And isnt it weird how the Russians and German's hubris has always led them to undersetimate the scrappy but ultimately superior american cunning?
Theres 101 stories of the brave Lt with no air support or artillery supporting holding off a whole battalion with onlu 100 men.
I wonder why nobody in history has ever pulled off a glorious combat from the bad side.
It's partially because Soviet propaganda was about the man giving his life for the greater.
A guy would jump into a sniper area so his comrades could take it down is very common. One of those men had a diary talking about his glorious love of the country. His beliefs were so strong they couldn't help publish the diary for all to read.
A warlord's base had a field full of iron spikes except down one path full of snipers. The men charged into the field so their comrades could charge on their backs to take the base.
Snipers held a bridge, and there was no other way to cross. Two men crawled along chains so the snipers could shoot at them and give their positions away.
Children were strapped to bombs and told to hug the American forces.
US and British propaganda is more about the individual winning against the odds. They were stranded, running low on ammo, and still beating the enemy. German troops were often out manned in world war ii and fought off Soviet hordes. They're not remembered because they were the enemy.
This is a really old story. BTW, David was likely around six foot tall and very muscular from his job. We invented the story of a little boy in our modern times.
There were massive political purges in the leadership of the military, eroding combat efficiency. Generals that survived and were successful in the early days of the war, were accused of going against communist doctrine and taken down.
The argument was that outstanding work in the Soviet military was punished, rather than rewarded.
Mostly true!
They'd often give awards for heroic actions "posthumously" even if the person was still alive. "He died doing X" even if he lived, let alone how exaggerated "X" was. They'd even let him live if he kept his mouth shut, continued fighting until the Germans killed him.
They needed the stories of heroism (true or otherwise) to inspire the troops, but were insanely jealous & frightened of normal soldiers gaining popularity over the officers & NKVD.
The story of David hides the details in plain sight: He was a shepherd in ancient Mesopotamia. You'd be hard pressed to find a tougher man on the planet than a Mesopotamian Shepherd. Huge endurance, strong body, and an inbuilt capacity to fight from constantly taking on the lions and wolves who still inhabited the area. It'd be like trying to protect a platter of cheeseburgers in an obesity clinic.
He also put on the kings armor, and he was a head taller than everyone else.