86 Rare Facts About the Most Brutal Wars The World Has Seen

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51Battle of Vimy Ridge

Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first time when all four divisions of Canada's army fought together. They had captured more ground, more prisoners, and more guns than any previous Allied offensive in the two and a half years of war up to that point.


52. In WW2 the Polish had enlisted a bear on their side who enjoyed drinking, wrestling, cigarettes and even slept in tents. He would carry heavy ammunition crates to soldiers on the battlefield and never once dropped a shell.


53. The Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) saw the only confirmed air-to-air helicopter battles in history.


54. When the Comanche shaman White Eagle's magic failed to protect his warriors in battle, they renamed him Coyote Vagina


55. The last great tank battle of the 20th century took place in the middle of nowhere in the Iraqi desert. Since there were no nearby towns or landmarks, the Battle of 73 Easting had to be named after its map coordinates.


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56Marked headstones

Marked headstones

In Spartan society, the only people granted marked headstones were warriors who died in battle and women who died in childbirth


57. Cambyses II of Persia used cats to fight a battle. Against the Egyptians, in the battle of Pelusium in 525 BC he ordered his men to paint cats on their shields and brought 100's of cats to his front lines. The Egyptian archers refused to fire on the cats as injuring one was punishable by death.


58. After Hawaiian King Kamehameha was hit in the head with a paddle by a frightened fisherman during a battle, he not only spared the man's life but decreed a "Law of the Splintered Oar" protecting civilians in the war that's still part of Hawaii law in the State constitution.


59. US Army medic Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to bear arms, yet was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his comrades while under constant enemy fire during the Battle of Okinawa


60. An Irishman called Peter Lacy is considered one of Russia's greatest generals his tactics helped to defeat the Swedes at Poltava and he managed to cross The Crimea to battle the Turks when others had failed due to his knowledge of weather and tidal patterns


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61Renée Bordereau

Renée Bordereau

Renée Bordereau was a French woman who disguised herself as a man and fought as a Royalist cavalier and is reported to have killed 20 soldiers in one battle. She was dangerous enough for Napoleon to set a 40,000 francs bounty on her.


62. During a five-day battle against mercenaries in the Congo, the besieged Irish Army radioed back to HQ "We will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could do with some whiskey".


63. An elite French Cavalry Unit was surrounded by the Russians who ordered them to Surrender at the Battle of Eylau in 1806. A french colonel retorted "Have a look at my men and tell me if they look like ones who want to surrender!". They then Charged and hacked their way back to the French lines.


64. Soldiers in the U.S. military's psychological warfare department (PSYOPS) used loudspeakers to tempt enemy fighters in Afghanistan into battles they couldn't win by calling them," lady men" and "cowardly dogs".


65. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker who, during the Civil War, stood on the Union front lines for nearly two years, including the wake of the bloody Battle of Chickamauga. She is the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.


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66Guy Gabaldon

Guy Gabaldon

An 18-year-old marine singlehandedly persuaded 1,500 soldiers at the battle of Saipan to surrender. He was only able to do this because his Japanese foster parents had taken him in off the streets when he was 12 and taught him their language.


67. There are scrolls from the Edo period of Japan that suggest fart battles took place. These drawings show men blasting farts at other men, women, and even a cat.


68. Castner's Cutthroats, a platoon of Army scouts who served in the Aleutian Islands Campaign of WW2. The group was composed of trappers, hunters, miners and Native Alaskans. They seldom used ranks and never wore uniforms. In addition to recon missions, they fought in the bloody Battle of Attu.


69. In February of 1863, there was a snowball battle amongst rival divisions of Confederate troops in which approximately 10,000 Confederate soldiers participated. It was later described by a participant as "one of the most memorable combats of the war."


70. El Cid, a military leader in the middle ages, was so feared that, after his death, his embalmed body was placed on a horse and sent into battle causing the enemy to flee.


71Calvin Graham

Calvin Graham

The youngest American serviceman in World War Two was 12-year-old Calvin Graham, U.S. Navy. He was wounded during the battle of Guadalcanal and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age to enlist. His veterans benefits were later restored by an act of Congress.


72. In the 1941 Battle of Raseiniai, a single Russian KV tank stopped an entire German Division for a full day until it finally ran out of ammunition


73. At the time of the Battle of Britain (1940) several nations had functioning radar systems (inc. Germany) but it was the British 'Dowding system' that allowed positions of enemy planes to be relayed to fighters in the air, resulting in interception rates of >90% and turning the tide of the war.


74. When the U.S. invaded Mexico the Irish fought alongside Mexico until the last battle, when they ran out of ammo, tore down the white flag, and continued fighting with bayonets until 85 were captured and put to torturous deaths by the U.S. Today it is known as the largest hanging in N. America.


75. Two mines detonated on the first day of the Battle of the Somme were apparently so loud that the blasts were heard in London, nearly 200 miles away.

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