Leo Major was a French Canadian man born in 1921. He probably didn’t
think he was going to be more of a hero than the average soldier when he
joined up with the Canadian Army at the start of World War
II—supposedly he simply joined up because he wanted to show his father,
with whom he had a shaky relationship, that he could do something to be
proud of.
Major started his overseas tour in 1941, serving in Le Regiment de la
Chaudiere. On D-Day, he was wounded by a grenade, resulting in the
partial loss of vision in his left eye. Major refused to be sent home,
arguing that he only needed one good eye to sight a rifle. He was placed
in the scout platoon and became handy with his rifle, earning himself a
reputation as an excellent sniper.
In April 1945, Major’s regiment was approaching the city of Zwolle.
His commanding officers asked for two volunteers to do a reconnaissance
run and report on the number of German troops patrolling the city. If
possible, the volunteers were also asked to get in contact with the
Dutch resistance as the Chaudiere regiment was to start firing on the
city the next day. At the time, Zwolle had a population of around 50,000
people and it was likely that innocent civilians would number among the
casualties.
Along with his friend Willy Arseneault, Major started to creep toward
the city. Willy was killed by German soldiers around midnight after the
pair ran across a roadblock. Reportedly, Willy was able to kill his
attacker before dying himself. Understandably angry, Major picked up his
friend’s machine gun and ran at the enemy, killing two of the remaining
German soldiers; the rest fled in a vehicle.
Major continued on and soon ambushed a staff vehicle and captured the
German driver who he had lead him to an officer drinking in a nearby
tavern. He informed the officer that Canadian forces would begin firing
heavy artillery on the city, resulting in the deaths of many German
soldiers and Zwolle civilians alike. He didn’t mention that he was
alone.
Afterwards, Major gave the man his gun back and, with that seed of
knowledge soon to be spread throughout the German troops, he immediately
began running up and down the streets shooting a machine gun and
tossing grenades. The grenades made a lot of noise, but he made sure to
place them where they wouldn’t cause much damage to the town or its
citizens.
In the early hours of the morning, he stumbled upon a group of eight
soldiers. Though they pulled a gun on him, he killed four and caused the
rest to flee. Major himself escaped the confrontation without injury
and only one regret: he later stated he felt he should have killed all
of them.
As he continued his campaign of terror throughout the night, the
German soldiers began to panic, thinking a large body of Canadian forces
were attacking them. By 4 a.m., the Germans had vanished. An entire
garrison—estimated to have been made up of several hundred soldiers—had
been made so afraid of nothing more than a single, one-eyed man that
they fled the town. The city of Zwolle had been liberated without the
need for the death of civilians or many of the soldiers on both sides of
the lines that would have taken part in the messy battle.
Rather than fall asleep after running around the city in the wee
hours of morning avoiding German gunfire and causing all kinds of
mayhem, Major enlisted the help of several Dutch civilians to retrieve
the body of his friend Willy. Only after his friend’s body had been
recovered did Major report to his commanding officer that there was “no
enemy” in the city. The Canadian army marched in to the sound of cheers
rather than gun shots. For his actions at Zwolle, Major received a
Distinguished Conduct Medal.
If this wasn’t all enough, perhaps I should mention that in 1944, a
year before he liberated Zwolle, at the Battle of Scheldt, Major
captured 93 German soldiers by himself and led them to waiting Canadian
troops.
He and Willy were teamed up again on a reconnaissance mission to find
out what had happened to a company of men that had seemingly
disappeared. Willy was sick, so Major went alone. He soon found that
the company he was looking for had all managed to get themselves
captured. Rather than go back and report immediately, Major was cold,
so went into a nearby house to warm up. At this point, he saw a couple
German soldiers through a window and decided to capture them, which he
did. With them presumably helping him lug his balls of solid steal
along the way, he had them take him to their commanding officer, who was
among about 100 other German soldiers at the time.
Major continued on and soon ambushed a staff vehicle and captured the
German driver who he had lead him to an officer drinking in a nearby
tavern. He informed the officer that Canadian forces would begin firing
heavy artillery on the city, resulting in the deaths of many German
soldiers and Zwolle civilians alike. He didn’t mention that he was
alone.
