Bizarre Military Mishaps A "siesta" ordered by Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to his troops during a conflict between the Mexicans and Texans caused the infantry to be overtaken in just 18 minutes. Fort Douaumont at Verdun in France was captured in 1916 by a single German soldier after French General Chretien forgot to pass on orders to defend the fort to the last man to his successor. http://miljokes.com/a/aug01/230801.htm
Ah, I have this story related in quite some detail back home. Going from memory here, it is not entirely true, but almost. German soldiers reached the walls of Douaumont in several places, and the soldier mentioned above thought he would take a look inside the fort. As guns were firing from the walls above them, the soldiers performed one of the athletic and usually pointless exercises forced on them - building a human pyramid! The topmost guy climbed into one of the gunports of the fort (empty, defensive structures were not in high regard with the offensive-minded generals, so many guns and crewmen of the fort had been removed for offensive purposes), and started exploring the maze. Along the way he encountered some Frenchmen which he captured, and had them lead him to the mess hall, where the majority of the remaining crew of the fort were located. Once there he pushed the captives into the room and slammed the armoured door shut, locking the crew in. He then promptly and quite calmly sat down and feasted on some food he found outside, as the German soldiers had not been given enough for the offensive! While this was going on, several other groups of Germans had entered the fort, which was eventually secured. One of the leaders of these groups claimed the honor of capturing the fort, and was proclaimed a national hero. I can check the details and names once I get home, but that is the gist of it...
I think the 1st one is true too, sounds like theyre talking about the battle of San Jacinto, in which the Mexican force was overtaken in that amount of time
Ah yes, the soldiers who claimed Douaumont were part of the 24th Brandenburger Regiment, who had become separated from their neigboring regiment during an unexpectedly successful advance through snowfall and fog. The fort itself had been largely dismanteled, with only 57 men still manning the vast network of tunnels and walkways, and the few guns. Oddly enough the supposedly obsolete fort remained teh main fall-back point for the French forces in the area, around which they could rally. The French general in command also got very worried when the Germans approached the supposedly useless fort, he sent a runner to order it blown up, but the messenger never reached the fort through the German artillery. This rathter nicely illustrates the meltdown regarding doctrine of the time - the fort is useless, no wait it's our main bastion and rallypoint! But no, we'll dismantle it and send the crew into the offensive, oh wait *panic* the Germans might claim it and make it a stronghold. But then why was it useless? Etc. The soldier mentioned above who first entered the fort was Sergeant Kunze, who began the conquest by slamming doors and eating fresh food for the first time in weeks. Later a captain arrived to organize the capture. Yet later a certain Oberleutnant von Brandis arrived to take a look. He then went back to friendly lines to report, and along the way the exploits and his own part grew considerably, he was shunted up the chain of command to tell his fabulous story, and the next day he got to tell the story to the Crown Prince. Both the Crown Prince and the Kaiser were thrilled that an aristocrat from one of the "their" Prussian Counties had performed such a feat. von Brandis was made a national hero and instantly awarded the Pour le Mérite! Only in the years leading up to World War II was the real story behind the capture revealed by a historian. The hungry Sergeant Kunze then received his only award for the incident, a signed photo from the exiled Kaiser...whopeee!
The Fort Douaumont story reminded me of the movie they made about Sgt.Alvin York, who was supposed to have captured and killed all kinds of Germans single handed during WWI. I wonder how much of his actions were real and how much were "Hollywood hype", and military propanganda.
Yes TA! I remember the movie your talking about! In the movie Sgt. York hails from backwaters Kentucky, where he used to hunt wild turkey (vey hard birds to hunt). He often used a turkey call to get the bird to stick it's head up. In the trenches of WWI, he used the same method to pick off Germans.
That's the movie. By 1918 though you would think the Germans were alittle smarter than turkeys and would know it was not good for your health to stick your head up on the front lines.
