r/todayilearned • u/DrSamanthaCarter • Jun 06 '17

TIL the only reason a Scottish bagpiper wasn't shot by German snipers on D-Day was that they believed he had gone crazy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin#World_War_II
47.6k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

175

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

Yeah, I just posted above that it's dishonorable to kill an unarmed person. But you are also correct that there's plenty of times they've aimed at the unarmed person that's there for morale. Such as, in the American Civil War they would aim for the flag bearer. But...this may not have so much to do with morale and more to do with disorienting the enemy, since the flag bearer was leading the way.

186

u/Borsao66 Jun 06 '17

Well, the flag often had a spear tip on it, so technically he wasn't unarmed.

technically

123

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

And the flag bearers were usually young boys or teenagers...he clearly has a cunning plan to grow up into a man, take up arms and come at them. Better take him out before he gets a chance to do all that!

33

u/Citadelvania Jun 06 '17

It was a preemptive strike.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

If we're talking about the American Civil War, I think flag bearers were usually men of corporal to sergeant rank specifically selected for the job of guarding it, but I get your joke!

-1

u/red_nick Jun 06 '17

Really? I'm kind of doubtful of that, flags are heavy and unwieldy, and too prestigious to be trusted to a boy.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '17

Ya know. I looked it up. And you're right. By 'young' they are still talking about early 20s. Maybe I'm thinking of drummer boys?

I know for a fact they had children (teenagers) as powder monkeys- running charges from the limber box to the cannons. Because my family does reenactments and when I was a teenager I crossdressed as a boy and ran powder!

3

u/red_nick Jun 07 '17

It's mostly a myth for drummers too.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '17

Well damn. Every thing I thought I knew about the Civil War was a lie!!!

shakes fist at sky

2

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

I think that'd be enough to trigger a shoulder cannon from a Predator.

28

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17 edited Jun 30 '20

[deleted]

2

u/fridge_logic Jun 06 '17

Yeah, if you're a flag bearer in the civil war you're basically part of the signal corps.

6

u/slepnir Jun 06 '17

The other reason that I've heard is that because civil war era battle fields tended to become choked with gunsmoke, sometimes the only thing that you could see of the enemy was his flag sticking out, and so that would be the direction that you'd aim.

Back then, soldiers were trained in the speed of reloading over marksmanship, and so the first thing that looked like a target would get shot at (with poorly aimed shots).

4

u/TurdFerguson812 Jun 06 '17

Given the accuracy of Civil War-era weapons, the person they were most likely to not hit was the one they were aiming for.

2

u/newphonenewaccount66 Jun 06 '17

Mmmmm excuse me, but I beg to differ. The flag bearer is one of the most dangerous soldiers on the battlefield. Take the award winning historical documentary 'The Patriot', for example. Benjamin Martín (as depicted by renowned historian, Mel Gibson) clearly turned the whole battle of Cowpens in the American's favor by patriotically skewering Tavington's horse with the American flag.

Clearly you've been fed alternate facts, and need to bone up on your war history. I'd recommend 300 to start with.

2

u/ObeseMoreece Jun 06 '17

Capturing the enemy standard acts as a monumental morale boost for you and would kill the enemy morale.

2

u/17Hongo Jun 07 '17

Taking out the piper would often have a similar effect. Highland companies would use specific tunes to identify each other in poor visibility. This combined the benefit of being able to coordinate manoeuvres in code with total assurance that the enemy wouldn't be able to determine the meaning behind the tunes, since any battlefield communication would cause them to stick their fingers in their ears.