Weird History Thread

[Hobbit]

I autisticly read fucking everything, but I have a particular soft spot for weird history. Post weird history shit that you know - shit you'd swear was made up if it didn't actually happen. If you post easily debunked urban legends or pseudo-history, I'm going to call you out and tell everyone to point and laugh at you for being a goddamn gullible fool.

I'll kick things off with:

John Rabe

That's John Rabe. He was a literal card-carrying Nazi who saved 200,000 Chinese civillians from being massacred by the Japanese in Nanking (now Nanjing). It can't be overstated that this guy was not a spy or a moderate or anything, he was a staunch National Socialist and was a high-ranking official in the party working in China, in fact the leader of the Nanking office.

I believe not only in the correctness of our political system, but as an organizer of the party, I am behind the system 100%.

When Japan invaded China, they committed atrocities that were absolutely just as horrific as the Nazi's, albeit more personal & old-school, and less industrial and efficient. As they literally raped their way through China and towards Nanking, almost all the foreigners fucked off, but John stayed, and sent this telegram to his boss.

I respectfully ask National Group Leader Lahrmann to send on the following telegram:

First to the Führer

Undersigned Deputy Group Leader Nanking, chairman of local International Committee, asks his Führer kindly to intercede with the Japanese government to grant permission for creation of a neutral zone for noncombatants, since imminent battle for Nanking otherwise endangers the lives of over 200,000 people.

Second to general consult Kriebel

Urgently request support of my petition to the Führer for his intercession with the Japanese government concerning creation of a neutral zone for noncombatants, since dreadful bloodbath otherwise inevitable in imminent battle for Nanking

Heil Hitler!

No one answered, so John, with a lot of help from a lot of other remarkable people, just went ahead and set up the Nanking Safety Zone on his own authority. He saved 200,000 with no soldiers and no support from higher ups basically by waving his Nazi armband around and telling the Japs to fuck off. What an alpha.

About a month in, John's bosses thought he was getting too big for his britches and recalled him back to Berlin, where he proceed to work like a madman trying to get the word out about what has happening, including making a documentary with an open letter to Hitler:

Mein Führer!

The majority of my friends in China are of the opinion that you have not been provided a detailed report about the actual events in Nanking.

In sending you the enclosed copy of a lecture I have given, which however is not intended for the broader public, I am fulfilling a promise made to my friends in China that I would inform you about the sufferings of the Chinese populace.

My mission will have been fulfilled if you would be kind enough to let me know that the enclosed copy of my lecture was presented to you.

I have since been notified that I am to abstain from delivering other lectures of the sort or to show any pictures dealing with the subject. I shall obey this order, since it is not my intention to work against German policy and German government offices.

Let me assure you of my allegiance and honest devotion.

This got him arrested by the Gestapo and all the copies of the documentary destroyed because Hitler needed to stay on Japan's good side. Things go real south for Johnny after the war. He loses everything when the Russians invaded Berlin and fucked shit up, and then he was questioned by both them and the British. He wound up so poor he lived off of acorns because no one would hire an ex-Nazi leader. The Chinese government heard about it and sent him a bunch of food, and offered to let him live in China for free for the rest of his life if he testified against Japan in the tribunals. He replied

I didn't want to see any Japanese hang, although they deserved it... There must be some atonement, some just punishment; but in my view the judgment should be spoken only by their own nation.

He never testified, never went back to China and died from a stroke in 1950. I don't want to write anymore but you should go read more about this shit.

 

[mr.moon1488]

I autisticly read fucking everything, but I have a particular soft spot for weird history. Post weird history shit that you know - shit you'd swear was made up if it didn't actually happen. If you post easily debunked urban legends or pseudo-history, I'm going to call you out and tell everyone to point and laugh at you for being a goddamn gullible fool.

I'll kick things off with:

John Rabe
View attachment 713144​

That's John Rabe. He was a literal card-carrying Nazi who saved 200,000 Chinese civillians from being massacred by the Japanese in Nanking (now Nanjing). It can't be overstated that this guy was not a spy or a moderate or anything, he was a staunch National Socialist and was a high-ranking official in the party working in China, in fact the leader of the Nanking office.


When Japan invaded China, they committed atrocities that were absolutely just as horrific as the Nazi's, albeit more personal & old-school, and less industrial and efficient. As they literally raped their way through China and towards Nanking, almost all the foreigners fucked off, but John stayed, and sent this telegram to his boss.

No one answered, so John, with a lot of help from a lot of other remarkable people, just went ahead and set up the Nanking Safety Zone on his own authority. He saved 200,000 with no soldiers and no support from higher ups basically by waving his Nazi armband around and telling the Japs to fuck off. What an alpha.

