August 22, 2025 • 51 mins
History is jam-packed with stories you've never heard, and today's episode brings together two such tales. Angie starts with sharing Josef Mencik – the last knight, or the Knight of Strakonice. This Czech man of noble standing starts to enter the historical narrative by buying a castle, a suit of armour, and then stands up to a Nazi tank division.
Theresa takes the rest of the episode in a wildly different direction when she shares, The Blue House Incident, or that time North Korea snuck 31 commandos into Seoul and got them within 300 meters of the president's palace before the mission went sideways.
These stories pair nicely with:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Hi, and welcome to the Unhanced History Podcast,the podcast where two compulsive and Santa
maniacs, that has to be a word. That's the word now.It is now. We'll read history and study the stories
behind it, go off on bizarre rabbit trails, recordall of it, and then come together and tell each
(00:34):
other the stories you've only recently heard andhave berated our spouses with. I'm host one. I'm
Teresa, and that is host two. That is Angie. Andlast week, I was an only. I did the black hand that
started World War One and focus on a verydelightful John through the beginnings of World
(01:02):
War One. Honestly, more people should do itbecause you can't. The journey it took to get there
is just unparalleled, I think. Well, I mean, let'sface it. We, like most of the world, are more
familiar with World War Two, and it is the favoritegame. But when you can pull up a really bizarre
(01:29):
rabbit hole from World War One, I think go for it. Ithink you're right. Honestly, I can do bizarre
rabbit hole from anything. Mm hmm. Yeah. Andthat's how the Internet was formed, guys. All
right. I don't. Okay, so I'm just going to tell you,I wrote my story like two weeks ago. So you don't
(01:51):
remember any of it? It's going to be a surprise toboth of us? Yes. So last night, the husband was
like, so do you need to like go over your notesreally quick? So you know what you're doing? And I
was like, no, I think it's going to be fun this way.Um, that said, my sources are military.com, but
(02:14):
it's an article by Blake Stillwell published inFebruary of 24. Check. So the article's called
Check Night Resisted Nazi Aggression When WorldAbandoned His Country. Night as like a K in? Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm here for that as opposed tolike just the nocturnal period of one night in a
(02:37):
country. Yeah, no, a person. Nationalinterest.org has a blog post by Travis Pike from
December of 23. Sword Hand Armored Night StoodAgainst Nazis. A really fun source called
(03:00):
husheduphistory.com has a great article on it andthen War History Online because can we not do a
single story without bringing up World WarHistory Online? It doesn't feel right. I think
it's a split, right? If we don't bring them up, weneed to bring up the park service and or mention
Syphilis. There's our Syphilis mentioned.Cheers. And there we are. All right. So did you
(03:31):
literally say cheers and then take a quick? I did.Wow. I just have an energy drink, so I don't think it
counts. Yeah. I mean, there you go. Live yourtruth. I'm on, you know, lots of us are leaving the
bottles these days. Well, they guessed it's eighto'clock in the morning, Teresa. Not everyone
(03:54):
follows that moniker. That rule. Could that betoday's title? A lot of us are leaving the bottle
these days. I mean, we'll see what happens. Therecould be another gym that pops up. Before noon
rule. And now you were saying, go on. I'll tell youwhat the story. Okay. So I'm going to tell you the
(04:17):
story of a man who was once described as thedefinition of living history. So that alone, in my
opinion, should tell you that we are going to lovehim. His name is Genesis Menchik, very, very
little is known about his child. Childhood or verylittle statistical data period. Like we know
(04:41):
little about his offering. I thought you said justchild. Very little is known about his child. No, we
know a little well that too. No. Maybe I cut out verylittle is known about his childhood. Like in fact,
not much is known about him period before 1938. Hewas an incredibly private human being. Some
(05:02):
sources suggest that he was the oldest of fourchildren and was born in an apartment in the local
castle. This castle was in Bomerwald area, whichthis area of the world was what was then
Czechoslovakia. It's this super mountainousregion. Today it would straddle modern day
(05:24):
Germany and the Czech Republic. So it's like alittle border town. What we do understand is that
his family was descended from a small noble familythat dates all the way back to the Holy Roman
Empire. It's believed that he was married to awoman called Emma Menchakava and that they may
(05:46):
have had at least two children. But remember he wasincredibly private with his details. So there's
not a ton right now that is 100 percent verifiableas far as like we don't have like a birth record,
that sort of thing. What we do know is that he was ahistorian, a counselor, an adventurer who loved
(06:10):
rum and anchovies. That was an odd combination.Agreed. The sweet of the rum, the salt of the
anchovies, you know, we all, I guess we all love ourchips and salsa. Maybe it's the same thing for him.
I don't know. But in 1911 he did the thing that weabsolutely dream of. He purchases a 13th century
(06:35):
Gothic fortress. Yeah, I dream of having theability to do that. Exactly. Now this is in the town
of Doberts. Hopefully I'm pronouncing all ofthese words right. I tried very hard to like
phonetically spell them so they would make sense.Now at some point this fortress in the 1700s the
(06:58):
local nobility added a broke style wing onto theolder part of the castle and then that sort of fell
into disrepair. It would eventually become ahouse for the poor and then a granary and then in
1838 it was turned into a school. However, sadly in1911 both the school and the fortress burned down
(07:18):
and it was set to be demoed when our friend Josephstepped in and he sets out to kind of renovate the
castle, bring it back to its glory, right? Like hisvision is of the high middle ages. He wants to put it
back to the era it was built. Much the same that wewant to fix every Victorian house he's ever seen
(07:40):
and put it back to Victorian, right? Oh yeah. Yeah,exactly. So he does this and then he fills it with
all sorts of antiquities and little oddities asall great gentlemen want to do. And while on a trip
to France he purchases a full suit of armor, youknow, to drive home that noble nightlife. He would
(08:04):
appear at the markets and local fairs mounted onhis trusty steed in full armor. Like this was his
jam. Wow. I bet his wife was a very understandingwoman or eclectic in her own right. I think she
should have to be. I'm here for it. Like if myhusband decided that he was going to just head down
(08:25):
to the market to pick up milk on horseback dressedas a knight or cowboy for that matter, I'd be like,
good for you buddy. But because it's going to belike, no honey, you need to cinch it up tighter in
the back. No, no, that needs to be tighter. Tightenthe breast. I can't reach. Yeah. The cod piece.
(08:46):
He's a different cod piece. That one, it's not asaccentuating. That one's not as accentuating.
Yeah. It seems like it goes without saying, but theneighbors and the other locals, they adore this
man. The sources all say that he treated everyonewith kindness and respect was always willing to
(09:10):
lend a hand or gauntlet. They said he was a man ofgenuine character at a local tavern that he
frequented. He enjoyed socializing witheveryone. And at the end of every visit, his ritual
was to swallow a whole herringbone, which he thendrank with a good glass of rum and shouted
menacingly at things. What is a herringbone? Likeliteral bone of fish? I think so. That was the way I
(09:34):
understood it. Okay. Yeah. We're unclear what hewas shouting at, but the others didn't seem to
mind. The local children adored him and lovedlistening to his stories. You know, I'm going to
interrupt. This sounds like the neighbor who hasthe Tyrannosaurus skeleton statue in his
backyard year round and decorates it for everyevent. You're not wrong. I agree. Yeah. Always
(10:00):
has. Yeah. Always has a big candy at Halloween.Yeah. So one of the reasons I love him is his home is a
living museum for the kids. He was an expert onBohemian history and was always happy to educate
those who were curious. So he kind of formed it.Taking it to the hilt, his home had no modern
(10:25):
convenience, no electricity, no plumbing,nothing. But what it lacked in modern, it had what I
would call oodles and ambiance. The halls werealways lit with candles and torches. And one
account says that he did have a moat around hiscastle, but because he was keen to share it with
everyone, he filled the moat with alligatorsculptures. Oh, like I have a moat, but it's not
(10:51):
scary. I promise there just would. There are somethat say like in the modern thought that he could be
compared to Don Quixote. I don't really thinkthat's the case at all. He was very aware of his time
and his place, but he just loved history so much.And he kind of did the whimsical thing that most
(11:11):
people would shun and chose to live that way. Forhim, chivalry wasn't dead. And for his neighbors,
it seems that like living as this man, for him, hewas known as the last night or the night of
Strenkonis. So he took on this role of the night ofhis people because to him, chivalry wasn't dead.
