the-alt-historian:

erwin-und-panzer:

enragedshithead:

the-alt-historian:

Germany’s famous unit of immortal soldiers pose with their heads in their hands, 1921. The Immortals, ordinary men resurrected from death by a process as yet unknown, served with honour in the First World War until they were liquidated (by being burned to death, the only way they could be killed) by the Weimar Republic in 1924.

What the fuck what the fuck
SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME

The description basically says it all. 

The man on the far left is Oberleutnant Hans von Pommen, the commander of the unit. In the last month of the Battle of Verdun he was stabbed 18 times, shot twice by French snipers and stepped on a land mine. The land mine was the hardest thing for him to recover from, but he eventually grew back his missing legs.

Third from the right is Feldwebel Ulrich Mannstein, who single-handedly (ie both by himself, and with only one arm) stopped a charge of Mk V Females on the Somme.

I’m sure there are some other famous ones there. The description doesn’t mention that the French eventually had dedicated flame units to deal with the Immortals. The unit was originally 150 strong.

some pertinent quotations regarding the Immortals:

“Coming back is like waking up from a deep sleep, a sleep that fills you like quicksand. When you wake up it’s like breaking the surface of a scummy pond. I’ve never felt as energized or strong as after I’ve come back.”– Oberleutenant Hans von Pommern, Belgium 1914

“I feel good. I feel fine. After a few times you don’t even notice the pain anymore.” – Gefreiter Georg Steinbrenner, after having his spine broken in three places and one arm severed by a shell impact. France 1916.

“We don’t need weapons anymore! We don’t need tools of any sort, we are invincible, we’re fucking gods on Earth!”– Unteroffizier Wilhelm Eichelberger, France 1915

“How did I do it? Focus, that’s all. Focus is really all you need.”– Feldwebel Ulrich Mannstein, on how he knocked out four Mark V Females with nothing but a sharpened shovel and grenades

“I can’t do this anymore, please don’t wake me up I’m not going back I’M NOT!”– unidentified Immortal, German aid station, 1917. The words were recorded in the war diaries of Hauptmann Friedrich Ritter von Sternberg, the attending surgeon, who later wrote that “such plaintive screams, coming from a man whose entire face was a wet and bloody pulp, cut me to my very core”

“Their demeanour was strange, almost cheery, as we started up the flamethrowers. Quite unsettling were their guttural cries as they burned, strange animal shouts of pleasure and joy. We had all heard the stories of how they became unhinged towards the end. I hope the government has the good sense not to re-start a project like this.”– unidentified Provisional Reichswehr officer who witnessed the burning, 1925

(via funfetti-cakke)