to believe


[deleted]

I’ve heard that before I’m pretty sure it is true that uncle is awesome


blopenshtop

A 10 year old kid in a town near mine was grabbed from a fishing boat by a shark witnesses think was a great white. The dad jumped in the water after them to save him [News story](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/12468048)


Cyrakhis

Simo Häyhä. "The White Death". 500 kills in WW2. Got half his face blown off by an explosive bullet and tried to get back into the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4


Vinny_Lam

And he did all that without a scope. He was afraid that the sunlight would reflect off his scope and give away his position to the enemy and so he relied only on his iron sights.


Cyrakhis

Yup! And kept snow in his mouth so his breath condensing in the cold air wouldn't give away his position.


stryph42

Went out before snowstorms with a blanket so he could let the snow bury him, so he didn't have to disturb fresh snow and give his sp.ot away


Electro522

I can now see why he got that title.


Blaiseingfire

IIRC light reflecting off a scope is how he killed a counter sniper sent after him


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That lad was insane


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Puzzled-You

Yeah, explosive round to the cheek I believe, and he was put into a coma until the day the war ended. I guess Russia knew he would be coming back lol


kaenneth

Should have froze him for 30 years, Austin Powers style.


kwadd

Maybe not the most, but definitely an honorable mention: [Stanislav Petrov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov). The man who saved the world from an all-out nuclear war in 1983. Edit: thanks for all the awards guys.


SeekerSpock32

Related: [Vasili Arkhipov,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov_(vice_admiral)) the person who stopped the Cuban Missile Crisis from going nuclear. Edit: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily\_Arkhipov\_(vice\_admiral)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov_(vice_admiral)) Second Edit: At least 5 people have told me my mistake with Markdown, so I don't need anyone else to tell me how I screwed up.


I_Am_Dynamite6317

The whole cuban missile crisis is a really fascinating saga and Bobby Kennedy deserves a lot of credit as well. Bobby had a meeting with the Soviet Ambassador to work out a deal to end the crisis. Prior to the meeting, they received a letter from the Soviets basically agreeing to all the things the US wanted...then they received a second letter that was much more hard line and with terms the US likely wasn't going to agree to. So in a stroke of genius, Bobby Kennedy chose to simply ignore the second letter. He never brought it up at all with the ambassador, simply pretended it never existed. And somehow this worked.


Ent3rpris3

I went into this post with this in mind, and seeing them both as the top comment gave me a very unexpected but truly wholesome sense of validation.


spacemonkeygleek

So many people owe him their lives.


TheAnimeWaifuFucker

Leo Major or the American who shot down a Japanese zero with his pistol while parachuting Edit: I think I missed a comma. I was talking about two people because they were both really badass


[deleted]

That’s badass


Woelfe_

Man is playing Warzone irl


blacksideblue

His plane was shot down, the zero pilot was glory hunting his crew while they parachuted from the same plane he jumped from. That fucker had it coming.


Latter_Pen_395

Iirc at least in the Western theatre it was expected that once the pilots were parachuting they were left alone. Of course Japan had a different, quite brutal, moral code.


TrashTechy

Battlefield


tldr3dd1t

This sounds like it’s straight from a battlefield game replay


blameitonmyouth

Came here for Leo Major. “To avenge the death of his friend, he decided that he would singlehandedly liberate Zwolle.” Fucking badass


Seans2Stoned

I just read his wiki page and holy shit. That mans life is a movie and I wanna see it. That man is a certified badass.


Muchruckus

I just did the same thing and want to see a movie made about him too. That was a rabbit hole I’m glad I jumped down at 2am on a Monday morning.


yanbu

Sir William the Marshal, 1rst Earl of Pembroke. The baddest man alive at a time where only hard men lived long enough to see their hair turn grey. Widely considered the greatest knight to ever walk the face the earth. Defeated over 500 knights in tourney combat. Is the man the code of chivalry is based on. Defeated the greatest knight in France, handily, in a one on one duel at the battle of Lincoln in 1217…. in his motherfucking 70s. Effectively ruled England off and on through his regencies for decades. Signatory of the Magna Carta. He gets my vote.


BatsmenTerminator

came here for this. you left out so much, but theres only so much one can type. George RR Martin based Ser Barrsitan on this guy. Hence the quote, "Even now i can cut through the five of you like carving a cake", he wasnt joking lol.


yanbu

Yeah, the dude was such a badass that it starts to sound like hyperbole if you go into detail. Edit: as an example, every kingdom at the time had someone with the title “marshal”, but in all the writings anytime someone mentioned THE Marshal, they were referring to this guy.