About a month in, John's bosses thought he was getting too big for his britches and recalled him back to Berlin, where he proceed to work like a madman trying to get the word out about what has happening, including making a documentary with an open letter to Hitler:

This got him arrested by the Gestapo and all the copies of the documentary destroyed because Hitler needed to stay on Japan's good side. Things go real south for Johnny after the war. He loses everything when the Russians invaded Berlin and fucked shit up, and then he was questioned by both them and the British. He wound up so poor he lived off of acorns because no one would hire an ex-Nazi leader. The Chinese government heard about it and sent him a bunch of food, and offered to let him live in China for free for the rest of his life if he testified against Japan in the tribunals. He replied
He never testified, never went back to China and died from a stroke in 1950. I don't want to write anymore but you should go read more about this shit.

Big nose George
Stole some shit, got turned into shoes.
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/big-nose-george-grisly-frontier-tale

 

[Rand /pol/]

Russia used to have a fort in Hawaii. Germany used to control Samoa and part of New Guinea. I find that wierd.

 

[Regardless]

Communism.
All of it.

 

[AnOminous]

The entire country of Albania is covered in completely useless bunkers that serve no purpose because Enver Hoxha, the Communist moron who ran it from 1944 until his death in 1985, was completely obsessed with building these bunkers and thought they would somehow stop an invasion.

They're still all over the place.

Bunkers in Albania - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[OB 946]

In a similar vein with WWII strange history, the well known Battle for Castle Itter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter

The Scene: A smallish castle in western Austria that was used by the SS to house high value prisoners, including two former French Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier and Paul Reynaud, some high ranking French military officers, a Yugoslavian communist partisan, and a very talented French tennis star. The castle is about 4 miles from an SS controlled town. Roving SS kill teams have been liquidating prisoners and conducting reprisal killings against the locals.

The Setup: Berlin is under siege by the Russians, Americans have captured Innsbruck, and the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS command staff are at odds after Hitler's suicide.

The Yugo is granted a pass to leave the castle on the pretense of running some local errands on behest of the castle commander, but instead bikes the roughly 40 miles north to Innsbruck, currently under American occupation, to ask for help in liberating the prisoners. Command staff of the American 103rd Infantry Division agree, and are about to dispatch a large contingent of tank-supported infantry to rescue the occupants of the castle, but heavy shelling and a suspected German counterattack forces them to stay put. At this point, with a prisoner literally just leaving the castle, and the war being almost over, and rumors trickling in of what happens to SS prison guards, the guards just leave, up and fucking leave to go home to their families, they leave their weapons, too. The prisoners then proceed to set up defensive positions around the castle, with a sympathetic SS officer that stayed behind being put in charge of the defense effort.

With the Yugo being nowhere to be seen, and with worry that the SS could show up any time, the prisoners dispatch the cook, a Czech man, on bicycle to Worgle, the nearby town, to see if he can find any help there. He succeeds in locating an Austrian resistance member who takes him to Josef Gangl, the Wehrmacht Major-turned resistance leader who is commanding a small unit of German soldiers attempting to defend the town from SS reprisal killings. Gangl makes his way north, towards the last known nearby sighting of American soldiers, and encounters US Army Captain John C. Lee Jr. who is in charge of a recon unit consisting of a couple dozen men and 4 Sherman tanks. The Captain eagerly agrees to help, but gets stuck at a small bridge on the way to the castle, where, due to the bridge's deteriorating nature, only 1 of the Captain's tanks is able to make it across.

At this point the rescuers arrive at the castle, among them are Captain Lee, the tank Besotten Jenny, 14 American soldiers, Gengle, Gengle's driver, and 10 German artillerymen. They arrive shortly before an SS raiding party who had heard of the prisoners and had come to liquidate them. The small SS force harasses and probes the defenders through the night. It should be noted that the Captain had ordered the prisoners to take cover within the walls, but they had refused and instead took up defensive positions alongside the soldiers.

The Battle: Early in the morning, a large SS force of about 160 men attack the castle, with the defenders putting up stiff resistance. Gangl calls his unit in Worgle and asks for reinforcements, but unfortunately they can only send 2 more German soldiers and a 17 year old Austrian resistance member. Exploding shells sever telephone wires and HE rounds exploding near the American tank knock out the tank's radio, cutting off communication between the defenders and potential rescue. Midway through the battle, the tank is destroyed by a direct hit from a Flak 41 8.8cm anti-air gun. The tank, having expended all of its HE, AP, and machinegun ammo, was empty except for the radio operator who was attempting to restore communication with the 142nd Infantry Regiment. He successfully bailed out of the tank with minor injuries. Gangl is killed by a rifle round while saving the life of Prime Minister Reynaud. Eventually, Jean Borotra, the tennis star, takes a hand scribbled note from Captain Lee, vaults the wall of the castle, and runs to the American lines, who redouble their efforts at getting a rescue party through, Jean then demands and gets a uniform and rifle so he can join the relief party, which eventually punches through the SS lines and relieves the defenders in the mid afternoon, taking about 100 SS soldiers as prisoners.