(11:40):
And we still had access to all the great stories oflike Arthur and his men, right? And he felt like if
he wanted that back in the world, he would have tolive it back in the world. So that's what he did. His
greatest act of chivalry would come in 1938. I knowthat I feel like I've personally been stuck in
(12:01):
World War II for like, oh, I don't know, months. AndI'd like to offer up my sincerest apologies for
this, but I'm not going to because it wouldn't begenuine. And I have more in the coming weeks. So
here we are. That said, when the German warmachine, the weathermark, begins rolling its way
(12:22):
across the border to seize the area that his home isin, it's okay, it's got to be said. It's not just a
single bit of land, but rather areas along theborder of Czechoslovakia and Germany that
they're filled with native German speakers. Andafter the Auschwitz, which was the incorporation
(12:44):
of Austria into Hitler's growing Nazi empire, theGermans set their eyes on these German speaking
areas of Czechoslovakia, and they're willing towage war for it. Now, our guy's home is of course,
sort of right in the middle of this. And at the timewas part of Bohemia. And when Hitler's like kind of
(13:06):
eyeing the map, he demands this area. So let's zoomout real quick and sort of place the situation on
the map and in the timeline of the war. By Septemberof 1938, Germany had begun what's called a low
intensity conflict with the Czechs, which seemsstrange, a low intensity conflict. Their claim is
(13:31):
that ethnic Germans were being opposed and killedin Czechoslovakia, really rich for their part, I
gotta say. I mean, you need a claim. It doesn'tmatter if it's true. Right. Hitler did this with
the infiltration of an army of Czechs who justhappened to also be pro Nazi. Now, at the time,
(13:53):
because remember, it's only 1938, Germanywouldn't invade Poland for another year. But the
rest of Europe was still not too hyped about theidea of any of it since the First World War, like
they're still reeling from the after effects ofthe First World War, there had been far too much
devastation and chaos to even consider a war againso soon, or at least that's what the rest of Europe
(14:19):
is thinking. Right. So World War One felt soimprobable. Right. They called it the Great War
because it was like, this was the end all, be all,we're done. We've had the killing. We're over it
now. Right. Like, we're never gonna do this again.That's insane. Right. Exactly. So by the end of
September in 1938, France, England, Germany, andItaly, they all meet in Munich with the hope that
(14:45):
another war can be averted. However, you'llnotice that the Czechs were not invited to this
little soiree. And as such, the offer was made toquote a peace Hitler with giving up the Czech
student land to Germany. So this area where JosephMagic lives. So just to confirm my understanding,
we're going to hold a conference, we're going toinvite everybody but Billy, and we're going to
(15:09):
offer Hitler Billy's territory because Billy, wedidn't invite Billy. So right, we're all in
agreement. Billy can die. Bye. Yeah. That isexactly what happened. And like I said, this is the
stretch of land where friend Joseph lives. Sowhile Czechoslovakia is not invited to the party,
(15:31):
they're still forced to accept this offer. Sothings are not like people are not happy about this
situation. And rightly so. Yeah, right. I can'timagine a single person who would be, except for
Hitler, Hitler would be obviously. Yes, I would behappy, right. But I'm just thinking like, I can
only imagine that France, Germany, or France,England, Britain, and Italy are like, excuse me,
(15:58):
are thinking to themselves, well, if we set it togive up this little bit of land, it's okay, we'll be
fine. Like we'll avert a disaster, but they're noteven considering the fact that like people live in
this land. Well, it's the policy of appeasement.It's the slippery slope that would, right, which
is 100% what they were doing. And, you know, I don'tthink it could have worked out any different, but
(16:24):
we didn't know that in 1938. Yes. Right now, as weknow, it wouldn't take long for the whole of the
country, and then Hungary and Poland to beabsorbed into Germany by 1939. Czechoslovakia,
as they knew it, is no longer. Now, you can imaginethat German tanks rolling in on in the October of 38
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didn't sit well with anyone, at least not theCzechs anyway, the rest of the world doesn't seem
to notice. Not only that, but they saw these peacetalks and the agreement made on their behalf in
Munich as quite the betrayal. Right. Yeah. And sovery few citizens go out to meet their new
(17:07):
overlords when they roll through. They're notabout it. But that's not the style of our friend
Mencek, right? Like what part of this story up tonow makes you think he sat quietly at home sitting
tea doing needlepoint? This is a guy that rides tothe market in full armor. Right. Right. He
(17:27):
believes in open carry. Yes. So as the column oftanks roars across the border and into this region
called Buznia, which this is where this is wherethe tanks, they come up with a site. It's the site of
a lone night. The last night in full medieval armormounted on his horse with every intent to stop
(17:51):
these tanks in their tracks. Now it's givingTiananmen Square. Yes. That is exactly what I
thought. According to military dot com quote, thelast night stood opposed to Nazi aggression
against his home country. He reportedly chargedthe column with a sword and halberd. What's wild is
(18:13):
that you would have thought that the Nazis wouldhave gunned him down or like just rode over him, but
they didn't. They actually stopped. And I thinkthey were probably stupefied for a second. But
then they do press on. That makes sense. Honestly.Like I feel like is there something in the air? Does
(18:35):
anybody, I don't smell burnt toast, but is anybodyelse smelling something a little strange? I'm
going to smile is my face symmetrical. Or isanybody else seeing this? Am I hallucinating?
Yeah, they're all a little like, but eventuallythey do press on and he is eventually forced to
stand down and move aside. Whether they thought hewas just crazy or they pitied him. No one really
(19:00):
knows why or really knows. But honestly, eventhough no one knows why he did it, he did it because
he believed it was the right thing to do because asymbol is nothing if not powerful. He stood
against the Nazi ideals and tyranny and he livedhis life by code of conduct, not seen since the
chivalrous nights with ideals akin to that ofArthur's Gawain and Tristan. And he would see his
(19:26):
homeland liberated in May of 1945, but just sixmonths later he would die. Now, what I think is
really interesting because it talks about howlike or history online.com says Menchik never
likely believed he could actually prevent theGermans from invading Czechoslovakia. He was
(19:48):
however successful in preventing his capitalfrom being overrun. While he was regarded as a lack
of electricity, prevented it from being overrun.I think they walked in, saw all the candle wax and
went, we're good. Honestly, we've got batteriesin the Humvee. We're going to set up camp somewhere
else. Right. So while he was regarded as anon-issue by the Germans, the fact remains that he
(20:14):
technically, he was never defeated by them. AfterWorld War I, Czechoslovakia's borders are
reconstituted and the German-speakinginhabitants of what was once his region were
expelled from the Czech lands. Today, the regionis predominantly filled with Czechs. His home has
been taken over by the Restoration Association,which works to rebuild structures that might have
(20:36):
otherwise been lost to history, much like theireccentric owners. What's interesting to me is
that sources have been deemed like on his life havebeen deemed unreliable and some believe that the
information would reveal his ancestry, thatwould reveal his ancestry, is concealed in
(20:56):
archives that protect those who were involved inWorld War II. And I find that last little bit super
compelling because up to this point, up to 1938,the only thing that's really known about this guy
is that he fills his home with eccentricities.Holy cow, thank you. And lives amongst his people
(21:22):
as this noble knight. So that being said, why arethe archives sealed on his family? Like, what
actually happened? We don't know. But neitherhere nor there because this man had the balls to
stand up to the German tank line on his horse in fullarmor and that's the story of Joseph Mitchek.
Could you imagine? You're having an army invadeand your husband puts on a motorcycle helmet and
(21:53):
gets on a bicycle and wanders in front of a line oftanks. How would you manage this? I would check on
his life insurance policy. Just like be on thephone with him. Yes, just hey, no reason, but are we
up to date? Just checking. Does it coveraccidental death? I thought so. Okay, what about
(22:18):
murder? No, I'm not going to do it. No, no, no, no,no, it's actually not me this time. This is a
picture of him. Okay, so she's showing me a pictureof a man. The armor doesn't make him look tall. I'm
just going to float that out. Yeah, it makes himlook very small. I would say five might be
(22:38):
generous. But you know, we're talking full metalarmor. He's got a great sword that goes up to his
shoulder when you look at the end of that hill. Andit's beard. He looks like a Renaissance garden.
No, he does. I wish these pictures weren't sogreen, but this is someone's horse just like going
(23:02):
through the market. Yeah. Yeah, I absolutely, Istrive to be just as men check when I am old enough to
purchase my own castle. So I guess in my life, itwould be my husband calling the life insurance.
