The real-life Rambo, 1945

The real-life Rambo, 1945

Leó Major was a soldier in the Canadian Army in WW2. Throughout the war, Major showed many instances of courage. This included the separate events when he captured a German Armoured Vehicle containing secret codes. He also captured 93 German soldiers single-handedly in the Netherlands. He also fought an SS German patrol in which he lost an eye to a phosphorus grenade. This did not stop Major, who recovered and returned to the front lines. He was also injured by a landmine but also recovered and went back to duty. While these events are impressive, one event took place in the Dutch Town of Zwolle that caused Major to go on a one-person rampage, where he liberated the town from German troops. Major and his friend Willy Arsenault were sent to Zwolle on a scouting mission to try to see how strongly defended the town was. In the night, they crept around Zwolle. Arsenault accidentally gave away their position and was shot dead by German troops. Major returned fire and killed two enemy troops while the others fled. Major took his dead friend's STEN machine gun and grenades. He left his body on the side of the road. Major was so enraged at his friend's death that he decided to enter the town alone and fight the enemy with the force of an army of one. Major hijacked a German vehicle and drove into town. He then went into the streets and began to fire on any Germans he saw and threw grenades in different directions, which made the Germans believe a more significant force was attacking them. Major also captured around 100 enemy troops as well. He also set fire to the Gestapo HQ. This caused the Germans to flee. Members of the Dutch resistance then took control of the town hall and restored order. The next day, the allies went into Zwolle without any fighting. No civilians were killed due to Majors' bravery. Major would go on to serve in the Korean war and lived a quiet life in Canada afterwards. He died in 2008. Photographers: unknown Source: https://tulipfestival.net/leo-major/