Strange Battles and Military Events There have been a lot of strange moments during battles and I thought it might be interesting to write about some of them. When we think of naval battles, we usually think it is either ship against ship or ship against cannons. I don’t think anyone would think about ships verses cavalry. In 1795 the French Revolutionary Army was sent to what is now the Netherlands. Their orders were to capture an area which the Dutch ships were said to be anchored. When the troops arrived, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The ships were all locked in ice. This allowed the French cavalry to capture the fleet. This might be the only time cavalry ever captured a fleet of ships. In 1917 the British were planning an attack against an Ottoman stronghold. The usual tactic might be a bombardment first and then an attack, but the British had another idea. They had a plan to weaken the defenders even before they attacked. They sent a plane over where they were holding up in the city of Sheria. The plane dropped cigarettes and propaganda leaflets over the city. The Ottoman soldiers all grabbed the cigarettes and lit up. They probably should have checked them first. They had been laced with drugs. The next day the British attacked the city and had a very easy time defeating the drugged Ottomans. One of the stories about the Korea War is bizarre. In 1950 the United Nations had a force of 20,000 soldiers known as peace keepers stationed around the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. To try and drive them out, the Chinese sent in 120,000 troops. As the battle raged the U.N. soldiers started to run out of ammo. The mortar unit decided to order more shells. One would think this is simple enough, but a code had been worked out where shells were called Tootsie Rolls. I can see you are getting my drift. When the supplies were dropped to the troops, they received Tootsie Rolls instead of mortar shells. Someone at headquarters was unaware of the code. Eventually the U.N. peace keepers were driven out of North Korea. As crazy as this sounds, a war was started over a stolen bucket. Two towns in Italy in 1325 went to war when one town, Modena, stole a bucket from another town, Bologna. It resulted in what is known as the battle of Zappolino. Modena won the war and if you visit that town, you can still see the bucket in their bell tower. It is hard enough for a solder to fight in a battle even if he has all his faculties. If some of the important ones are missing it seems it would be impossible. Missing faculties didn’t stop John of Bohemia, a blind man, from going into battle. He entered the Battle of Crecy in 1346 A.D., tied to his horse with a group of his knights. Things did not work out for John of Bohemia as his body was found after the battle. It does make one wonder how he ever thought he could survive in a battle being blind? There was a very unusual naval battle in 1865. It was fought between Uruguay and Brazil. The Uruguayan navy had a big problem. Right in the midst of the battle there were no more cannon balls, they had fired them all. This didn’t stop them however. The order was given, get all the stale cheese rounds on deck and load them into the cannons. They did and somehow this worked. This drove the Brazilian navy into retreat. I could say this was a cheesy move, but I won’t. Some wars last for hundreds of years and others are a lot shorter. One of the shortest wars on record was said to have lasted only 40 minutes. The war was the Anglo-Zanzibar War in 1896. The British as was their custom wanted to take over Zanzibar and ordered the sultan to step down. He refused and the British shelled his palace, setting it on fire than turned to his royal yacht and shelled that. That was enough for the sultan who complied. This was a case of overwhelming power over a tiny country. Sometimes things happen in war which are really puzzling. In the American Civil War, it is said the greatest general the South had was Stonewall Jackson. Jackson met his end during the battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Most people agree on what happened. Jackson was returning to his troops when soldiers on guard in the Southern camp saw a shadowy figure entering the camp and immediately opened fire. They had killed their own general. Can you imagine being the person that did this? Speaking about the civil war, there is a very famous photo of General Grant on his horse, but close examination shows some strange things about the photo. Grant looks too heavy and too uncomfortable on his horse and even his head is turned to a very painful angle. Investigators studied the photo and found some interesting evidence concerning the photo. It seems photo manipulation even took place back then. It turns out the photo had the head of Grant inserted on the body of General McCook. The background of the photo had also been manipulated. Weird things happen during war and sometimes they sound unbelievable. The next story I want to tell you about is about a soldier who was either very lucky or very unlucky. A Korean man was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army in 1938. While fighting for them he was captured by the Red Army and thrown into a labor camp. The Russians needed bodies since they were losing soldiers at an incredible rate so they conscripted him into the Red Army. While fighting for them he was captured by the German Army. At the time the German Army was on its heels so they conscripted him into their army. During the fighting he was captured by the American Army and that ended his career has a soldier. In 1893 the British were feeling their oats. They had some new ships and wanted to show them off. Vice Admiral George Tryon wanted to brag so he ordered his new fleet of ships to make a synchronized 180 degree turn while leaving the port. He hadn’t taken into account the relatively small space available leaving the port and there was an incredible disaster. The maneuver caused one ship to sink and another was badly damaged and half of the crew killed.
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