Hey, just real quick. Where do we stand on tanks?We're we're we're covered against against tanks
(23:30):
invasions, right? And entire tank line. Where dowe stand on Germans? Do we? Do we have a position on
this? See, that's that's my delightful story. Ihave been waiting weeks to tell you, I just adore
this man. Like, could you I keep thinking about howhe was obviously so giving to the local children
(23:56):
and then like running to each other's doors like,Joseph standing outside his tank line. Do you want
to watch? Get the kickball. We've got betterthings to do. Yeah. Well, I'm here for and I'm going
to dramatically shift. I would say nothing less. Iknow. I'm going to tell you about what is called the
(24:23):
Blue House incident or the Blue House raid. I can'tsay I've ever heard those words in a sentence
together. Yep. My sources in K news, the big huntwhen North Korean agents almost killed South
Korea's president. The podcast lines led byDonkeys episode 137, the show meet on mute me
(24:45):
YouTube videos, the Korean foreigner, he's gotthree of them. Korean foreigner USS Pueblo, the
ship that inadvertently prevented a secondKorean war. She'll meet oh unit 124 is attempted
assassination of South Korean president andshe'll meet oh a movie review and historical
breakdown. Okay. So we're obviously going to Asiafor this one. No, I did not see that coming. Right. I
(25:12):
mean, surprise, surprise. Now, real quick, do youknow what the Blue House is? No, I can't say that I
do. So much like we have the White House, they havethe Blue House. Okay. And it's not blue. It is a
White House with beautiful ornate blue tiles.Okay. Okay. It's in the middle of Seoul. Okay. And
(25:34):
that is where the president lives. Okay. Okay. AndI feel like you need that. I needed that context and
it didn't come for me too quickly. And so I will givethat to you early. Thank you. So the Korean War ends
July 1953 and there's decade of peace in quotationmarks between North and South. Now obviously we
(25:59):
have troops that are stationed on the DMZ. They'rethe American troops that are stationed side by
side with I'm going to call them rock troops. Rockbeing an acronym for Republic of Korea. Honestly,
it makes them sound so cool. Doesn't it? I imaginethem all with K-pop singers. I mean, you should.
(26:19):
You should. I mean, I when I kept hearing rock,rock, rock, it took me too long to recognize that
was an acronym. And so it was like they were allDwayne Johnson for one paragraph. And then so I
kind of had too much fun mentally with this. Butstarting late 1966, there's some tensions that
are starting to mount on the Korean Peninsula.Now, to situate ourselves in history, we're in the
(26:45):
middle of the Vietnam War. Oh, okay. So now it'slike you can see the convergence of a couple of
things happening. Kim Il-sung, the leader ofNorth Korea at this time, he's really influenced
by what is happening in Vietnam because Vietnamfor him is another divided country and he's
(27:07):
watching them fight to unify. North Korea isthinking, gosh, if we could continue to put
pressure, then maybe, you know, like we could helpNorth Korea or North Vietnam unify and perhaps
this could this could be a great blueprint that wecould follow to unify our country. Okay. So the
(27:30):
Communist Party of Vietnam strategy was toactively support the anti-regime forces and the
guerrillas that are operating in South Vietnam.Okay. So they're stirring up dissent in the South
and then they're also kind of trying to supplystuff to North. This feels right. Okay. Now, he's
kind of thinking Kim Il-sung, he's thinking,gosh, we should probably start our own guerrilla
(27:55):
movement in South Korea. And then maybe we'll haveNorth Korean special forces take over some remote
hamlets, gradually transform them intoguerrilla bases, and then we'll just, we'll
pervert the system from within and then we'llflood them from the South or from the North. Which
it feels like a strong play. Like I could see thisworking. It feels like the CIA's involved. The K
(28:23):
CIA comes up later, but they're South Korea. Okay.Now, Pyongyang, which is a very butchered way to
say the capital of North Korea, they're alsoplanning to disrupt the functioning South Korean
government by delivering a massive blow to themajor command center of the South Korean puppet
(28:49):
regime. So that was his sentence. They want to takeout President Park. And Kim Il-sung thinks of
President Park, President of South Korea as thisrival of his. And if he can just knock over the king
at the chess board, they, he's going to win, right?So this is what he wants to do. So in 66, Sung
(29:13):
establishes Unit 124. This is an elite specialforce unit. They begin preparations for a coming
operation. Now they end up creating a model of theBlue House, which is where the South American, the
South Korean president lives. So are we talkinglike a one sixteenth model or like? No, no, no, full
(29:39):
size. Okay. That's, that was the visual I needed.Yeah. So full size training center. And they had to
hide it so that spy planes couldn't, couldn't seeit. I was, that was going to be the next question.
How are we, I don't know, camouflaging, you know,and I don't fully know how they were camouflaging
it because there's not a ton of sources on this, butthere's not a ton of sources on this. Right. Okay.
(30:03):
But either way, they, they build a replica of this.They have the, the special elite force trained
through this so that they understand how to get toit. They don't have a ton of information on what is
what inside, but I think they have enough to try toget a working, working version. Okay. Like a basic
(30:25):
blueprint as it were. Yeah. So you may not knowwhere all the bathrooms are located, but you'll
understand the rough gist. Right. Okay. So it'slike going and looking at the mall map. Maybe.
Yeah. Okay. So the group that seems by the pretzelstand. You're welcome. The group consists of 31
(30:52):
commandos. Okay. And they cross the DMZ on January17th, just before midnight. Okay. Now, once they
find themselves on the other side of the border,they switched into South Korean uniforms to try to
present themselves as a rock army unit. Sorry, thevisual is killing. Go on. Now you're thinking of
(31:17):
Wayne Johnson. No, I'm thinking of K-pop singers.Oh, okay. So they've got a festival makeup. Lots of
body glitter. Three times this week. Okay. Not therock, but I do imagine the rock is their leader now.
So here we are. Now, they've also been trained tomimic the South Korean accent, because there
(31:38):
would be an accent that would develop over time.Yeah. Okay. This makes sense. And they've also
tried to adopt many words that are unique to SouthKorean as well, because many Western words in
South Korean, like elevator or ice cream, this is,we see this in Japanese as well, are said with a
(31:59):
Korean accent. So they just, in Japanese, it'd bearaveta ice cream. Korean is going to be a little
bit different. Whereas in North Korea, they avoidWestern words altogether. So elevator is
something that translates like up-down machine.Okay. Love this. I will never not call an elevator
(32:20):
the up-down machine. You're welcome. But eitherway, there's little things like that where they
have to remember to say the right word or it's goingto be a dead giveaway. Okay. Just like if somebody
came up to you and said, hey, where's the up-downmachine? You would kind of look at them like
they've got an eye in the middle of their foreheador be like, oh, actually, I remember this episode
(32:41):
of Unhid's History. So you're looking for theelevator right this way, you infiltrator. Yeah, I
was just going I'm not thinking the elevators overhere. I'm thinking, what are you doing? Yeah. What
are you doing, Bob? Okay. Now, we have to rememberthis is in the middle of winter in Korea. And I did a
quick Google search. I was like, what was theweather like on January 17th, 1966? And they're
(33:07):
like, well, it was probably within a high of 22, alow of 11 Fahrenheit. Okay. It's a mittens. It's
hazy and lightly snowing, probably. Okay. So wedon't have exact numbers, but it's within the
normal South Korean, North Korean winter.Miserable is what I'm hearing. It's snowing.
(33:32):
Yeah. Or cold enough to be snowing. Yeah. Yeah.Okay. It freezing well below freezing. And that's
the high. So their bookers are frozen. And Unit 124hoped to reach Seoul unnoticed. And they're going
through these sparsely populated forests onMount Bakan. I said that wrong. Bakan, anyhow, I
(33:58):
butchered it. My apologies. Now, on January 19th,around 2 p.m., they encounter a group of four
woodcutters that are brothers. And they're all intheir 20s. Okay. I can't see this going well. Now,
their instructions are to kill witnesses likethis on the spot. The four woodcutting brothers
(34:21):
sounds like some of you actually don't want to comeup against. But there's 31 of them, 31 to four.
Okay. You've got more weapons than blades. I'mglad that they have blades. Are there bears in
Korea? Probably. So I'm thinking. There's nobears in the story, though. Oh, okay. Now, these
(34:47):
commandos, they're a little idealistic. Right?They were recruited because they wanted to be.
