There are some people movies will never live up to

Audie Murphy

Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, receiving every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.

Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family; his skill with a hunting rifle was a necessity for putting food on the table. Murphy's older sister helped him to falsify documentation about his birth date to meet the minimum-age requirement for enlisting in the military, and after being turned down by the Navy and the Marine Corps he enlisted in the Army. He first saw action in the Allied invasion of Sicily and the Battle of Anzio, and in 1944 was part of the liberation of Rome and invasion of southern France. Murphy fought at Montélimar, and led his men on a successful assault at the L'Omet quarry near Cleurie in northeastern France in October.

Though he was only 21 years old at the end of the war, he had killed 240 German soldiers, had been wounded three times, and had earned 33 awards and medals. After the war, he appeared in more than 40 films. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder throughout his life.

Erich Hartman

Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), nicknamed "Bubi" by his German comrades and "The Black Devil" by his Soviet adversaries, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and is the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He claimed, and was credited with, shooting down 352 Allied aircraft—345 Soviet and 7 American—while serving with the Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.

Dipprasad Pun

More than thirty soldiers were killed by Pun single-handedly. He was fighting the Taliban at the checkpoint by Babaji and needed to prevent enemy takeover. The Gurkha soldier launched 17 grenades, fired 400 rounds and detonated a mine – all to stop the Taliban attack. This is why the number is actually greater than 30.

His story becomes even more interesting after the fact though; when he had used all available ammunition, Pun used the tripod of his machine gun to hit a Taliban soldier climbing the walls. All together, he was able to kill over 30 enemy soldiers and prevent the Taliban assault from working.

He was given a medal of honor by the Queen of England in recognition of his bravery. Though he had not killed the largest amount of soldiers in history, he definitely earns a spot as one of the deadliest soldiers for his single-handed combat.

Miyamoto Musashi

Over the course of his lifetime, Miyamoto Musashi, a samurai from Japan, defeated over 60 people in life-or-death duels. These duels were all against highly skilled warriors, and there could only be one left alive at the end of each battle. His first duel was perhaps the most remarkable, as he won it at the mere age of twelve. His opponent was an adult, highly trained samurai. To make the story even more interesting, the adult samurai had a sharpened blade, while Musashi held only a stick.

From that point on, until he was twenty-nine years old, he fought in over 60 more duels to the death and fought in six wars, often leading his men into battle. This is why, although the number of duels fought was 60, his total number of enemy kills is most likely much, much higher. During all of this, he reportedly never received more than a scratch.

Carlos Norman Hathcock II

Known as “Gunny” to his fellow soldiers, Sergeant Carlos Norman Hathcock II has over ninety confirmed kills during the Vietnam War. A sniper, he was extremely skilled in anticipating enemy movement and advances. Although he has 93 confirmed kills, the actual number is most likely much higher, with many believing the number to over 300. Nicknamed “white feather” for the feather in his hat, he had a large bounty placed on his head.

However, when someone tried to collect it, “Gunny” shot the man first, without actually having seen him first. He instead saw a glint of light in the trees, and chose to shoot what he thought was an enemy soldier. This famous shot has been glorified in movies such as The Sniper and Saving Private Ryan.

Klaudia Kalugina

During World War II, the Soviet Union was looking for female snipers. Many believed that women actually made better snipers than men did, and when looking at some of them from the time, the claim seems to be pretty supported.

Klaudia was one such woman, who volunteered to fight for Russia against Axis forces at the age of 17. Of all the 2,000 female snipers that Russia had, Klaudia was one of the very best.

Shortly after joining the war, her best friend Marusia Chikhvintseva was killed by a German sniper, which may have pushed Klaudia into a killing frenzy. She had a reported 257 Axis kills. For comparison, the US’ best sniper, Chris Kyle, claimed to have 225 kills. (The reason Chris Kyle himself isn't on this list is due to the popularity of the movie American Sniper)

Simo Häyhä

This man has graced imgur many a time, but I couldn't help but include him again.

Simo Hayha had a fairly boring life in Finland. He served his one mandatory year in the military, and then became a farmer. But when the Soviet Union invaded his homeland in 1939, he decided he wanted to help his country.

Since the majority of fighting took place in the forest, he figured the best way to stop the invasion was to grab his trusty rifle, a couple of cans of food and hide in a tree all day shooting Russians. In six feet of snow. And 20-40 degrees below zero.

Of course when the Russians heard that dozens of their men were going down and that it was all one dude with a rifle, they got fucking scared. He became known as "The White Death" because of his white camouflage outfit, and they actually mounted whole missions just to kill that one guy.

They started by sending out a task force to find Hayha and take him out. He killed them all.

Then they tried getting together a team of counter-snipers (which are basically snipers that kill snipers) and sent them in to eliminate Hayha. He killed all of them, too.

