I quite enjoy reading through Cracked's various lists of strange-but-true stories. It's a great blend of fact, laughs and thought that are surprising for what you'd think is a juvenile humour mag.
This list in particular caught my attention; the most badass real life soldiers who ever served. I was particularly impressed with the story of the Finnish "White Death", Simo Hayha, one of the highest scoring snipers in history. You have to remember that the Soviets invaded Finland while they were still on "good" terms with Germany. The history you remember, of the Red Army crushing the Nazi hordes, only started after the German invasion of the East in 1942. Before then Stalin and Hitler were dictator pals (well, Hitler planned to stab Stalin in the back all along, and Stalin wasn't exactly a forthright leader either), and the Germans grit their teeth and let Russian troops overrun Finland in 1939. Hayha fought the Russians almost single-handedly, a lone sniper without a spotter. The amazing part is that an exploding bullet blew off part of his jaw and the side of his face and he was dragged off as a war prize - only to wake up a week later. He made a full recovery and lived a long life afterwards.
One of my family members was similarly lucky. A member of the British No. 2 Commando unit, he served in Norway and Italy; it was in Italy that he had the bad luck of being shot in the head by a German sniper. He guessed the sniper spotted the glint off his helmet badge. Yes, you read that correctly - he guessed. He survived a bullet in the brain with partial paralysis, which he eventually overcame. When I knew him, the only evidence of his injury was a minor limp. That, folks, is true grit and major luck put together. He died of cancer years ago, and I never knew much about his service. I wish he was still around so I could find out what his years in the war were like.
I.A.