Now, they're believed that they are fighting onbehalf of the South Koreans. Like, this is the
common man. We are fighting for the common man. Ifwe win and we reunify our country, then this is our
(35:08):
brother. Okay. But we're also told to killwitnesses. So there's a little bit of tension
here. Now, they end up deliberating and they eventake a vote and they decide to set the woodcutters
free. I love this to them. Okay. But they decide tolecture them first on the benefits of communism
(35:29):
because if we win, we want you to understand whywe're doing this. We're doing this for you. You
will be grateful for this. Okay. Got it. Now,they're warned that they're going to be killed
along with their families if they report withDesi. But you've gotten the ID, the craft course in
why we're doing what we're doing and we're doing itfor you and we're going to kill you and your family
(35:52):
if you step out of line. So don't. Because we reallywant to. Right. This would hurt me more than it
would hurt you. That's what I was just thinking.Okay. Because you'll be dead. Right. And we'll
live with this pain for the rest of our lives. Yeah.Got it. Now, after the release of the woodcutters,
(36:12):
rush to the police stations and report a largegroup of armed North Koreans within the vicinity
of Seoul. Okay. Because they're probably 30 milesfrom Seoul at this point. Okay. Now, the
woodcutters tale is met with suspicion and theforces aren't really put on high alert. Seems like
(36:35):
a terrible move on their part. To be fair, a coupleof young men rush into your backwood police
station and say that there's a group of commandos.They've got no mention. Like they have no evidence
that this happened. It's just, hey, thishappened. And for all you know, these woodcutters
(36:57):
are rabble rousers. I don't know anything aboutthese people. So you might have. My curiosity
would want to see the commandos. But if they can'tprove, it's like Pixar didn't happen. Okay. And
they didn't kill you. They lectured you on thebenefits of communism. All right. Put down the
bottle. Smoking out there. Yeah. So that's kind ofwhat it sounds like. Right. Now, they do pass the
(37:25):
information on. They're like, okay, but they doshare it. Now, the concept of a large group of
commandos clad in rock army uniforms, wanderingnear Seoul, isn't considerably out of the
question. Now, one of the woodcutters, I think itwas a woodcutter, said one of the insignia on the
rock uniforms was upside down, which seemed to bekind of a, this may not be one of our guys. Yeah.
(37:51):
Yeah. Maybe we understand which way the patchgoes. It's up. Yeah. So meanwhile, the commandos
continue advancing towards Seoul. They'resleeping during the day. They're marching at
night. They're doing their best remain hidden.They're marching in winter. In Korea, where it's
(38:13):
Harry and all of their here, because you can'texactly stop by Costco, pick up brashens. Right.
That's unfortunate. Now, occasionally, theyencounter police and military personnel as they
approach Seoul, but nobody shows much interest inwhat they see as a small rock military unit. Okay.
(38:35):
So they're blending in. They look the part. Eventhough they're insignia is upside down. Not
everybody seems to have caught that. Honestly, aquick Google search could have told them. Right.
Yeah. In 66, of course. Now, it's January 21st. Sothey've been in the country five days. Okay. It's
(38:55):
950 PM. Unit 124 is roughly 300 meters from the backentrance of the Blue House, which is their whole
goal. They're within spitting distance of thegoal. Right. Now, South Korean soldiers are
stopped at a small police post at the last moment.Now, there's two policemen at this checkpoint,
(39:19):
and they're kind of demand not kind of they'redemanding to see the documents that they would let
them in. Give me the right paperwork. Now, NorthKoreans insist that their counterintelligence
command on the way back from training. And thepolice are like, you seem to talk a little weird.
(39:39):
Strange. We don't have any up-down machines.Where's your ice cream? Yeah. Yeah, we don't have
frozen sweet treats. What sweet treats? Now, thepolicemen see that there's some some of the
soldiers clearly have hidden weapons on them thatthey're not supposed to have. And they begin to
(39:59):
suspect that this might be the reportedinfiltrators from the North. And so then our
Woodcutter friends told us about four days ago.Right. Yeah. There's there was a memo that came
through. This is an email. Yeah. Now, they start anargument with them, and they're hoping to use this
argument to buy some time. Now, always works. Ithink it was in the podcast I listened to. They said
(40:23):
something brilliant. And the Lions led by Donkeyspodcast, which the podcast is ran by veterans.
They note that the rock president came to powerusing a military coup. So he didn't want military
near him. He wanted his own police force.Reasonable. Because you ain't going to take me out
the same way I came to power. Okay. So these uniformmen at 10 o'clock at night are in the wrong spot. Oh,
(40:51):
that's unfortunate. Now, quote, he was sick. Isthat wrong? He is the head of the Chungro police
station. And he's passing the post in his car and hecame over to see what this commotion is about.
Because he can see that there is this group of 31commandos and two police officers having an
(41:12):
argument. Okay. The visual is brilliant. I justneed you to know it gets better. Oh, thank God. I'm
so excited because the rock is rocking right now.Yep. With his K-pop friends behind them. They're
aware of the presence of North Koreans. And hemakes it clear that they're not going to be allowed
through without the proper paperwork. You need toget the right stuff in order. We're not letting you
(41:38):
through 10 o'clock at night or go to bed. Yeah. Oneof the commandos pulled out a gun and shot Khlo,
mortally wounding him. Oh, no. So this starts afirefight. Now, the North Koreans are determined
to pass through. Like they are so 300 meters. Theycan see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it
(42:06):
starts to appear that this is doomed. Becauseagain, there was like three cops versus 31. This
seemed and now 31 versus two. So this seemed likethe odds were in their favor. But then the
reinforcements start to arrive. Oh, dear. Nowimagine you have reinforcements. So you have
(42:26):
people showing up in military uniforms. SouthKorean military uniforms. The insignia is on
right. Okay. You're not going to be looking atinsignia when you're holding a semi-automatic
rifle. Yeah, I guess that's true. So the commandosnotice a few buses that start to approach. And with
(42:47):
the like, because this is just a fully operationalcity. So one of them takes a grenade and throws it
because he thinks that this bus is full ofreinforcements. Oh, it's not. It's full of normal
people, isn't it? It is. And so it's a regular citybus. And so this kills two passengers, wounds the
driver, and the conductor. But in this like crazy,I don't know who's who because everyone's wearing
(43:16):
the same uniform. And we've all gotsemi-automatic weapons. You're just blindly
spraying and praying. It is the wider man meme.Everybody, yeah, everybody pointing at
everybody and we're all with the same. Yeah. Gotit. Now unit 124, they begin this hasty retreat and
they're spraying ammunition. And it's justhitting everybody willy-nilly. Now, Rock Force
(43:43):
has been the next few days hunting down thedispersed commandos on their way back towards the
DMV because they didn't get it. So they're tryingto get back home. Right. This seems reasonable.
Yeah. Nearly all of them fought to the death andwere taken out one by one. Wow. Okay. Because
ideology. I mean, you're going to go out eitherway. Like you don't assume that they're going to
(44:06):
let you live. So you're right. Yeah, you're righton your terms. Yeah. So of the 31 original members,
27 are killed near the initial confrontation or inthe ensuing pursuit. One is taken prisoner before
taking his own life, as North Korean forcesusually do. Because you and I both know we study at
(44:31):
Korea. No, we don't. But apparently this wasperuse. I mean, that actually checks when you
think about this globally. Yeah. How many? Yeah.Okay. One commando is captured alive. Kim
Shin-Jo. He's 26 years old and was tasked withkilling everybody on the ground floor of the Blue
(44:53):
House. Oh, okay. Like they were going to wipe outthe government. I feel like they could have done
this an easier way. I feel like they came reallyclose to doing it regardless. No, I think you're
right. Yeah. I'm not arguing. I just feel like ifyou're, if the goal is to remove everybody, why
(45:16):
send in, why send in a hand team when you can, I don'tknow, send in a plane? But if you cut the head off the
government, now you have more ability to send inthe plane. Yeah, I guess that's true. This was a
special strike. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Anyhow, heends up spending some time in prison. He serves his
(45:40):
time. He gets out. He becomes a Christian pastor.Wild. I did not see that being a segue. Okay. And he
resides in Seoul under a different name. Hechanges his name when he gets out, becomes a
pastor. Literally had to come to Jesus moment.Yeah. And just does his bits, right? There's
(46:04):
another survivor, Park Jae-young. He manages toget back home, crosses the DMZ back into North
Korea and receives a Hero's Welcome. He failed,but he made it home. Okay. So, I mean, I'm imagining
that's anywhere from 30 to 35 miles, dependingupon, you know, what area he does it in the dark at
(46:24):
night, freezing cold and then goes back home.Like, right, you know, I run six miles and act like I
deserve a Hero's Welcome. I don't run any miles andI act like I deserve a Hero's Welcome. But anyhow,
so yeah. Yeah. Like, so this guy like fears badass.He becomes eventually because of four star
(46:48):
general in North Korea and visits Seoul twice inthe early 2000s in this capacity. Okay. So, it goes
back to the scene of the crime. Twice. Yeah.Bullsie. Now, the fate of the last one of the member
of this enclave, he's unknown. It's rumored thathe managed to make it back to the North and serve in
(47:12):
the military. He doesn't reach the same level ofcareer success as Puck. But I mean, I'm still just
like, honestly, didn't see one getting back home,let alone two. Honestly, didn't see one becoming a
pastor, let alone any of them getting back home.So, that was a surprise. Right. So, yeah, North
(47:33):
Korea officially denies any and allresponsibility of this. Okay. Which, yeah, I'd
part for the course. According to the propagandathat they give out both domestic and overseas,
they're like, well, the operation was organizedby a by daring local resistance forces wasn't us,
but we support their efforts because that'sbadass. It's daring. Like, yeah, good for you.