Over the course of 100 days, Hayha killed 542 people with his rifle. He took out another 150 or so with his SMG, sending his credited kill-count up to 705.

Since everyone they had was either too dead or too scared to go anywhere near him, the Russians just carpet-bombed everywhere they thought he might be. Supposedly, they had the location right, and he actually got hit by a cloud of shrapnel that tore his coat up, but didn't actually hurt him, because he's the fucking White Death, damn it.

Finally on March 6th, 1940, some lucky bastard shot Hayha in the head with an exploding bullet. When some other soldiers found him and brought him back to base, he "had half his head missing." The White Death had finally been stopped...

...for about a week. In spite of having come down with a nasty case of shot-in-the-face syndrome, he was still very much alive, and regained consciousness on March 13, the very day the war ended.

Soviet Union Female Snipers

The Soviet Union boasted many female snipers during WW11, as the extra manpower was sorely needed. These female snipers were largely seen as an excellent contribution to the war. By utilizing a large percentage of previously unattainable warriors, the Soviet power was able to better protect itself.

Rather than listing each one individually, we can view this historically unique group as a whole. After looking at the picture of the women together, it is clear to see that the female snipers during the time were close knit as well as formidable. The snipers pictured above, sourced from RareHistoricalPhotos, are as follows:

1st row – Guard Staff Sergeant, VN Stepanov: 20 kills. Guard Sgt JP Belousov: 80 kills. Guard Sgt AE Vinogradov: 83 kills.

2nd row – Guard Lieutenant EK Zhibovskaya: 24 kills. Guard Sgt KF Marinkin: 79 kills. Guard Sgt OS Marenkina: 70 kills.

3rd row – Guard Lieutenant NP Belobrova: 70 kills. Lieutenant N. Lobkovsky: 89 kills. Guard Lieutenant VI Artamonov: 89 kills. Guard Staff Sergeant MG Zubchenko: 83 kills.

4th row – Guard Sergeant, NP Obukhov: 64 kills. Guard Sergeant, AR Belyakov 24 kills.

All together, these women had over 775 confirmed kills, much more than most male snipers in the history of war. For women snipers in total during the war, over 12,000 kills were confirmed.

Dillard Johnson

Sergeant Dillard Johnson has been all over the news due to his alarmingly high reported kill count during combat in Iraq. If the reports are true, he is the deadliest soldier in US history, and in the history of modern warfare.

He has claimed to have killed 2,746 enemy soldiers during his time in the Middle East. 121 of these are said to be via sniping. He would count each person downed from their rifles sticking up and the visible bodies.

There has been speculation as to the accuracy of these numbers, however; a lot coming from fellow soldiers who question his legitimacy. For instance, some of his kills may have been counted among suicide attacks. Regardless, the US soldier has seemingly unquestionably killed many, many enemies.

Vercingetorix

Revered in France as its first national hero, Vercingetorix managed to unite several sovereign Celtic tribes to do battle against the aggressive Romans. He battled valiantly and ferociously to keep the Roman army from overrunning Gaul, as France was then called. His troops were eventually defeated at Alesia, and Vercingetorix was forced to surrender after battling the powerful Roman army with all he had.

Attila the Hun

Attila the Hun was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. Attila was a leader of the Hunnic Empire, a tribal confederation consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, and Alans among others, on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe.

During his reign, he was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans, but was unable to take Constantinople. His unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West.[3] He also attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and marching as far as Aurelianum (Orléans) before being defeated at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.

He subsequently invaded Italy, devastating the northern provinces, but was unable to take Rome. He planned for further campaigns against the Romans but died in 453. After Attila's death his close adviser Ardaric of the Gepids led a Germanic revolt against Hunnic rule, after which the Hunnic Empire quickly collapsed.

Heinrich Severloh

Heinrich Severloh known as the “Beast of Omaha Beach” Manned an MG42 machine gun in an emplacement known as WN 62 “Widerstandsnest 62” overlooking Omaha Beach

During the storming of Omaha beach, the GIs on leaving their landing craft had to cross a wide and almost completely flat beach to reach cover. Severloh’s position provided enfilading fire along the beach, particularly the sections called Easy Red and Fox Green.

Severloh fired on the approaching American GIs with his MG42 and two Karabiner 98k rifles from when they first landed until WN62 ceased resistance in mid afternoon, firing approximately 12,000 rounds with the MG42 and 400 rounds from the two rifles.

He was responsible for a great number of the casualties on Omaha beach possibly running into the thousands. He alleges in his autobiography that he was responsible for 2,000-2,500 American casualties, although this is likely an exaggeration.

Yue Fei

During a twenty-five-year military career Yue Fei fought in 126 battles, mainly in central China, and never lost a single encounter. Further, he rose through the ranks from private to Overall Commander of the Imperial Forces, invented many martial arts styles, and wrote a bunch of epic poetry about how he was going to kick his enemies’ asses. Nowadays he is regarded as a national hero in China and the ultimate symbol of integrity, patriotism, and loyalty.

