History Trivia Thread Reducks

[Maximus]

Not sure about financing, but I think the bronze came from melted down weapons and armor of an invading army?

[Syt]

Temple whores?

[Malthus]

Not sure about financing, but I think the bronze came from melted down weapons and armor of an invading army?

You got it.

The bronze partly came from melted down weapons and the money from selling the other stores the army was forced to leave behind - at least, allegedly.

The Colossus itself was a memorial of thanks to Helios for Rhodes' success in defeating the siege. 

[Valmy]

I keep thinking this is the History Trivia Thread Rednecks.

[merithyn]

I keep thinking this is the History Trivia Thread Rednecks.

Me, too.

[Syt]

Who is widely believed to be the only British soldier to kill an enemy with a longbow in World War 2?

[The Brain]

Who is widely believed to be the only British soldier to kill an enemy with a longbow in World War 2?

The Axis didn't use longbows.

[Viking]

Who is widely believed to be the only British soldier to kill an enemy with a longbow in World War 2?

It's that psychopathic scottish guy in the SBS who did in a hopefullly german sentry with a longbow during a raid on bordeaux before attaching limpet mines to a series of ships hidden up the garonne river. I don't remember his name.

[Syt]

Who is widely believed to be the only British soldier to kill an enemy with a longbow in World War 2?

It's that psychopathic scottish guy in the SBS who did in a hopefullly german sentry with a longbow during a raid on bordeaux before attaching limpet mines to a series of ships hidden up the garonne river. I don't remember his name.

Good enough:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming "Jack" Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar (16 September 1906 – 8 March 1996), nicknamed Fighting Jack Churchill and Mad Jack, was a British soldier who fought throughout the Second World War armed with a longbow, and a Scottish broadsword. He is known for the motto "any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly armed."

[...]

Churchill resumed his commission after Poland was invaded. In May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near L'Epinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel (sergeant) with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in WWII.[2] After fighting at Dunkirk, he volunteered for the Commandos.[3]

Churchill was second in command of No. 3 Commando in Operation Archery, a raid on the German garrison at Vågsøy, Norway on 27 December 1941.[4] As the ramps fell on the first landing craft, Churchill leapt forward from his position and played a tune on his bagpipes, before throwing a grenade and running into battle in the bay. For his actions at Dunkirk and Vågsøy, Churchill received the Military Cross and Bar.

In July 1943, as commanding officer, he led 2 Commando from their landing site at Catania in Sicily with his trademark Scottish broadsword slung around his waist, a longbow and arrows around his neck and his bagpipes under his arm,[5] which he also did in the landings at Salerno. Leading 2 Commando, Churchill was ordered to capture a German observation post outside of the town of La Molina, controlling a pass leading down to the Salerno beach-head. He led the attack by 2 and 41 Commandos, infiltrated the town and captured the post, taking 42 prisoners including a mortar squad. Churchill led the men and prisoners back down the pass, with the wounded being carried on carts pushed by German prisoners. He commented that it was "an image from the Napoleonic Wars."[6] He received the Distinguished Service Order for leading this action at Salerno.[7]

In 1944 he led the Commandos in Yugoslavia, where they supported Josip Broz Tito's Partisans from the Adriatic island of Vis.[8] In May he was ordered to raid the German held island of Brač. He organized a "motley army" of 1,500 Partisans, 43 Commando and one troop from 40 Commando for the raid. The landing was unopposed but on seeing the eyries from which they later encountered German fire, the Partisans decided to defer the attack until the following day. Churchill's bagpipes signalled the remaining Commandos to battle. After being strafed by an RAF Spitfire, Churchill decided to withdraw for the night and to re-launch the attack the following morning.[9] The following morning, one flanking attack was launched by 43 Commando with Churchill leading the elements from 40 Commando. The Partisans remained at the landing area; only Churchill and six others managed to reach the objective. A mortar shell killed or wounded everyone but Churchill, who was playing "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" on his pipes as the Germans advanced. He was knocked unconscious by grenades and captured.[9] He was later flown to Berlin for interrogation and then transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.[3]


Jack Churchill (far right) leads a training exercise, sword in hand, from a Eureka boat in Inveraray.

In September 1944 Churchill and a Royal Air Force officer crawled under the wire, through an abandoned drain and attempted to walk to the Baltic coast. They were captured near the coastal city of Rostock, a few kilometres from the sea. In late April 1945 Churchill and about 140 other prominent concentration camp inmates were transferred to Tyrol, guarded by SS troops. A delegation of prisoners told senior German army officers they feared they would be executed. An army unit commanded by Captain Wichard von Alvensleben moved in to protect the prisoners. Outnumbered, the SS guards moved out, leaving the prisoners behind.[10] The prisoners were released and after the departure of the Germans, Churchill walked 150 kilometres (93 mi) to Verona, Italy where he met an American armoured force.[3]

As the Pacific War was still on, Churchill was sent to Burma,[3] where the largest land battles against Japan were being fought. By the time Churchill reached India, Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been bombed and the war ended. Churchill was said to be unhappy with the sudden end of the war, saying: "If it wasn't for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years."[3]

[Viking]

hmm.. maybe he used a crossbow in the garonne raid? I'm actually a bit surprised that psychopathic scottish guy gave that specific a result....

OK, this may be pre-history, but, what was the most recent, and possibly only specific and dated event to nearly wipe out humanity. (as in kill nearly everybody rather than nearly getting to the point where everybody dies). I want event type, location and time.

[Maximus]

Volcano, Lake Toba, ~750kya

[Viking]

Volcano, Lake Toba, ~750kya

only off by one order of magnitude, but I'll give it to you. But, 750,000 years ago would be homo erectus, which had it's own migration out of europe. Toba was 75,000 years ago (ish) and mitochondrial eve's range includes toba in it's lower range.

[crazy canuck]

time to restart the thread


In the movie Lawrence of Arabia, when crossing a difficult section of desert one of the Arabs, named Gasim, goes missing and Lawrence goes back to save him.

In David Lean's epic film, the rescue of Gasim would be immortalized in a ten minute scene, culminating in Lawrence finally rejoining his comrades to their relieved and raucous cheers, his noble act cementing his image as a true "sone of the desert". The reality was quite different.

The quote is from Lawrence in Arabia:War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson.

The question is what really happened when Lawrence returned with Gasim and bonus points if you know how Gasim came to be separated from the group.

[Viking]

In the film gasim is executed by lawrence after some crime. In reality the guy he saved was not the one he executed.

So, nothing special happened to the guy when he returned to the camp, I have no idea how he got lost, incompetence or malice I suspect.

[crazy canuck]

In the film gasim is executed by lawrence after some crime. In reality the guy he saved was not the one he executed.

So, nothing special happened to the guy when he returned to the camp, I have no idea how he got lost, incompetence or malice I suspect.

You are correct that Gasim was not shot.  In fact the shooting incident occurred with another group long before Lawrence met up with the group of Arabs he crossed the desert with.

But that wasnt the answer, there was in fact something that did happen when he and Gasim returned which was different than that portrayed in the movie.