(47:57):
Now, behind closed doors. Yeah, you know, they'rekind of over it. Like, so they end up talking to Lee
Hu, Hu Rock, who's the head of the K CIA, which is theKorean Central Intelligence. Okay. So, and Kim
Il-sung expresses his regret for the incident.It's just an incident. Okay. You know, like, I
(48:21):
might sneeze and pee my pants and call it anincident. He sends 31 special forces. Yeah. To go
and it's just an incident. So, apparently, onceyou hit a certain level, the word incident means
wildly different things. Yeah, it does. Now, heclaims rather implausibly that the attack was the
(48:45):
responsibility of some unspecified extremeleftists. Okay. Now, this regret is ultimately
timely because they're trying to improverelations with Seoul. Oh, okay. And they're like,
you know, we were caught. Boy, you know what? We'renot not our bad specifically, but we're sorry you
(49:11):
feel that way. It's really unfortunate. I'msorry. We're trying to improve our relationships
with you. Like, just when you come to tea, it's likewhen siblings fight. Don't tell mom. Yeah, I'm
sorry you feel like that. Oh my God, are you okay?Quit crying. Quit crying. Mom is here. It will
(49:34):
definitely be my fault this time. But that is theBlue House incident. I don't know what to make of
that. I was going to say that was delightful. But Ifeel like for the people on the bus, it wasn't. No.
Wild. I'll go with wild. That was wild. That storywas suggested by listener Ryan, who said that it
(50:01):
was a delightful romp and it will segue nicely intonext week's story. Love that. Which was not
suggested by him, but damn well should have beenbecause they're buddies. There is a part two and it
is one of those like, I'm sorry. What? Could you saythat again real quick? I just didn't catch it. Oh,
(50:26):
that was fun. Okay. I gotta tell you, I'm a big fan ofCommando stories, period. Like, yeah, big fan.
Yeah. Thank you for that. My absolute pleasure.And if you're thinking, what in the hell are they
going to tell us next week? We don't know.Actually, I think we both know what we're going to
(50:49):
do next week, even though we haven't told the otherone. But raise review, subscribe, send this to 416 00:50:55,930 --> your favorite would be a great Commando. And on that, love it. Goodbye. Bye.
Hi, and welcome to the Unhanced History Podcast,the podcast where two compulsive and Santa
maniacs, that has to be a word. That's the word now.It is now. We'll read history and study the stories
behind it, go off on bizarre rabbit trails, recordall of it, and then come together and tell each
(00:34):
other the stories you've only recently heard andhave berated our spouses with. I'm host one. I'm
Teresa, and that is host two. That is Angie. Andlast week, I was an only. I did the black hand that
started World War One and focus on a verydelightful John through the beginnings of World
(01:02):
War One. Honestly, more people should do itbecause you can't. The journey it took to get there
is just unparalleled, I think. Well, I mean, let'sface it. We, like most of the world, are more
familiar with World War Two, and it is the favoritegame. But when you can pull up a really bizarre
(01:29):
rabbit hole from World War One, I think go for it. Ithink you're right. Honestly, I can do bizarre
rabbit hole from anything. Mm hmm. Yeah. Andthat's how the Internet was formed, guys. All
right. I don't. Okay, so I'm just going to tell you,I wrote my story like two weeks ago. So you don't
(01:51):
remember any of it? It's going to be a surprise toboth of us? Yes. So last night, the husband was
like, so do you need to like go over your notesreally quick? So you know what you're doing? And I
was like, no, I think it's going to be fun this way.Um, that said, my sources are military.com, but
(02:14):
it's an article by Blake Stillwell published inFebruary of 24. Check. So the article's called
Check Night Resisted Nazi Aggression When WorldAbandoned His Country. Night as like a K in? Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm here for that as opposed tolike just the nocturnal period of one night in a
(02:37):
country. Yeah, no, a person. Nationalinterest.org has a blog post by Travis Pike from
December of 23. Sword Hand Armored Night StoodAgainst Nazis. A really fun source called
(03:00):
husheduphistory.com has a great article on it andthen War History Online because can we not do a
single story without bringing up World WarHistory Online? It doesn't feel right. I think
it's a split, right? If we don't bring them up, weneed to bring up the park service and or mention
Syphilis. There's our Syphilis mentioned.Cheers. And there we are. All right. So did you
(03:31):
literally say cheers and then take a quick? I did.Wow. I just have an energy drink, so I don't think it
counts. Yeah. I mean, there you go. Live yourtruth. I'm on, you know, lots of us are leaving the
bottles these days. Well, they guessed it's eighto'clock in the morning, Teresa. Not everyone
(03:54):
follows that moniker. That rule. Could that betoday's title? A lot of us are leaving the bottle
these days. I mean, we'll see what happens. Therecould be another gym that pops up. Before noon
rule. And now you were saying, go on. I'll tell youwhat the story. Okay. So I'm going to tell you the
(04:17):
story of a man who was once described as thedefinition of living history. So that alone, in my
opinion, should tell you that we are going to lovehim. His name is Genesis Menchik, very, very
little is known about his child. Childhood or verylittle statistical data period. Like we know
(04:41):
little about his offering. I thought you said justchild. Very little is known about his child. No, we
know a little well that too. No. Maybe I cut out verylittle is known about his childhood. Like in fact,
not much is known about him period before 1938. Hewas an incredibly private human being. Some
(05:02):
sources suggest that he was the oldest of fourchildren and was born in an apartment in the local
castle. This castle was in Bomerwald area, whichthis area of the world was what was then
Czechoslovakia. It's this super mountainousregion. Today it would straddle modern day
(05:24):
Germany and the Czech Republic. So it's like alittle border town. What we do understand is that
his family was descended from a small noble familythat dates all the way back to the Holy Roman
Empire. It's believed that he was married to awoman called Emma Menchakava and that they may
(05:46):
have had at least two children. But remember he wasincredibly private with his details. So there's
not a ton right now that is 100 percent verifiableas far as like we don't have like a birth record,
that sort of thing. What we do know is that he was ahistorian, a counselor, an adventurer who loved
(06:10):
rum and anchovies. That was an odd combination.Agreed. The sweet of the rum, the salt of the
anchovies, you know, we all, I guess we all love ourchips and salsa. Maybe it's the same thing for him.
I don't know. But in 1911 he did the thing that weabsolutely dream of. He purchases a 13th century
(06:35):
Gothic fortress. Yeah, I dream of having theability to do that. Exactly. Now this is in the town
of Doberts. Hopefully I'm pronouncing all ofthese words right. I tried very hard to like
phonetically spell them so they would make sense.Now at some point this fortress in the 1700s the
(06:58):
local nobility added a broke style wing onto theolder part of the castle and then that sort of fell
into disrepair. It would eventually become ahouse for the poor and then a granary and then in
1838 it was turned into a school. However, sadly in1911 both the school and the fortress burned down
(07:18):
and it was set to be demoed when our friend Josephstepped in and he sets out to kind of renovate the
castle, bring it back to its glory, right? Like hisvision is of the high middle ages. He wants to put it
back to the era it was built. Much the same that wewant to fix every Victorian house he's ever seen
(07:40):
and put it back to Victorian, right? Oh yeah. Yeah,exactly. So he does this and then he fills it with
all sorts of antiquities and little oddities asall great gentlemen want to do. And while on a trip
to France he purchases a full suit of armor, youknow, to drive home that noble nightlife. He would
(08:04):
appear at the markets and local fairs mounted onhis trusty steed in full armor. Like this was his
jam. Wow. I bet his wife was a very understandingwoman or eclectic in her own right. I think she
should have to be. I'm here for it. Like if myhusband decided that he was going to just head down
(08:25):
to the market to pick up milk on horseback dressedas a knight or cowboy for that matter, I'd be like,
good for you buddy. But because it's going to belike, no honey, you need to cinch it up tighter in
the back. No, no, that needs to be tighter. Tightenthe breast. I can't reach. Yeah. The cod piece.
(08:46):
He's a different cod piece. That one, it's not asaccentuating. That one's not as accentuating.
