Craziest war story you've heard...

[craz07]

My grandpa landed on Omaha Beach with the 29th Infantry Division, and in his later years as I got older he opened up a lot. He remarked going in with the second wave, that the closer the they got to shore the more bodies he saw floating in the water, some dead and some were just floating. He was near the front of the Higgins boat and he said right before they landed he could see bodies littering the shoreline and the beach.

When the ramp came down he said roughly half of the guys in his platoon got off before the Germans began targeting their boat. The MG-42's were disastrous as he said, 'Men were ripped to pieces, and in some cases he sad whole platoons got slaughtered.' He dove into a hole created by a mortar first and he low crawled most of the way to the sea wall. He told with about fifty yards left he just took off in a dead sprint. He said the German machine gunners and snipers were very accurate. He didn't really talk about clearing the bluffs because he did things he didn't want to do, but he told me about the first German solider he knew he shot. He said as they made their way up the bluffs immense fire fights broke out everywhere. They were clearing the bluffs and pushing inland when his platoon came across a hedgerow. They crouched and were getting ready to go through the other side of the hedge row when a German soldier stepped out maybe forty feet in front of him. Grandpa said he didn't even think he just raised his rifle and fired. The German soldier crumpled and lay there. Grandpa said his squad leader order his men to stay on the 'american' side of the hedge row as they moved forward. Grandpa said when he went by the German he shot that he looked like a boy of maybe 17-18, with neat black hair and two clean holes in his chest. Grandpa said he vommitted after that and that since then he'd always seen that bots face here and there. Grandpa had lots of stories about the war several which really funny, which were the ones he preferred.

Disturbing that people had to go through that

[Swoop]

This is why we don't talk about it.  IMO, the only reason to go to war is to prevent those you love from experiencing it.  And, if that is indeed the case, then why on earth would you come home and tell those you love all about it.  No, you just tell the funny stories and leave the serious ones for after the 3rd bottle of scotch.

[BFOOT1]

This is why we don't talk about it.  IMO, the only reason to go to war is to prevent those you love from experiencing it.  And, if that is indeed the case, then why on earth would you come home and tell those you love all about it.  No, you just tell the funny stories and leave the serious ones for after the 3rd bottle of scotch.

I guess grandpa told me because I was writing down his stories, and it just came up. D Day and St. Lo were his hardest stories to tell but he told me.

[SFRT - Frenchy]

My grand father's war was initially short. He was given 5 bullets, a gun and sent North to the front. His first German encounter was a Stuka attack. The Stuka pined them down with straffing runs and he recalled the plane flying banked while the rear gunner was shooting. Then came a bunch of Panzers, looking like they were circling his unit to trap them. There was a car parked about 100 yards away, so joined by an another guy he made a run for it. Keys were inside, started the thing and drove right in front of a PZ in his escape. Never saw an German infantry man.

Spent the rest of the war as an Alpine Hunter half running away and half disrupting Germans war effort. 

[craz07]

Give it up to the French for fighting a determined and angry enemy when there backs were up against the wall 

[Swoop]

 

[danny76]

 

[Swoop]

 

[JimmyC]

 


 


 

[zack1234]

I have the duke of wellingtons feet

[craz07]

What sure France needed help but that was because they were surprise steamrolled by an angry organized German army. They didn't have the defense Britain had with it being further away and separated by the English channel and the USA with it being on the other side of the planet.  I wonder how they would fare had they been surprise blitzkrieged early in the war..? At least they kept a resistance going...

[Swoop]

They were blitzkrieged early in the war.  1940.  Very shortly after Denmark, Holland and Belgium.  The only reason they lasted as long as they did is cos the Germans were busy chasing the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk.  Shortly after that they surrendered.

French flags are double sided, the other side being white.  Saves time when all they gotta do is turn the flag round...

[craz07]

Still, being a neighbor to a ruthless machine like Germany was early in the second world war had to be a bad situation 

[SysError]

... the only reason to go to war is to prevent those you love from experiencing it. ...

I beg to differ....

[xbrit]

I know it's Wiki but it will give you the basic details.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravo_Two_Zero