"Mad Jack" Churchill - Commando and all round nutjob (1 Viewer)

[jules118]

I mentioned elsewhere once that I'd love to see an occasional series, maybe as part of the collectors club, of famed unconventional warfare and special forces commanders. There's already a few that have been released, Stirling, 'Paddy' Maine, Skorzeny and Lawrence of Arabia to name some.

So, how about Lt Col John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming "Jack" Churchill, DSO & Bar, MC?
An Englishman, born in Hong Kong and obsessed with all things Scottish he served as a commando during WW2, where he went into action carrying a broadsword, bagpipes and a long bow! This guy has just gotta be made into a CC figure. Just read some of this to get an idea of this nutcase

http://www.****interesting.com/any-...ction-without-his-sword-is-improperly-dressed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/churchill.html

Plus there's lots of other interesting and colourful characters to choose from, Bigeard (France), Charging Charlie Beckworth (USSF, Son Tay raid commander and founder of Delta Force), Ron Reid Daly (Rhodesian Selous Scouts), Junio Valerio Borghese (WW2 Italian frogman), DLB (22 SAS), Frank Merrill, Boer General de Wet and Walter Koch of Eben Emael fame to name just a handful.

What do you guys think?

 

[Rob]

Just been reading about him on your Wiki link, what a Character, great idea Jules, he would be well worthy of a figure..with bow and arrows of course!

Rob

 

[Mitch]

Would be a great release. Can you imagine what the enemy must have thought seeing characters like this on the battlefield.

Playing the bagpipes whist being fired at, officers carrying umberella's you think they would have given up earlier. Hopefully, we will see many more of these individuals in metal
Mitch

 

[jules118]

There's a more detailed article on his military adventures here
http://www.wwiihistorymagazine.com/2005/july/col-profiles.html

"...Churchill himself was far in front of his troopers. Sword in hand, accompanied only by a corporal named Ruffell, he advanced into the town itself. Undiscovered by the enemy, he and Ruffell heard German soldiers digging in all around them in the gloom. The glow of a cigarette in the darkness told them the location of a German sentry post. What followed, even Churchill later admitted, was “a bit Errol Flynn-ish.”

The first German sentry post, manned by two men, was taken in silence. Churchill, his sword blade gleaming in the night, appeared like a demon from the darkness, ordered “haende hoch!” and got results. He gave one German prisoner to Ruffell, then slipped his revolver lanyard around the second sentry’s neck and led him off to make the rounds of the other guards. Each post, lulled into a sense of security by the voice of their captive comrade, surrendered to this fearsome apparition with the ferocious mustache and the naked sword.

Altogether, Churchill and Corporal Ruffell collected 42 prisoners, complete with their personal weapons and a mortar they were manning in the village. Churchill and his claymore took the surrender of ten men in a bunch around the mortar. He and his NCO then marched the whole lot back into the British lines.

As Churchill himself described the event, it all sounded rather routine: “I always bring my prisoners back with their weapons; it weighs them down. I just took their rifle bolts out and put them in a sack, which one of the prisoners carried. [They] also carried the mortar and all the bombs they could carry and also pulled a farm cart with five wounded in it….I maintain that, as long as you tell a German loudly and clearly what to do, if you are senior to him he will cry ‘jawohl’ and get on with it enthusiastically and efficiently whatever the … situation. That’s why they make such marvelous soldiers...”


Definitely one of a kind

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Well, being that he was obsessed with all things Scottish...we have come to expect those lot to be a bit nutty, so no surprise there.

And yes, he would, of course, make a great collector's club figure...but he needs to come with Ruffell and the 42 prisoners!