Rudel is one of the incredibly-gifted, incredibly-lucky motherfuckers who somehow managed to survive the entirety of World War II – he was there during the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and he was there at the end in 1945 when the entire Reich came crashing down around his head. His record of killing over five hundred enemy tanks in combat is a feat that will likely never be duplicated.

He was issued his country's highest award for military valor on five separate occasions, which is an utter mind-hump considering that he was serving in a war where successfully flying five combat missions in a row without exploding was pretty much considered a noteworthy achievement. This guy was so hardcore that even to this day he remains the most decorated combat pilot of any nation in the history of warfare. So, in an effort to bring a little balance to the page (something I have to take into consideration when realizing that roughly a quarter of the people on my list are there because of their exploits killing Nazis), this week I bring to you the story of one of the most ridiculously tough human beings ever produced by our species – the notorious Hans-Ulrich Rudel.Ī product of Silesia, German, Rudel was an utterly unstoppable Stuka bomber pilot who received more medals for bravery than any other German soldier of World War II.

Having said that, I'll also mention that despite all of the horrible bullshit associated with German ultranationalist Fascism, military historians generally also have to concede the fact that one country can't possibly fight a war against every civilized nation on Earth at the same time without producing a couple of stone-cold badasses in the process. It's a fact that makes them one of the greatest villains from history - nobody likes these fuckers. Very few people can argue that, especially at the higher ranks, these guys weren't a bunch of seriously evil bastards who possessed very little in the way of redeemable qualities, and they're basically not universally reviled by all people on the planet. I would hope that over the past six and a half years I have made it abundantly clear that I have no particular love for the Nazi regime of mid-20th century Germany.

Hans ulrich rudel stuka