The only loss sustained by the defenders is Major Gangl, who was declared a National Hero of Austria, and has a street named after him in Worgle. Captain Lee was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leading the rescue operation.

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

There was a war over a wooden bucket and a war over a sailor's ear.

War of the Bucket - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

War of Jenkins' Ear - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Warecton565]

In a similar vein with WWII strange history, the well known Battle for Castle Itter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter

The Scene: A smallish castle in western Austria that was used by the SS to house high value prisoners, including two former French Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier and Paul Reynaud, some high ranking French military officers, a Yugoslavian communist partisan, and a very talented French tennis star. The castle is about 4 miles from an SS controlled town. Roving SS kill teams have been liquidating prisoners and conducting reprisal killings against the locals.

The Setup: Berlin is under siege by the Russians, Americans have captured Innsbruck, and the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS command staff are at odds after Hitler's suicide.

The Yugo is granted a pass to leave the castle on the pretense of running some local errands on behest of the castle commander, but instead bikes the roughly 40 miles north to Innsbruck, currently under American occupation, to ask for help in liberating the prisoners. Command staff of the American 103rd Infantry Division agree, and are about to dispatch a large contingent of tank-supported infantry to rescue the occupants of the castle, but heavy shelling and a suspected German counterattack forces them to stay put. At this point, with a prisoner literally just leaving the castle, and the war being almost over, and rumors trickling in of what happens to SS prison guards, the guards just leave, up and fucking leave to go home to their families, they leave their weapons, too. The prisoners then proceed to set up defensive positions around the castle, with a sympathetic SS officer that stayed behind being put in charge of the defense effort.

With the Yugo being nowhere to be seen, and with worry that the SS could show up any time, the prisoners dispatch the cook, a Czech man, on bicycle to Worgle, the nearby town, to see if he can find any help there. He succeeds in locating an Austrian resistance member who takes him to Josef Gangl, the Wehrmacht Major-turned resistance leader who is commanding a small unit of German soldiers attempting to defend the town from SS reprisal killings. Gangl makes his way north, towards the last known nearby sighting of American soldiers, and encounters US Army Captain John C. Lee Jr. who is in charge of a recon unit consisting of a couple dozen men and 4 Sherman tanks. The Captain eagerly agrees to help, but gets stuck at a small bridge on the way to the castle, where, due to the bridge's deteriorating nature, only 1 of the Captain's tanks is able to make it across.

At this point the rescuers arrive at the castle, among them are Captain Lee, the tank Besotten Jenny, 14 American soldiers, Gengle, Gengle's driver, and 10 German artillerymen. They arrive shortly before an SS raiding party who had heard of the prisoners and had come to liquidate them. The small SS force harasses and probes the defenders through the night. It should be noted that the Captain had ordered the prisoners to take cover within the walls, but they had refused and instead took up defensive positions alongside the soldiers.

The Battle: Early in the morning, a large SS force of about 160 men attack the castle, with the defenders putting up stiff resistance. Gangl calls his unit in Worgle and asks for reinforcements, but unfortunately they can only send 2 more German soldiers and a 17 year old Austrian resistance member. Exploding shells sever telephone wires and HE rounds exploding near the American tank knock out the tank's radio, cutting off communication between the defenders and potential rescue. Midway through the battle, the tank is destroyed by a direct hit from a Flak 41 8.8cm anti-air gun. The tank, having expended all of its HE, AP, and machinegun ammo, was empty except for the radio operator who was attempting to restore communication with the 142nd Infantry Regiment. He successfully bailed out of the tank with minor injuries. Gangl is killed by a rifle round while saving the life of Prime Minister Reynaud. Eventually, Jean Borotra, the tennis star, takes a hand scribbled note from Captain Lee, vaults the wall of the castle, and runs to the American lines, who redouble their efforts at getting a rescue party through, Jean then demands and gets a uniform and rifle so he can join the relief party, which eventually punches through the SS lines and relieves the defenders in the mid afternoon, taking about 100 SS soldiers as prisoners.

The only loss sustained by the defenders is Major Gangl, who was declared a National Hero of Austria, and has a street named after him in Worgle. Captain Lee was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leading the rescue operation.

Also cant forget

I'll also add this. I found it pretty interesting, even if I'm not big brain enough to explain it myself.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

The most important and honored servant job for Henry VIII was the "Groom Of The Stool" toilet attendant title.
Only four men got that job.