Afterwards, Major gave the man his gun back and, with that seed of
knowledge soon to be spread throughout the German troops, he immediately
began running up and down the streets shooting a machine gun and
tossing grenades. The grenades made a lot of noise, but he made sure to
place them where they wouldn’t cause much damage to the town or its
citizens.
In the early hours of the morning, he stumbled upon a group of eight
soldiers. Though they pulled a gun on him, he killed four and caused the
rest to flee. Major himself escaped the confrontation without injury
and only one regret: he later stated he felt he should have killed all
of them.
As he continued his campaign of terror throughout the night, the
German soldiers began to panic, thinking a large body of Canadian forces
were attacking them. By 4 a.m., the Germans had vanished. An entire
garrison—estimated to have been made up of several hundred soldiers—had
been made so afraid of nothing more than a single, one-eyed man that
they fled the town. The city of Zwolle had been liberated without the
need for the death of civilians or many of the soldiers on both sides of
the lines that would have taken part in the messy battle.
Rather than fall asleep after running around the city in the wee
hours of morning avoiding German gunfire and causing all kinds of
mayhem, Major enlisted the help of several Dutch civilians to retrieve
the body of his friend Willy. Only after his friend’s body had been
recovered did Major report to his commanding officer that there was “no
enemy” in the city. The Canadian army marched in to the sound of cheers
rather than gun shots. For his actions at Zwolle, Major received a
Distinguished Conduct Medal.
If this wasn’t all enough, perhaps I should mention that in 1944, a
year before he liberated Zwolle, at the Battle of Scheldt, Major
captured 93 German soldiers by himself and led them to waiting Canadian
troops.
He and Willy were teamed up again on a reconnaissance mission to find
out what had happened to a company of men that had seemingly
disappeared. Willy was sick, so Major went alone. He soon found that
the company he was looking for had all managed to get themselves
captured. Rather than go back and report immediately, Major was cold,
so went into a nearby house to warm up. At this point, he saw a couple
German soldiers through a window and decided to capture them, which he
did. With them presumably helping him lug his balls of solid steal
along the way, he had them take him to their commanding officer, who was
among about 100 other German soldiers at the time.
His offer was basically- surrender or you die. Of course, he’d then
die too, but this plan miraculously worked. Why? Because some nearby
SS troops observed the exchange and misinterpreted, thinking the
commanding officer and his men were surrendering. Thus, the SS opened
fire on both Major and the German soldiers around him. The Germans
being fired upon decided surrendering to Major was better than being
killed by the SS, so they went with him, with the SS hot in pursuit,
killing some of them along the way. All total, 93 Germans soldiers made
it back with him and became POWs.
For this amazing feat, Major was offered a Distinguished Conduct
Medal, but refused it because he felt his commanding officer, Field
Marshall Montgomery, was “incompetent” and that, “He had made an awful
mistake. I didn’t like him at all.” Thus, he didn’t want to receive an
award from the Field Marshall’s hand.
Still not impressed? How about how he won his second Distinguished
Conduct Medal, besides the one earned liberating Zwolle, which would
have been his second, had he accepted the 1944 one. The second one he
chose to accept didn’t come in WWII. Rather, it was achieved during the
Korean War where he managed, in a lot of ways, to top the other two,
though this time with the help of just under a couple dozen other
people. But I think you’ll soon agree, it was still ridiculously
amazing.
Around 40,000 Chinese soldiers had successfully dislodged a large
body of U.S. soldiers from a key hill (Hill 335 to be exact). Unable to
retake the hill, Major and a small group of other snipers were sent
in. There job was to sneak up onto the hill, in the midst of all those
Chinese soldiers, and then open fire. After doing this and throwing the
Chinese soldiers into a panic, rather than retreat, Major had his men
continue firing and managed to do what thousands of U.S. troops had been
unable to do, re-take the hill.
Of course, the Chinese soon regrouped and two divisions, totaling
over 14,000 soldiers, were sent to retake the hill from Major and his
tiny band of snipers (20 men total). Again, rather than retreat as
ordered, Major and his band decided to hold the hill. After three days
of repeated attacks from over ten thousand soldiers using every manner
of weaponry, reinforcements arrived and relieved Major and his men, who
had successfully held the hill during that span.
Thanks for being a hero
You are our role model for this week😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😄😄😄