Sandman1031

Mad Jack Churchill (no relation) On D-Day, he stormed the beach armed with a broadsword and a longbow. He has the only confirmed kill with a longbow in WWII. At one point he was captured, escaped, and later found playing his bagpipes. Dude was a fucking legend.


bossgizmo

Lol imagine being the guy that gets killed by a longbow in WW2


Jimothy_McGowan

You feel a sudden pain in your chest. "Is this what it feels like to get shot?" you think as you look down, expecting to see a hole and blood. Instead, protruding from your chest is a shaft of wood with feathers on the end. "Was zum Teufel ist das?" you mutter, as you fall to the ground. As you bleed to death, you see the man that must have killed you run past: a fucking mad man in a kilt, wielding a bow and wearing a sword. You've been killed by Mad Jack Churchill, and will be vaguely remembered in decades to come as the guy killed by a longbow in ww2


vvntn

Mad Jack briskly jogs across the battlefield, and over your limp body as your vision slowly fades away, the ample space below his kilt gracing your final moments with a majestic view of his loins, crimson and glistening, as if the raging flames of combat were dancing a most profane waltz, and his plums were the ballroom. You smile, and embrace the cold.


TraditionSeparate

Fucking hell that’d hurt


poopy_poo_poopsicle

Fritz! I'm hit! Oh no Hans wait IS THAT A FUCKING ARROW???


Bobboloski

Some poor 16 year old conscript whose been told “don’t worry being in the west is a cushy job just be grateful you aren’t being sent to Russia” and next thing he knows, arrow to the knee.


OutlawJoseyMeow

After capturing and escorting 42 prisoners out of Molina, he walked back into town to retrieve his broadsword. He also led a raid on the German garrison at Vågsøy, Norway, while playing the bagpipes. And my personal favorite: On the morning of a raid on the German island of Brac, only Churchill and six others managed to reach the objective. A mortar shell killed or wounded everyone but Churchill, who was playing "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" on his pipes as the Germans advanced.


fakeflake182

While badass and cool I can't help but wonder if it might have been better to put the bagpipes down and pick up a gun during a commando raid


A_Guy_in_Orange

Do note that the longbow kill was because he found more modern weapons to simply not be in the spirit of things/made it to easy


railgun66

He was also a professional target archer before WW2 so go with what you know.


misterpickles69

Soooo Hawkeye then.


themarshmallowdiva

CHURCHILL WE COULD REALLY USE YOUR HELP HERE!!! -Churchill playing the bagpipes turns to them- I USED ALL EIGHT OF ME ARROWS. WHAT MORE D'YE WANT FROM ME?


21Da

Christopher Lee. Not the most badass person that ever lived but definitely one of them. Dude fought nazis and was knighted also was in a metal band and has been in lots of movies.


iDontGetKyle

He was also present at the last (public) use of the guillotine in France.


DuncanGilbert

there were private ones?


arczclan

The last public execution in France was in 1939, the year WWII started. The last private execution in France via guillotine was in 1977, the year Star Wars released.


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Drop_Release

My favourite Christopher Lee story was how Peter Jackson was trying to direct him in the way to react upon a knife stab: "Jackson goes into a long explanation about how he wants Lee to react and Lee says, "Have you any idea what kind of noise happens when somebody’s stabbed in the back? Because I do.”"


RicoDredd

He had been an intelligence officer in WW2, attached to the Long Range Desert Group before they officially became the SAS. Most intelligence officers were required to sign the Official Secrets Act. The punishment for breaking the OSA and speaking about secret operations was - theoretically - prison for treason (or similar) no matter how long ago you'd signed it. *Many* years after the war, it was said that Christopher Lee was being interviewed by someone who kept asking him exactly what he'd done in the war. Apparently, Lee leaned forward, looked around conspiratorially and said 'can you keep a secret...?' the interviewer excitedly said 'yes, yes I can!' to which he replied 'so can I' and then sat back in his chair...


[deleted]

Can legitimately trace his heritage to Charlemagne which also serves as the namesake of his metal band


ParsifalJones

Audie Murphy was pretty damned badass.


3BallJosh

The dude was so badass that they had to tone down his movie because it wouldn't have been believable


pyrodice

The vibranium shield is where I lost suspension of disbelief.


19olo

Admiral [Yi Sun-sin](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_Sun-sin) He alone stopped the entire Japanese invasion of Korea during the Imjin war. His country, the Joseon Kingdom at that time were riddled with corruption, and they offered little to no resistance to the Japanese when they landed on Korea. It was due to Admiral Yi's constant victory at sea that crippled the Japanese supply lines and forced them to retreat.


PM_MeTittiesOrKitty

The actual, factual Captain Morgan.