Yeah. It seems like it goes without saying, but theneighbors and the other locals, they adore this
man. The sources all say that he treated everyonewith kindness and respect was always willing to
(09:10):
lend a hand or gauntlet. They said he was a man ofgenuine character at a local tavern that he
frequented. He enjoyed socializing witheveryone. And at the end of every visit, his ritual
was to swallow a whole herringbone, which he thendrank with a good glass of rum and shouted
menacingly at things. What is a herringbone? Likeliteral bone of fish? I think so. That was the way I
(09:34):
understood it. Okay. Yeah. We're unclear what hewas shouting at, but the others didn't seem to
mind. The local children adored him and lovedlistening to his stories. You know, I'm going to
interrupt. This sounds like the neighbor who hasthe Tyrannosaurus skeleton statue in his
backyard year round and decorates it for everyevent. You're not wrong. I agree. Yeah. Always
(10:00):
has. Yeah. Always has a big candy at Halloween.Yeah. So one of the reasons I love him is his home is a
living museum for the kids. He was an expert onBohemian history and was always happy to educate
those who were curious. So he kind of formed it.Taking it to the hilt, his home had no modern
(10:25):
convenience, no electricity, no plumbing,nothing. But what it lacked in modern, it had what I
would call oodles and ambiance. The halls werealways lit with candles and torches. And one
account says that he did have a moat around hiscastle, but because he was keen to share it with
everyone, he filled the moat with alligatorsculptures. Oh, like I have a moat, but it's not
(10:51):
scary. I promise there just would. There are somethat say like in the modern thought that he could be
compared to Don Quixote. I don't really thinkthat's the case at all. He was very aware of his time
and his place, but he just loved history so much.And he kind of did the whimsical thing that most
(11:11):
people would shun and chose to live that way. Forhim, chivalry wasn't dead. And for his neighbors,
it seems that like living as this man, for him, hewas known as the last night or the night of
Strenkonis. So he took on this role of the night ofhis people because to him, chivalry wasn't dead.
(11:40):
And we still had access to all the great stories oflike Arthur and his men, right? And he felt like if
he wanted that back in the world, he would have tolive it back in the world. So that's what he did. His
greatest act of chivalry would come in 1938. I knowthat I feel like I've personally been stuck in
(12:01):
World War II for like, oh, I don't know, months. AndI'd like to offer up my sincerest apologies for
this, but I'm not going to because it wouldn't begenuine. And I have more in the coming weeks. So
here we are. That said, when the German warmachine, the weathermark, begins rolling its way
(12:22):
across the border to seize the area that his home isin, it's okay, it's got to be said. It's not just a
single bit of land, but rather areas along theborder of Czechoslovakia and Germany that
they're filled with native German speakers. Andafter the Auschwitz, which was the incorporation
(12:44):
of Austria into Hitler's growing Nazi empire, theGermans set their eyes on these German speaking
areas of Czechoslovakia, and they're willing towage war for it. Now, our guy's home is of course,
sort of right in the middle of this. And at the timewas part of Bohemia. And when Hitler's like kind of
(13:06):
eyeing the map, he demands this area. So let's zoomout real quick and sort of place the situation on
the map and in the timeline of the war. By Septemberof 1938, Germany had begun what's called a low
intensity conflict with the Czechs, which seemsstrange, a low intensity conflict. Their claim is
(13:31):
that ethnic Germans were being opposed and killedin Czechoslovakia, really rich for their part, I
gotta say. I mean, you need a claim. It doesn'tmatter if it's true. Right. Hitler did this with
the infiltration of an army of Czechs who justhappened to also be pro Nazi. Now, at the time,
(13:53):
because remember, it's only 1938, Germanywouldn't invade Poland for another year. But the
rest of Europe was still not too hyped about theidea of any of it since the First World War, like
they're still reeling from the after effects ofthe First World War, there had been far too much
devastation and chaos to even consider a war againso soon, or at least that's what the rest of Europe
(14:19):
is thinking. Right. So World War One felt soimprobable. Right. They called it the Great War
because it was like, this was the end all, be all,we're done. We've had the killing. We're over it
now. Right. Like, we're never gonna do this again.That's insane. Right. Exactly. So by the end of
September in 1938, France, England, Germany, andItaly, they all meet in Munich with the hope that
(14:45):
another war can be averted. However, you'llnotice that the Czechs were not invited to this
little soiree. And as such, the offer was made toquote a peace Hitler with giving up the Czech
student land to Germany. So this area where JosephMagic lives. So just to confirm my understanding,
we're going to hold a conference, we're going toinvite everybody but Billy, and we're going to
(15:09):
offer Hitler Billy's territory because Billy, wedidn't invite Billy. So right, we're all in
agreement. Billy can die. Bye. Yeah. That isexactly what happened. And like I said, this is the
stretch of land where friend Joseph lives. Sowhile Czechoslovakia is not invited to the party,
(15:31):
they're still forced to accept this offer. Sothings are not like people are not happy about this
situation. And rightly so. Yeah, right. I can'timagine a single person who would be, except for
Hitler, Hitler would be obviously. Yes, I would behappy, right. But I'm just thinking like, I can
only imagine that France, Germany, or France,England, Britain, and Italy are like, excuse me,
(15:58):
are thinking to themselves, well, if we set it togive up this little bit of land, it's okay, we'll be
fine. Like we'll avert a disaster, but they're noteven considering the fact that like people live in
this land. Well, it's the policy of appeasement.It's the slippery slope that would, right, which
is 100% what they were doing. And, you know, I don'tthink it could have worked out any different, but
(16:24):
we didn't know that in 1938. Yes. Right now, as weknow, it wouldn't take long for the whole of the
country, and then Hungary and Poland to beabsorbed into Germany by 1939. Czechoslovakia,
as they knew it, is no longer. Now, you can imaginethat German tanks rolling in on in the October of 38
(16:46):
didn't sit well with anyone, at least not theCzechs anyway, the rest of the world doesn't seem
to notice. Not only that, but they saw these peacetalks and the agreement made on their behalf in
Munich as quite the betrayal. Right. Yeah. And sovery few citizens go out to meet their new
(17:07):
overlords when they roll through. They're notabout it. But that's not the style of our friend
Mencek, right? Like what part of this story up tonow makes you think he sat quietly at home sitting
tea doing needlepoint? This is a guy that rides tothe market in full armor. Right. Right. He
(17:27):
believes in open carry. Yes. So as the column oftanks roars across the border and into this region
called Buznia, which this is where this is wherethe tanks, they come up with a site. It's the site of
a lone night. The last night in full medieval armormounted on his horse with every intent to stop
(17:51):
these tanks in their tracks. Now it's givingTiananmen Square. Yes. That is exactly what I
thought. According to military dot com quote, thelast night stood opposed to Nazi aggression
against his home country. He reportedly chargedthe column with a sword and halberd. What's wild is
(18:13):
that you would have thought that the Nazis wouldhave gunned him down or like just rode over him, but
they didn't. They actually stopped. And I thinkthey were probably stupefied for a second. But
then they do press on. That makes sense. Honestly.Like I feel like is there something in the air? Does
(18:35):
anybody, I don't smell burnt toast, but is anybodyelse smelling something a little strange? I'm
going to smile is my face symmetrical. Or isanybody else seeing this? Am I hallucinating?
Yeah, they're all a little like, but eventuallythey do press on and he is eventually forced to
stand down and move aside. Whether they thought hewas just crazy or they pitied him. No one really
(19:00):
knows why or really knows. But honestly, eventhough no one knows why he did it, he did it because
he believed it was the right thing to do because asymbol is nothing if not powerful. He stood
against the Nazi ideals and tyranny and he livedhis life by code of conduct, not seen since the
chivalrous nights with ideals akin to that ofArthur's Gawain and Tristan. And he would see his
(19:26):
homeland liberated in May of 1945, but just sixmonths later he would die. Now, what I think is
really interesting because it talks about howlike or history online.com says Menchik never
likely believed he could actually prevent theGermans from invading Czechoslovakia. He was
(19:48):
however successful in preventing his capitalfrom being overrun. While he was regarded as a lack
of electricity, prevented it from being overrun.I think they walked in, saw all the candle wax and
went, we're good. Honestly, we've got batteriesin the Humvee. We're going to set up camp somewhere
else. Right. So while he was regarded as anon-issue by the Germans, the fact remains that he
(20:14):
technically, he was never defeated by them. AfterWorld War I, Czechoslovakia's borders are
reconstituted and the German-speakinginhabitants of what was once his region were
expelled from the Czech lands. Today, the regionis predominantly filled with Czechs. His home has
been taken over by the Restoration Association,which works to rebuild structures that might have
(20:36):
otherwise been lost to history, much like theireccentric owners. What's interesting to me is
that sources have been deemed like on his life havebeen deemed unreliable and some believe that the
information would reveal his ancestry, thatwould reveal his ancestry, is concealed in
(20:56):
archives that protect those who were involved inWorld War II. And I find that last little bit super
compelling because up to this point, up to 1938,the only thing that's really known about this guy
is that he fills his home with eccentricities.Holy cow, thank you. And lives amongst his people
(21:22):
as this noble knight. So that being said, why arethe archives sealed on his family? Like, what
actually happened? We don't know. But neitherhere nor there because this man had the balls to
stand up to the German tank line on his horse in fullarmor and that's the story of Joseph Mitchek.
