Episode 407 - The Battle of Ramree Island

PREORDER JOE'S NEW BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Highlands-Burn-Foundling-Brigade-Saga-ebook/dp/B0GSG5CNXX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QWHSPAADI07D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.uLEY0I7D6t0IC9GWsF7SH1FKEgKqsqTLmV4PQ_lLi-wVUCYgTqIv0BWd9_-x3VzP.xn7v2CqU5MjngXmmSbYvVGsY_fxkvgsz-LA2tkhHHTs&dib_tag=se&keywords=joseph+kassabian&qid=1774247705&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C176&sr=1-1 LIVE SHOW TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-london-29th-may-tickets-1985443952308 LIVE STREAM TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-london-29th-may-2026-tickets-1985444086710 SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys The Battle of Ramree Island has gone down in history for being known for one thing: a massive crocodile attack that apparently destroyed the Japanese as they attempted to retreat. But, what if we told you that that popular story was completely made up by one guy who wasn't even there at the time? Sources: Allen, Louis. Burma: The Longest War McLynn, Frank. The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–45 Wright, B. S. (1962). Wildlife Sketches: Near and Far. Wright, B. S. (1968). The Frogmen of Burma Platt, Steven. Man eating by Estuarine Crocodiles: the Ramree Island massacre revisited Lyons, Chuck. The Mystery at the Battle of Ramree Island. WWII History. Vol. 25. No. 1 Frazier, George. A Man's Worst Friend. The Boston Globe Archive. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/438950677/ https://the-avocado.org/2019/03/02/things-that-are-not-the-horrors-of-ramree-island/ https://www.thetimes.com/uk/history/article/crocodile-massacre-of-troops-debunked-as-wartime-myth-k6vxhdfsq

PREORDER JOE'S NEW BOOK https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GSG5CNXX?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1773423127&sr=8-3 SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys CHECK OUT THE WORST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS: https://www.worstpossible.world/ Josh Boerman, of the Worst of All Possible Worlds and Ill Conceived, joins Joe in the studio to talk about the time that an absolute madman attempted to build the largest aircraft carrier in the world out of ice. sources: Perutz, M. F. "A Description of the Iceberg Aircraft Carrier and the Bearing of the Mechanical Properties of Frozen Wood Pulp upon Some Problems of Glacier Flow". The Journal of Glaciology. Lutz, Stephen. Project Habakkuk’s Iceberg Aircraft Carrier. WWII History. Vol 10, No. 8 Hemming, Henry. Churchill's Iceman: The True Story of Geoffrey Pyke: Genius, Fugitive, Spy. Gold, L W. The Canadian Habbakuk Project: a Project of the National Research Council of Canada. Cambridge, UK Cross, L D. Habbakuk: A Secret Ship Made of Ice.

FOR THE WHOLE EPISODE GO HERE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/153325099 Tom and Joe are joined by Lucy Valentine of the podcasts Boonta Vista and Savant Garde to talk about...whatever FLCL is. Is it about growing up? Puberty? Changing oneself for the better? Trauma? We have no idea but man is it fun.

PREORDER JOE'S NEW FANTASY NOVEL: https://www.amazon.com/Highlands-Burn-Foundling-Brigade-Saga-ebook/dp/B0GSG5CNXX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=28PYNNVKMAELT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vJU8q9bT2skMPocB8TLK3SQaS00llqP5djabrgGlb6PbohI3eXCKx4PBd_estyu1sKcrRFhwYBND4TTpbK29TKTSRPPQXAMm0YtWlJsX-8frRQT5ljLnsOplutHcSx-MyYKJWlUWmYxAem3R0vVpZ8eSLhuzHTNiTAIai0QTTHfC-O75kLfjAbf_0Vq_CjuTDU0Oof4mWclUz3aM9Fx0vCHuzb_9WzwH8c2xEjgOUN8.W_JOGgoCzfIALrWzYBC1ie5Bg9oW9Axq6Ok6Wo3Pv28&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+highlands+burn&qid=1773646095&sprefix=%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1 SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys In a time before US Naval dominance, the not-quite-yet imperial power decided to modernize its Navy to a level that might enable it to compete with its European counterparts. Instead, they created the USS Massachusetts and the Indiana Class. A battleship that was not a battleship, with guns so large they were more hazardous to the ship itself than any enemy, and so impossible to control the Navy kept crashing it into rocks. There are two battleships named the USS Massachusetts. This is the BB-2. The one that fought in WWII is the BB-59 Sources: Gardiner, Robert; Lambert, Andrew D. (1992). Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905 https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2016/07/diving_the_worst_battleship_ev.html https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/june/race-uss-oregon https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-massachusetts-why-worst-us-navy-battleship-ever-210474 https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-epic-journey-of-uss-oregon-during-the-spanish-american-war/ https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1901/03/26/117958746.pdf https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/08/24/105058393.pdf https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/12/16/120273752.pdf https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/12/02/104844371.pdf

