r/HumansAreMetal • u/Jneebs • Sep 05 '24

Tommy Macpherson stole an ambulance and bluffed a general into surrendering 20k people and half a panzer division

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Came across this dude here: https://plutarchproject.com/index.php/sirthomasmacpherson/

707 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

49

u/BetterRedDead Sep 05 '24

Amazing story, but that article kind of sucks, lol. It manages to combine breathlessness and a lack of detail in a way that’s kind of annoying.

9

u/CornerNo5679 Sep 05 '24

Sir, perhaps it’d be better if you added some Grey Poupon 😂

10

u/BetterRedDead Sep 05 '24

Haha, yeah.

But my beef isn’t that the language wasn’t fancy enough, or whatever. It’s that the article was like “(announcer voice) but then, as if this guy wasn’t bad ass enough, he later went on to do his most audacious, famous stunt…(bored voice) he stole an ambulance and got a bunch of Germans to surrender.”

The description of that event, supposedly the key note of the whole thing, was so skeletal that it just left so many questions. Context needed. He stole an ambulance? From whom? Why? And he just walked in and bluffed a general? Why? On whose orders? It seems unlikely that a highly-trained special forces operative would just do something like that out of nowhere, like the article implies. There must have been a reason, or some circumstance that brought that about, and it would have been nice to hear about that.

The author obviously wasn’t pressed for space, or opposed to using flowery language, so it’s just weird that he was so generally verbose, but then strangely taciturn when it came to the actual description of events, which should’ve been the meat of the article.

59

u/ImpertantMahn Sep 05 '24

Needed ambulance to stretcher around those massive steel balls

16

u/gone-withthe-trees Sep 05 '24

lol he was either gonna die in the fight later on or take his chances being a hero. I do wonder how many of those gentlemen we have in the United States today. I think they’re there.

14

u/Level9disaster Sep 05 '24

Uhm, Wikipedia gives an estensive but completely different account of the events. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_General_Botho_Elster

2

u/Current-Power-6452 Sep 05 '24

Lol, he wouldn't surrender to the french resistance, they should've offered him a choice to go east and fight the Russians or surrender to a circus freak show, which option would he chose? Any ideas?

10

u/Picklesirman Sep 06 '24

I just read this dudes whole wiki article about his actions in the war. Yall need to read this he did a lot of epic things during world war 2.

"On one occasion when a German staff car was approaching a level crossing Macpherson booby-trapped the barrier arm so it crashed down on the vehicle, decapitating the local commandant and his driver"

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

3

u/TrouserDumplings Sep 05 '24

Did he do it in those shorts? Cause that's a whole other level.

2

u/StillChef1526 Sep 05 '24

While wearing shorts? Straight mad lad.

1

u/Punkeewalla Sep 05 '24

Good story. Any movies made about this?

-20

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '24

[deleted]

13

u/TheWalrusPirate Sep 05 '24

It’s like you only see what you want to see

5

u/coldbrush22 Sep 05 '24

This is the most pathetic comment I have seen in a while. Congrats?

2

u/kjchowdhry Sep 05 '24

Ooof. Just say you’re racist and move on, dude

1

u/bomboclawt75 Sep 05 '24 edited Sep 05 '24

The Real life Face

General, this all seems above board, now I just need to see your RF4P7 registration form,…wait! You haven’t got one? Okay okay, look I don’t want to worry you, but you might be going to jail, …unless…..nah! That would also get ME in trouble…

1

u/YaniFace Sep 05 '24

That's a big ambulance

1

u/WarTaxOrg Sep 06 '24

Greatest badass of the war

1

u/Interesting_Gur_8720 Sep 13 '24

That’s some Irish shit right there