Could you imagine? You're having an army invadeand your husband puts on a motorcycle helmet and
(21:53):
gets on a bicycle and wanders in front of a line oftanks. How would you manage this? I would check on
his life insurance policy. Just like be on thephone with him. Yes, just hey, no reason, but are we
up to date? Just checking. Does it coveraccidental death? I thought so. Okay, what about
(22:18):
murder? No, I'm not going to do it. No, no, no, no,no, it's actually not me this time. This is a
picture of him. Okay, so she's showing me a pictureof a man. The armor doesn't make him look tall. I'm
just going to float that out. Yeah, it makes himlook very small. I would say five might be
(22:38):
generous. But you know, we're talking full metalarmor. He's got a great sword that goes up to his
shoulder when you look at the end of that hill. Andit's beard. He looks like a Renaissance garden.
No, he does. I wish these pictures weren't sogreen, but this is someone's horse just like going
(23:02):
through the market. Yeah. Yeah, I absolutely, Istrive to be just as men check when I am old enough to
purchase my own castle. So I guess in my life, itwould be my husband calling the life insurance.
Hey, just real quick. Where do we stand on tanks?We're we're we're covered against against tanks
(23:30):
invasions, right? And entire tank line. Where dowe stand on Germans? Do we? Do we have a position on
this? See, that's that's my delightful story. Ihave been waiting weeks to tell you, I just adore
this man. Like, could you I keep thinking about howhe was obviously so giving to the local children
(23:56):
and then like running to each other's doors like,Joseph standing outside his tank line. Do you want
to watch? Get the kickball. We've got betterthings to do. Yeah. Well, I'm here for and I'm going
to dramatically shift. I would say nothing less. Iknow. I'm going to tell you about what is called the
(24:23):
Blue House incident or the Blue House raid. I can'tsay I've ever heard those words in a sentence
together. Yep. My sources in K news, the big huntwhen North Korean agents almost killed South
Korea's president. The podcast lines led byDonkeys episode 137, the show meet on mute me
(24:45):
YouTube videos, the Korean foreigner, he's gotthree of them. Korean foreigner USS Pueblo, the
ship that inadvertently prevented a secondKorean war. She'll meet oh unit 124 is attempted
assassination of South Korean president andshe'll meet oh a movie review and historical
breakdown. Okay. So we're obviously going to Asiafor this one. No, I did not see that coming. Right. I
(25:12):
mean, surprise, surprise. Now, real quick, do youknow what the Blue House is? No, I can't say that I
do. So much like we have the White House, they havethe Blue House. Okay. And it's not blue. It is a
White House with beautiful ornate blue tiles.Okay. Okay. It's in the middle of Seoul. Okay. And
(25:34):
that is where the president lives. Okay. Okay. AndI feel like you need that. I needed that context and
it didn't come for me too quickly. And so I will givethat to you early. Thank you. So the Korean War ends
July 1953 and there's decade of peace in quotationmarks between North and South. Now obviously we
(25:59):
have troops that are stationed on the DMZ. They'rethe American troops that are stationed side by
side with I'm going to call them rock troops. Rockbeing an acronym for Republic of Korea. Honestly,
it makes them sound so cool. Doesn't it? I imaginethem all with K-pop singers. I mean, you should.
(26:19):
You should. I mean, I when I kept hearing rock,rock, rock, it took me too long to recognize that
was an acronym. And so it was like they were allDwayne Johnson for one paragraph. And then so I
kind of had too much fun mentally with this. Butstarting late 1966, there's some tensions that
are starting to mount on the Korean Peninsula.Now, to situate ourselves in history, we're in the
(26:45):
middle of the Vietnam War. Oh, okay. So now it'slike you can see the convergence of a couple of
things happening. Kim Il-sung, the leader ofNorth Korea at this time, he's really influenced
by what is happening in Vietnam because Vietnamfor him is another divided country and he's
(27:07):
watching them fight to unify. North Korea isthinking, gosh, if we could continue to put
pressure, then maybe, you know, like we could helpNorth Korea or North Vietnam unify and perhaps
this could this could be a great blueprint that wecould follow to unify our country. Okay. So the
(27:30):
Communist Party of Vietnam strategy was toactively support the anti-regime forces and the
guerrillas that are operating in South Vietnam.Okay. So they're stirring up dissent in the South
and then they're also kind of trying to supplystuff to North. This feels right. Okay. Now, he's
kind of thinking Kim Il-sung, he's thinking,gosh, we should probably start our own guerrilla
(27:55):
movement in South Korea. And then maybe we'll haveNorth Korean special forces take over some remote
hamlets, gradually transform them intoguerrilla bases, and then we'll just, we'll
pervert the system from within and then we'llflood them from the South or from the North. Which
it feels like a strong play. Like I could see thisworking. It feels like the CIA's involved. The K
(28:23):
CIA comes up later, but they're South Korea. Okay.Now, Pyongyang, which is a very butchered way to
say the capital of North Korea, they're alsoplanning to disrupt the functioning South Korean
government by delivering a massive blow to themajor command center of the South Korean puppet
(28:49):
regime. So that was his sentence. They want to takeout President Park. And Kim Il-sung thinks of
President Park, President of South Korea as thisrival of his. And if he can just knock over the king
at the chess board, they, he's going to win, right?So this is what he wants to do. So in 66, Sung
(29:13):
establishes Unit 124. This is an elite specialforce unit. They begin preparations for a coming
operation. Now they end up creating a model of theBlue House, which is where the South American, the
South Korean president lives. So are we talkinglike a one sixteenth model or like? No, no, no, full
(29:39):
size. Okay. That's, that was the visual I needed.Yeah. So full size training center. And they had to
hide it so that spy planes couldn't, couldn't seeit. I was, that was going to be the next question.
How are we, I don't know, camouflaging, you know,and I don't fully know how they were camouflaging
it because there's not a ton of sources on this, butthere's not a ton of sources on this. Right. Okay.
(30:03):
But either way, they, they build a replica of this.They have the, the special elite force trained
through this so that they understand how to get toit. They don't have a ton of information on what is
what inside, but I think they have enough to try toget a working, working version. Okay. Like a basic
(30:25):
blueprint as it were. Yeah. So you may not knowwhere all the bathrooms are located, but you'll
understand the rough gist. Right. Okay. So it'slike going and looking at the mall map. Maybe.
Yeah. Okay. So the group that seems by the pretzelstand. You're welcome. The group consists of 31
(30:52):
commandos. Okay. And they cross the DMZ on January17th, just before midnight. Okay. Now, once they
find themselves on the other side of the border,they switched into South Korean uniforms to try to
present themselves as a rock army unit. Sorry, thevisual is killing. Go on. Now you're thinking of
(31:17):
Wayne Johnson. No, I'm thinking of K-pop singers.Oh, okay. So they've got a festival makeup. Lots of
body glitter. Three times this week. Okay. Not therock, but I do imagine the rock is their leader now.
So here we are. Now, they've also been trained tomimic the South Korean accent, because there
(31:38):
would be an accent that would develop over time.Yeah. Okay. This makes sense. And they've also
tried to adopt many words that are unique to SouthKorean as well, because many Western words in
South Korean, like elevator or ice cream, this is,we see this in Japanese as well, are said with a
(31:59):
Korean accent. So they just, in Japanese, it'd bearaveta ice cream. Korean is going to be a little
bit different. Whereas in North Korea, they avoidWestern words altogether. So elevator is
something that translates like up-down machine.Okay. Love this. I will never not call an elevator
(32:20):
the up-down machine. You're welcome. But eitherway, there's little things like that where they
have to remember to say the right word or it's goingto be a dead giveaway. Okay. Just like if somebody
came up to you and said, hey, where's the up-downmachine? You would kind of look at them like
they've got an eye in the middle of their foreheador be like, oh, actually, I remember this episode
(32:41):
of Unhid's History. So you're looking for theelevator right this way, you infiltrator. Yeah, I
was just going I'm not thinking the elevators overhere. I'm thinking, what are you doing? Yeah. What
are you doing, Bob? Okay. Now, we have to rememberthis is in the middle of winter in Korea. And I did a
quick Google search. I was like, what was theweather like on January 17th, 1966? And they're
(33:07):
like, well, it was probably within a high of 22, alow of 11 Fahrenheit. Okay. It's a mittens. It's
hazy and lightly snowing, probably. Okay. So wedon't have exact numbers, but it's within the
normal South Korean, North Korean winter.Miserable is what I'm hearing. It's snowing.