Nate emerges from a vat of paprikas boykibble to take the reins and bring us the story of The Battle of Haçova, a decisive clash between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans, the implications of the Hamburger Helper Mascot, and Smurf racism. Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/posts/152758527 We still have merch available! Check it out here www.llbdpodcast.com/

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: http://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys In the aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre, the traditional governance of the Cheyenne people fracture, the pro-peace chiefs lose power, and warrior societies promise revenge against the settlers and military for their crimes. A band of warriors trap a small patrol of American soldiers and frontiersmen leading to a plains siege that forces soldiers to eat raw horse meat and then get violently ill because they were eating raw horse meat. SOURCES: Norris, David. Desperate Last Stand At Beecher Island. Military Heritage. August 2012. Volume 14, No 2. Mort, Terry. Cheyenne Summer. The Battle of Beecher Island: A History Yenne, Bill. The Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West Monnett, John. The Battle of Beecher Island and the Indian War of 1867- 1869 Grinnell, George. Bent, George. The Fighting Cheyennes. Grinnell, George. Bent, George. The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Lifeways. https://the-past.com/feature/looking-death-in-the-face-the-battle-for-beecher-island-september-1868/

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SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys US Forces lie to the people of the Great Plains, convince them they are under the protection of the US government for the purpose of negotiations and commit a crime so horrible that it forces congress to investigate. *correction. Several Medals of Honor have been revoked. Specifically in 1917. This had nothing to do with conduct but rather a changing of criteria of what was considered worthy of the medal. SOURCES: Grinnell, George. Bent, George. The Fighting Cheyennes. Grinnell, George. Bent, George. The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Lifeways. Hatch, Thom (2004). Black Kettle: The Chief Who Sought Peace But Found War. Hoig, Stan (1977). The Sand Creek Massacre. Hoig, Stan (1980). The Peace Chiefs of the Cheyenne Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Bensing, Tom. Silas Soule: A Short Eventful Life of Moral Courage. Report of the US Congress Joint Committee On The Conduct of the War. 1865. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=ABY3709.0003.001;rgn=full%20text;view=toc;cc=moa

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys A Sierra Leonean rebel group modeled after American West Side Gangsters and ripped out of their minds on drugs, kidnaps a patrol of British soldiers, sparking a rescue mission. Sources: Fowler, William (2004). Operation Barras: The SAS Rescue Mission: Sierra Leone 2000 Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (2009). Who Dares Wins: The SAS and the Iranian Embassy Siege 1980 Utas, Mats; Jörgel, Magnus (2008). "The West Side Boys: military navigation in the Sierra Leone civil war". Journal of Modern African Studies. Reno, William (February 2003), Political Networks in a Failing State The Roots and Future of Violent Conflict in Sierra Leone

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys We visit the 13th century Northern Crusades and examine what happens when Alexander Nevsky and the Livonian Order go head-to-head for a battle on the ice. No, not like that—no pucks, no skates, and way more bog mud than could possibly be healthy. WORKS CITED EBSCO. “Alexander Nevsky | History | Research Starters | EBSCO Research.” Accessed February 9, 2026. https://www.ebsco.com. Fennell, John. "The Crisis of Medieval Russia 1200-1304." Longman History of Russia. Taylor and Francis, 2014. Gore, Terry. “Lake Peipus: Battle on the Ice.” Military Heritage 7, no. 1 (2005). https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/lake-peipus-battle-on-the-ice/. Hellie, Richard. “Alexander Nevskii's April 5, 1242 Battle on the Ice.” Russian History 33, no. 2/4 (2006): 283–87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24664445. Smith, Jerry C., and William L. Urban, eds. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle: Transl. with an Hist. Introd., Maps and App. Indiana University Publications. Uralic and Altaic Series 128. Indiana Univ, 1977.