Some of the most important of Henry VIII’s attendants were his bathroom attendants. These men got the title “the Groom of the Stool,” and they helped dress and undress the king before and after going to the bathroom, and assisted with bodily functions and washing. Not just mere servants, all of Henry VIII’s grooms were actually knights, and their intimate relationship with the king made them highly influential members of the court.

Yes, that really was the servant job that would have been coveted the most out of all of them.

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

There was a Confederate officer at the Battle of Gettysburg who wore a red turban while riding on horseback. To the surprise of absolutely no one, he was shot and killed.

 

[Least Concern]

TIL nerds at NASA make posters featuring the crew of each ISS expedition that typically parody popular movie posters.

International Space Station - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

TIL nerds at NASA make posters featuring the crew of each ISS expedition that typically parody popular movie posters.

View attachment 718504View attachment 718505View attachment 718506

International Space Station - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

They look like posters to bad porn movies.

 

[Megaroad]

I autisticly read fucking everything, but I have a particular soft spot for weird history. Post weird history shit that you know - shit you'd swear was made up if it didn't actually happen. If you post easily debunked urban legends or pseudo-history, I'm going to call you out and tell everyone to point and laugh at you for being a goddamn gullible fool.

I'll kick things off with:

John Rabe
View attachment 713144​

That's John Rabe. He was a literal card-carrying Nazi who saved 200,000 Chinese civillians from being massacred by the Japanese in Nanking (now Nanjing). It can't be overstated that this guy was not a spy or a moderate or anything, he was a staunch National Socialist and was a high-ranking official in the party working in China, in fact the leader of the Nanking office.


When Japan invaded China, they committed atrocities that were absolutely just as horrific as the Nazi's, albeit more personal & old-school, and less industrial and efficient. As they literally raped their way through China and towards Nanking, almost all the foreigners fucked off, but John stayed, and sent this telegram to his boss.

No one answered, so John, with a lot of help from a lot of other remarkable people, just went ahead and set up the Nanking Safety Zone on his own authority. He saved 200,000 with no soldiers and no support from higher ups basically by waving his Nazi armband around and telling the Japs to fuck off. What an alpha.

About a month in, John's bosses thought he was getting too big for his britches and recalled him back to Berlin, where he proceed to work like a madman trying to get the word out about what has happening, including making a documentary with an open letter to Hitler:

This got him arrested by the Gestapo and all the copies of the documentary destroyed because Hitler needed to stay on Japan's good side. Things go real south for Johnny after the war. He loses everything when the Russians invaded Berlin and fucked shit up, and then he was questioned by both them and the British. He wound up so poor he lived off of acorns because no one would hire an ex-Nazi leader. The Chinese government heard about it and sent him a bunch of food, and offered to let him live in China for free for the rest of his life if he testified against Japan in the tribunals. He replied
He never testified, never went back to China and died from a stroke in 1950. I don't want to write anymore but you should go read more about this shit.

I've always loved this story.

He makes a cameo in the sequel to Man Behind the Sun, Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre, if anyone has the guts to watch that.

 

[Mister Qwerty]

 

[Cackspangler]

The entire country of Albania is covered in completely useless bunkers that serve no purpose because Enver Hoxha, the Communist moron who ran it from 1944 until his death in 1985, was completely obsessed with building these bunkers and thought they would somehow stop an invasion.

They're still all over the place.

Bunkers in Albania - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's a big meme in leftist circles:

/leftypol/ choir- Albanian Nights

A cover of a /leftypol/ classic LYRICS Oh I come from a land, It's a Stalinist place, where nobodies allowed to roam. It's a capital offence, and the laws ar...

www.youtube.com

There was a war over a wooden bucket and a war over a sailor's ear.

War of the Bucket - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

War of Jenkins' Ear - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Don't forget the war between France and Mexico over the looting of a Frenchman's pastry shop in Tacubaya.

Pastry War - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

My favorite part of this is the ever-increasing demands for money:

Remontel demanded 60,000 pesos as reparations for the damage (his shop was valued at less than 1,000 pesos)
...
In view of Remontel's complaint (which gave its name to the ensuing conflict) and of other complaints from French nationals (among them the looting in 1828 of French shops at the Parian market and the execution in 1837 of a French citizen accused of piracy) in 1838 prime minister Louis-Mathieu Molé demanded from Mexico the payment of 600,000 pesos (3 million Francs) in damages,[4][5] an enormous sum for the time, when the typical daily wage in Mexico City was about one peso (8 Mexican reals).

 

[Clockwork_PurBle]

TIL nerds at NASA make posters featuring the crew of each ISS expedition that typically parody popular movie posters.

View attachment 718504View attachment 718505View attachment 718506

International Space Station - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

Absolute madlads.