Lions Led By Donkeys Podcast

Things get weird in the conclusion to the Otto Skorzeny story. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

The pretender to the Albanian throne and Rhodesia fan boy declares himself king, gets arrested for smuggling guns, and gets in a high speed private plane chase while armed with a rocket launcher. Joe is joined by KD, writer and runner of the War Takes blog. https://wartakes.com/ Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys @war_takes Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/01/leka-zogu https://www.ft.com/content/6f2f39aa-21ab-11e1-a1d8-00144feabdc0 https://web.archive.org/web/20210613055654/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/8926722/Leka-I-Zogu.html https://web.archive.org/web/20010122090100/http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/1127/balkankings.html

Skorzeny launches the mission to rescue Benito Mussolini from a ski resort, it does not go well. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Stuart Smith. Otto Skorzeny: The Devil’s Disciple Dr Robert Forczk. Rescuing Mussolini: Gran Sasso 1943 Otto Skorzeny. Hitler’s Commando

Otto Skorzeny was Hitler's favorite Commando during WWII, he was also a total loser. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Stuart Smith. Otto Skorzeny: The Devil’s Disciple Dr Robert Forczk. Rescuing Mussolini: Gran Sasso 1943 Otto Skorzeny. Hitler’s Commando

An order of knights turned protection racket defend a chunk of rock from an Ottoman force several times their size using the military equivalent of Home Alone tactics. and then people began firing heads out of cannons. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys sources: https://www.historynet.com/no-mercy-malta/ Crowley, Roger (2008). Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World

The US Marines feed thousands of marines into a Japanese meat grinder for no tactical reason before trying to ignore help from the Army to save their pride. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Sledge, Eugene B. (1990). With the Old Breed: At Peleliu And Okinawa Leckie, Robert, Helmet For My Pillow Anderson, Charles R. Western Pacific. The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/unnecessary-hell-the-battle-of-peleliu/

Joe is joined by the hosts of Ukraine without Hype to talk about the time the Russian Empire fell for a con artist and invaded a khanate to try to steal gold that didn't exist. Check out Ukraine without Hype: https://twitter.com/HypeUkraine Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Morrison, Alexander, "The Russian Conquest of Central Asia" "A Narrative of the Russian Military Expedition to Khiva under General Perofski", Translated from the Russian for the Foreign Department of the Government of India, Calcutta, 1867 ‘Pray for the Camels’: The Winter Invasion of Khiva, 1839–41

The conclusion to the story of Witold Pilecki Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Get Joe's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Corps-Military-Sci-Fi-Forlorn-ebook/dp/B0B5YJD7J2/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3KIOPIRCXJ4D1&keywords=joe+kassabian&qid=1665384891&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjI4IiwicXNhIjoiMi44MiIsInFzcCI6IjIuODYifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-3 Sources: Witold Pilecki. Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery Adam Koch. A Captain's Portrait: Witold Pilecki - Martyr for Truth Jack Fairweather. The Volunteer

Pilecki plots his escape when it becomes clear that the allies will do nothing about the crimes being committed within Auschwitz. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Witold Pilecki. Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery Adam Koch. A Captain's Portrait: Witold Pilecki - Martyr for Truth Jack Fairweather. The Volunteer

Witold Pilecki was a Polish Freedom Fighter who volunteered to get thrown into Auschwitz in order to let the world know what was happening there. The world didn't listen. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Witold Pilecki. Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery Adam Koch. A Captain's Portrait: Witold Pilecki - Martyr for Truth Jack Fairweather. The Volunteer

Rome kills 80,000 of their own soldiers because of a personal beef. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Theodor Mommsen. The History of Rome IV "The Revolution" Plutarch. Life of Marius. Richard Evans. Rome's Cimbric Wars Peter Tsouras. The Cimbrian War, 113-101 BC Mike Duncan. The Storm before the Storm

During WWII the Nazis attempted to recruit a team of spies to sabotage factories within the US. Instead what they did was hire a bunch of rejects who took their spy money, got drunk, and hired sex workers until they turned themselves in to the FBI. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-story-how-nazi-plot-sabotage-us-war-effort-was-foiled-180959594/ https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/nazi-saboteurs-and-george-dasch https://web.archive.org/web/20151218132240/http://www.montauklife.com/history/history_night_of_the_nazis.html https://www.spiegel.de/politik/erschiessen-oder-erhaengen-a-77234129-0002-0001-0000-000007859070?context=issue https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-german-saboteurs-invade-america-in-1942/

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Japanese military set their eyes on a tiny speck of a rock staffed with a handful of Marines and civilian contractors. Trapped and with no hope of relief, the strange adhoc garrison made the invaders bleed. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-of-wake-island-1941 https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-wake-island/ https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003119-00/sec1.htm https://www.historynet.com/hard-luck-island-battle-of-wake-island/

America scrapes together the US Navy to go fight pirates on the other side of the world. They accomplish almost nothing and then go home. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Wheelan, Joseph (2003), Jefferson's War: America's First War on Terror, 1801–1805 Zacks, Richard (2005), The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 https://clements.umich.edu/exhibit/barbary-wars/first-barbary-war/ https://www.historynet.com/tripoli-pirates-foiled/

Once upon a time the US Navy went on a scientific expedition based upon the theory of a hollow earth. They murdered swaths of innocent people and the commander went insane, beating and kidnapping most of his own crew. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys sources: https://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/usexex/ https://archive.org/details/seaofgloryameric00phil https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2016/08/charles-wilkes/

Spicer Simson rides into some of the dumbest combat of all time, somehow wins. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Giles Foden. Mimi and Toutou Go Forth Edward Paice. Tip and Run. The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa

During WWI the british navy thought of one of the most pointless battle plans of the entire war. They had to find someone equally worthless to command it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Giles Foden. Mimi and Toutou Go Forth Edward Paice. Tip and Run. The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa

Part 3/3 Custer leads his command to their deaths. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Thomas Powers. The Killing of Crazy Horse Dr. Margot Liberty. Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army; A Possible Alternative To "The Great Sioux War Of 1876" Ernie Lapointe. Oral History of the Little Big Horn Battle. He Dog. Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Joseph Medicine Crow. From the Heart of the Crow Country. The Crow Indians' Own Stories. The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25-26, 1876 Thomas Powers. How the Battle of Little Bighorn was won. Robert Utley. How Custer Met His End at Little Bighorn

Part 2/3 The American invasion of native land gets off to a bad start. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeysSources: Thomas Powers. The Killing of Crazy Horse Dr. Margot Liberty. Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army; A Possible Alternative To "The Great Sioux War Of 1876" Ernie Lapointe. Oral History of the Little Big Horn Battle. He Dog. Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Joseph Medicine Crow. From the Heart of the Crow Country. The Crow Indians' Own Stories. The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25-26, 1876 Thomas Powers. How the Battle of Little Bighorn was won. Robert Utley. How Custer Met His End at Little Bighorn

The US manufactures a war against the indigenous people of the Great Plains. Part 1/3 Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources for the entire series: Thomas Powers. The Killing of Crazy Horse Dr. Margot Liberty. Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army; A Possible Alternative To "The Great Sioux War Of 1876" Ernie Lapointe. Oral History of the Little Big Horn Battle. He Dog. Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Joseph Medicine Crow. From the Heart of the Crow Country. The Crow Indians' Own Stories. The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25-26, 1876 Thomas Powers. How the Battle of Little Bighorn was won. Robert Utley. How Custer Met His End at Little Bighorn