Who is the craziest soldier in modern history?

By Anastasia Aleiferi,

Today with the internet we have access to information that, in the past, might have been almost impossible to get. Sometimes that information might be about obscure and weird things that have happened or about people that might make you think that they are not human. Such is the case of the craziest soldier in history, Sir Lieutenant General Adrian Carton de Wiart, the man who could not be killed.

Adrian Carton de Wiart was born in an aristocratic family in Belgium in 1880. He was educated at the Roman Catholic Oratory School in Birmingham and later, he went to Oxford University to study law. But, that kind of life seems to not be fit for the man in question.

He desired action and so that opportunity came to him in 1899, when the Anglo-Boer war broke out in South Africa and as he wrote in his autobiography (The Happy Odyssey) “blood is in my blood, and I will join the war. If the British do not want me, I will join the Boers”. He joined the war on the British army. But, as the son of an aristocrat, he had to sign up with a fake name and fake age so his father could not find out. During the war, when his regiment was passing through a supposedly safe area, they were under fire from Boer snipers, and he was shot in the stomach and the groin. Invalidated back to Britain, he was met with his furious father. Somehow, he managed to ease his father’s anger and when he was healed up, he went back to the war in another regiment. Before the war was out, he gained a regular commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 4^th Irish Dragoon Guards. During his return, his regiment was placed in a lot of peacetime postings and as Adrian wrote in his book, his dream of charging Boers and single-handedly  winning a posthumous Victorian Cross were fading. After the war, he married an Austrian aristocratic woman and had two daughters with her. They were married for 40 years.

In 1914, the 1^st World War broke out, and again he joined the war, but instead of fighting the Germans, he found himself in a ship, heading towards the British colony of Somali. Wanting to see some action, he managed to get seconded from the 4^th Dragoon Guards to the Somaliland Camel Troops, who were fighting a rebellion led by Mohammed Bin Abdullah. During the battle of Shimber Berris, as the British were attacked at Dervish fort, Adrian was shot in the face twice, losing part of his ear and his left eye. He was left to wear an eyepatch for the rest of his life. For his bravery, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Adrian requested to rejoin his regiment, the 4^th Dragoon Guards, in the West Front and he went. He saw the action of 1^st World War and in every battle, he was injured.

In 1915, in the 2^nd battle of Ypres, his left hand was shot. As he went back to the British lines, he saw that his hand was severely injured and two of his fingers were barely hanging on his hand. The doctor refused to amputate his fingers and so he did it himself and, because of the damage on his hand, most of his hand had to be amputated. By some miracle, he returned to the war in 1916. Now, as a part of another regiment, he was given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and he was commanding the 8^th battalion, during the fight at La Boisselle, on July 2^nd 1916. During that fight, other three battalion commanders were killed and so, he took over command of those battalions too and held a defensive line, which assured their victory. He run between battalions to ensure that his orders were followed and for his actions there he was awarded the Victorian Cross. He also was promoted in the army and received a knighthood.

Afterwards, he was sent to Poland as part of the British-Poland Military mission, advising the polish troops how to win the wars they were simultaneously fighting on several fronts. When the Mission’s commander died, he took over command of the mission. When the Bolshevik Russians were approaching Warsaw, Adrian went on a train to observe the situation. Suddenly, the train was attacked by Russian cavalry unit, and as the train steamed to safety, Adrian was shooting down the attackers. After that mission, Adrian decided to retire from the army and head to Poland.

In September 1939, his retirement comes to an end with the German invasion of Poland. Sitting in the path of the Soviet army was his estate which was seized, along with all his personal belongings. Adrian thankfully managed to cross the border to Romania and then, went to Britain where he reapplied for the army. It’s important to note that Adrian made this demand when he was 60 years old, with one eye and one arm. He was accepted and given command of the 61^st division with the rank of acting Major-General. In 1940, his division was situated in Norway and danger wasn’t far away. When his seaplane landed in fjord Norway, it was attacked by a Luftwaffe fighter. With the German fighter circling back, Adrian refused to escape and when the German attacker run out of ammunition, he was rescued by a British ship. When he returned to Britain, he was told that he is too old to command a division on active duty.

But, Winston Churchill proposed that he led a military operation in former Yugoslavia, and so he was, as he wished, sent to another mission. On route, his transportation was shot down and he swam to the shore where he found himself in Libya, which at the time was occupied by Italy. Therefore, he was taken as a prisoner in Tuscany. After five times, he and other fellow soldiers managed to escape, by digging a tunnel for 7 months (let’s not forget he had one eye and one arm!), but he was recaptured after 8 days. After Mussolini was no longer the Prime Minister of Italy, the new government wanted to make a deal with the allies without the Germans knowing, so they asked Adrian to accompany the Italian negotiator. After he returned to Britain, Winston Churchill asked him to be his military advisor in China, where he stayed for 4 years. While he was returning back home, as he passed through Rangoon in Burma, he slipped on some coconut matting, falling down a flight of stairs and knocking himself out, breaking several vertebrae. He retired from the army for the second time, in 1947. He died in 1963, in County Cork, at the age of 83.

References

• Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart. “Happy Odyssey“. Pen and Sword Military. Barnsley. 2007.
• Adrian Carton de Wiart: The unkillable soldier. BBC. Available here 
• Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO. Royal Dragoon Guards Museum. Available here