Yogendra Singh Yadav

Yogendra Singh Yadav was a member of an Indian grenadier battalion during a conflict with Pakistan in 1999. Their mission was to climb "Tiger Hill" (actually a big-ass mountain), and neutralize the three enemy bunkers at the top. Unfortunately, this meant climbing up a sheer hundred-foot cliff-face of solid ice. Since they didn't want to all climb up one at a time with ice-axes, they decided they'd send one guy up, and he'd fasten the ropes to the cliff as he went, so everyone else could climb up the sissy way. Yadav, being awesome, volunteered.

Half way up the icy cliff-o'-doom, enemies stationed on an adjacent mountain opened fire, shooting them with an RPG, then spraying assault-rifle fire all over the cliff. Half his squad was killed, including the commander, and the rest were scattered and disorganized. Yadav, in spite of being shot three times, kept climbing.

When he reached the top, one of the target bunkers opened fire on him with machine guns. Yadav ran toward the hail of bullets, pitched a grenade in the window and killed everyone inside. By this point the second bunker had a clear shot and opened fire, so he ran at them, taking bullets while he did, and killed the four heavily-armed men inside with his bare hands.

Meanwhile, the remainder of his squad was standing at the top of the cliff staring at him saying, "dude, holy shit!" They then all went and took the third bunker with little trouble.

For his gallantry and sheer ballsiness, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military award. Unlike the Medal of Honor, the Param Vir Chakra is only given for "rarest of the rare gallantry which is beyond the call of duty and which in normal life is considered impossible to do." That's right, you actually have to break the laws of reality just to be eligible.

Jack Churchill (1906-1996)

An allied commander in WWII, and an avid fan of surfing, Captain Jack Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill aka "Fighting Jack Churchill" aka "Mad Jack" was basically the craziest motherfucker in the whole damn war.

He volunteered for commando duty, not actually knowing what it entailed, but knowing that it sounded dangerous, and therefore fun. He is best known for saying that "any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed" and, in following with this, for carrying a sword into battle. In WWII. And not one of those sissy ceremonial things the Marines have. No, Jack carried a fucking basket hilted broadsword. And he used it, too. He is credited with capturing a total of 42 Germans and a mortar squad in the middle of the night, using only his sword.

Churchill and his team were tasked with capturing a German fortification creatively called "Point 622." Churchill took the lead, charging ahead of the group into the dark through the barbed wire and mines, pitching grenades as he went. Although his unit did their best to catch up, all but six of them were lost to silly things like death. Of those six, half were wounded and all any of them had left were pistols. Then a mortar shell swung in and killed/mortally wounded everyone who wasn't Jack Churchill.

When the Germans found him, he was playing "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" on his bagpipes. Oh, we didn't mention that? He carried them right next to his big fucking sword.

After being sent to a concentration camp, he got bored and left. Just walked out. They caught him again, and sent him to a new camp. So he left again. After walking 150 miles with only a rusty can of onions for food, he was picked up by the Americans and sent back to Britain, where he demanded to be sent back into the field, only to find out (with great disappointment) the war had ended while he was on his way there. As he later said to his friends, "If it wasn't for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years!"

Alvin York

Born to a family of redneck farmers from Tennessee, Alvin York spent much of his youth getting piss drunk in bars and getting into crazy barfights. When his friend got killed in one of the aforementioned barfights, he swore off the liquor, and became a pacifist. When he received his draft notice in 1917, York filed as a "conscientious objector" but was denied. They shipped his ass out to basic training.

About a year later, he was one of 17 men designated to sneak around and take out a fortified machine-gun encampment guarding a German railroad. As they were approaching, the gunners spotted them and opened fire, tearing nine of the men to pieces.

The few survivors that didn't have enormous balls of steel ran away, leaving York standing there taking fire from 32 heavy machine gunners.

After he killed the first 20 men or so, a German lieutenant got five guys together to try to take this guy from the side. York pulled out his Colt .45 (which only had eight bullets) and killed all of them with it, a practice he likened to "shoot[ing] wild turkeys back home."

At this point lieutenant Paul Jurgen Vollmer yelled out over the noise asking if York was English. See, in WWI, no one really took the Americans very seriously, and everyone thought of them as the rookies. Vollmer figured this crazy/awesome/ballsy soldier must be some kind of English superman who was showing these sissy Americans how it was done. When York said he was American, Vollmer replied "Good Lord! If you won't shoot any more I will make them give up."

Ten minutes later, 133 men came walking towards the remains of York's battalion. Lieutenant Woods, York's superior at first thought it was a German counter-attack until he saw York, who saluted and said "Corporal York reports with prisoners, sir." When the stunned officer asked how many, York replied "Honest, Lieutenant, I don't know."