during ww1 on the eastern front, wolves got so common, and attacked so often, that units would have cease fires to team up against the huge ass wolf packs attacking them, https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/wolf/fact-checker-was-there-a-ceasefire-during-wwi-to-hunt-wolves

Definitely a close matchup for worst WW1 general. I’d also give it to Hötzendorf on account of helping destroy his country.

Always have a backup plan, also work with people.

Franz Conrad von Hoetzendorf somehow got people to write well about his crap generalship and he was not treated realistically in Austria until the 1960s, that's how bad the situation was. If Germany was running Austria-Hungary's army in 1917-18, then Gen. Erich Ludendorf was in charge. He had a total nervous breakdown when Germany lost the war, later became a Nazi.

Bunkers! Fraud! A guy robbing a bank with a rocket launcher! 

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https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/03/jarvis.htm
https://unherd.com/2022/01/how-albania-became-a-pyramid-scheme/
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/albania/articles/the-pyramid-crisis-in-albania/
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/albania.htm

Episode 148 - The Time a Pyramid Scheme Caused a Civil War

A new challenger for the worst commander of all time has entered the arena. 

** corrections**

Gavrilo Princeps is mistakenly called a "Bosnian" during the episode. What we went to say was "Bosnian Serb" and our brain melted mid sentence. 

sources for both episodes:
A mad catastrophe: the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire
Collision Course: Franz Conrad Von Hötzendorf, Serbia, and the Politics of Preventive War
https://www.historynet.com/carpathian-catastrophe.htm
http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2019/11/forgotten-campaign-carpathian-winter.html

support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 152 - Conrad Von Hotzendorf Part 1: Load Bearing Franz

The conclusion of the Conrad Von Hotzendorf story 

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Episode 153 - Conrad Von Hotzendorf Part 2: Mt Doom

The US plans the battle of the Hurtgen Forest. The first step is actively hating your own soldiers. 

sources for both episodes
https://www.historynet.com/the-hurtgen-forest-1944-the-worst-place-of-any.htm
https://europeremembers.com/story/battle-of-huertgen-forest/
https://armyhistory.org/hell-in-the-forest-the-22d-infantry-regiment-in-the-battle-of-hurtgen-forest/
https://9thinfantrydivision.net/battle-of-the-hurtgen-forest/
https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/longest-land-battle-hurtgen-forest/
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2020/01/29/the-battle-of-hurtgen-forest-a-tactical-nightmare-for-allied-forces/

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Episode 155 - Battle of Hurtgen Forest Part 1: Courtney Hodges Hates His Own Soldiers

The US keeps feeding soldiers into the death forest for no reason. Eventually win. 

support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 156 - Battle of Hurtgen Forest Part 2: Task Force Dick Ripple

Germany unifies and colonizes Namibia, is shocked to find out this is unpopular to the people who live there. 

Sources for both episodes:
The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism
The Herero Genocide: War, Emotion, and Extreme Violence in Colonial Namibia (War and Genocide Book 31)
The Genocidal Gaze: From German Southwest Africa to the Third Reich


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Episode 165 - The Namibian Genocide Part 1: The Scramble For Atrocities

The conclusion of the reign of Bokassa I

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Episode 168 - The Napoleon Nerd Who Took Over a Country and Crowned Himself Emperor Part 2

Support the show:

https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/messerschmitt-me-163b-1a-komet/nasm_A19530072000

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-super-scary-legend-nazi-germanys-me-163-rocket-fighters-18494

https://books.google.com/books?id=xiADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124&dq=popular+science+%22A+two-room+wing%22&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q&f=true

"Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet". Wings of the Luftwaffe

Volmar, Joe (1999). I Learned to Fly for Hitler

https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2020/10/the-german-rocket-fighter-that-dissolved-its-pilots-alive/

Episode 169 - The Nazi Rocket Plane That Melted its Pilots

The war begins and ends. Russia steals an entire navy. 

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Episode 191 - 2008 Russo-Georgian War Part 2: Grand Theft Navy

One the nazis stormed into Poland at the opening stages of World War II it was not soldiers, trench lines, or pill boxes that they had to conquer first. Instead, it was the Danzig Post Office. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/employees-danzig-post-office-fought-germans-15-hours-invasion-poland-captured
htmlhttps://libcom.org/history/defence-polish-post-office-danzig
https://web.archive.org/web/20060502021616/http://www.1939.pl/epizody/poczta_gdansk.htm

Episode 141 - The Last Stand of the Danzig Mailmen

At the end of WWII a group of French POWs went looking for help and ended up taking part in one of the weirdest battles in military history. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32622651
https://www.historynet.com/the-battle-for-castle-itter.htm
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/itter-castle-strangest-battle-world-war-ii-152721

Episode 142 - Castle Itter

The Lions Led By Donkeys podcast is a military history podcast for laughing at the worst military failures, inept commanders, and crazy stories from throughout the history of human conflict.

Our podcast will always be free, but if you think what we do is worth a buck you can throw us one here:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 153 - Conrad Von Hotzendorf Part 2: Mt Doom

Lions Led By Donkeys

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