(33:32):
Yeah. Or cold enough to be snowing. Yeah. Yeah.Okay. It freezing well below freezing. And that's
the high. So their bookers are frozen. And Unit 124hoped to reach Seoul unnoticed. And they're going
through these sparsely populated forests onMount Bakan. I said that wrong. Bakan, anyhow, I
(33:58):
butchered it. My apologies. Now, on January 19th,around 2 p.m., they encounter a group of four
woodcutters that are brothers. And they're all intheir 20s. Okay. I can't see this going well. Now,
their instructions are to kill witnesses likethis on the spot. The four woodcutting brothers
(34:21):
sounds like some of you actually don't want to comeup against. But there's 31 of them, 31 to four.
Okay. You've got more weapons than blades. I'mglad that they have blades. Are there bears in
Korea? Probably. So I'm thinking. There's nobears in the story, though. Oh, okay. Now, these
(34:47):
commandos, they're a little idealistic. Right?They were recruited because they wanted to be.
Now, they're believed that they are fighting onbehalf of the South Koreans. Like, this is the
common man. We are fighting for the common man. Ifwe win and we reunify our country, then this is our
(35:08):
brother. Okay. But we're also told to killwitnesses. So there's a little bit of tension
here. Now, they end up deliberating and they eventake a vote and they decide to set the woodcutters
free. I love this to them. Okay. But they decide tolecture them first on the benefits of communism
(35:29):
because if we win, we want you to understand whywe're doing this. We're doing this for you. You
will be grateful for this. Okay. Got it. Now,they're warned that they're going to be killed
along with their families if they report withDesi. But you've gotten the ID, the craft course in
why we're doing what we're doing and we're doing itfor you and we're going to kill you and your family
(35:52):
if you step out of line. So don't. Because we reallywant to. Right. This would hurt me more than it
would hurt you. That's what I was just thinking.Okay. Because you'll be dead. Right. And we'll
live with this pain for the rest of our lives. Yeah.Got it. Now, after the release of the woodcutters,
(36:12):
rush to the police stations and report a largegroup of armed North Koreans within the vicinity
of Seoul. Okay. Because they're probably 30 milesfrom Seoul at this point. Okay. Now, the
woodcutters tale is met with suspicion and theforces aren't really put on high alert. Seems like
(36:35):
a terrible move on their part. To be fair, a coupleof young men rush into your backwood police
station and say that there's a group of commandos.They've got no mention. Like they have no evidence
that this happened. It's just, hey, thishappened. And for all you know, these woodcutters
(36:57):
are rabble rousers. I don't know anything aboutthese people. So you might have. My curiosity
would want to see the commandos. But if they can'tprove, it's like Pixar didn't happen. Okay. And
they didn't kill you. They lectured you on thebenefits of communism. All right. Put down the
bottle. Smoking out there. Yeah. So that's kind ofwhat it sounds like. Right. Now, they do pass the
(37:25):
information on. They're like, okay, but they doshare it. Now, the concept of a large group of
commandos clad in rock army uniforms, wanderingnear Seoul, isn't considerably out of the
question. Now, one of the woodcutters, I think itwas a woodcutter, said one of the insignia on the
rock uniforms was upside down, which seemed to bekind of a, this may not be one of our guys. Yeah.
(37:51):
Yeah. Maybe we understand which way the patchgoes. It's up. Yeah. So meanwhile, the commandos
continue advancing towards Seoul. They'resleeping during the day. They're marching at
night. They're doing their best remain hidden.They're marching in winter. In Korea, where it's
(38:13):
Harry and all of their here, because you can'texactly stop by Costco, pick up brashens. Right.
That's unfortunate. Now, occasionally, theyencounter police and military personnel as they
approach Seoul, but nobody shows much interest inwhat they see as a small rock military unit. Okay.
(38:35):
So they're blending in. They look the part. Eventhough they're insignia is upside down. Not
everybody seems to have caught that. Honestly, aquick Google search could have told them. Right.
Yeah. In 66, of course. Now, it's January 21st. Sothey've been in the country five days. Okay. It's
(38:55):
950 PM. Unit 124 is roughly 300 meters from the backentrance of the Blue House, which is their whole
goal. They're within spitting distance of thegoal. Right. Now, South Korean soldiers are
stopped at a small police post at the last moment.Now, there's two policemen at this checkpoint,
(39:19):
and they're kind of demand not kind of they'redemanding to see the documents that they would let
them in. Give me the right paperwork. Now, NorthKoreans insist that their counterintelligence
command on the way back from training. And thepolice are like, you seem to talk a little weird.
(39:39):
Strange. We don't have any up-down machines.Where's your ice cream? Yeah. Yeah, we don't have
frozen sweet treats. What sweet treats? Now, thepolicemen see that there's some some of the
soldiers clearly have hidden weapons on them thatthey're not supposed to have. And they begin to
(39:59):
suspect that this might be the reportedinfiltrators from the North. And so then our
Woodcutter friends told us about four days ago.Right. Yeah. There's there was a memo that came
through. This is an email. Yeah. Now, they start anargument with them, and they're hoping to use this
argument to buy some time. Now, always works. Ithink it was in the podcast I listened to. They said
(40:23):
something brilliant. And the Lions led by Donkeyspodcast, which the podcast is ran by veterans.
They note that the rock president came to powerusing a military coup. So he didn't want military
near him. He wanted his own police force.Reasonable. Because you ain't going to take me out
the same way I came to power. Okay. So these uniformmen at 10 o'clock at night are in the wrong spot. Oh,
(40:51):
that's unfortunate. Now, quote, he was sick. Isthat wrong? He is the head of the Chungro police
station. And he's passing the post in his car and hecame over to see what this commotion is about.
Because he can see that there is this group of 31commandos and two police officers having an
(41:12):
argument. Okay. The visual is brilliant. I justneed you to know it gets better. Oh, thank God. I'm
so excited because the rock is rocking right now.Yep. With his K-pop friends behind them. They're
aware of the presence of North Koreans. And hemakes it clear that they're not going to be allowed
through without the proper paperwork. You need toget the right stuff in order. We're not letting you
(41:38):
through 10 o'clock at night or go to bed. Yeah. Oneof the commandos pulled out a gun and shot Khlo,
mortally wounding him. Oh, no. So this starts afirefight. Now, the North Koreans are determined
to pass through. Like they are so 300 meters. Theycan see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it
(42:06):
starts to appear that this is doomed. Becauseagain, there was like three cops versus 31. This
seemed and now 31 versus two. So this seemed likethe odds were in their favor. But then the
reinforcements start to arrive. Oh, dear. Nowimagine you have reinforcements. So you have
(42:26):
people showing up in military uniforms. SouthKorean military uniforms. The insignia is on
right. Okay. You're not going to be looking atinsignia when you're holding a semi-automatic
rifle. Yeah, I guess that's true. So the commandosnotice a few buses that start to approach. And with
(42:47):
the like, because this is just a fully operationalcity. So one of them takes a grenade and throws it
because he thinks that this bus is full ofreinforcements. Oh, it's not. It's full of normal
people, isn't it? It is. And so it's a regular citybus. And so this kills two passengers, wounds the
driver, and the conductor. But in this like crazy,I don't know who's who because everyone's wearing
(43:16):
the same uniform. And we've all gotsemi-automatic weapons. You're just blindly
spraying and praying. It is the wider man meme.Everybody, yeah, everybody pointing at
everybody and we're all with the same. Yeah. Gotit. Now unit 124, they begin this hasty retreat and
they're spraying ammunition. And it's justhitting everybody willy-nilly. Now, Rock Force
(43:43):
has been the next few days hunting down thedispersed commandos on their way back towards the
DMV because they didn't get it. So they're tryingto get back home. Right. This seems reasonable.
Yeah. Nearly all of them fought to the death andwere taken out one by one. Wow. Okay. Because
ideology. I mean, you're going to go out eitherway. Like you don't assume that they're going to
(44:06):
let you live. So you're right. Yeah, you're righton your terms. Yeah. So of the 31 original members,
27 are killed near the initial confrontation or inthe ensuing pursuit. One is taken prisoner before
taking his own life, as North Korean forcesusually do. Because you and I both know we study at
(44:31):
Korea. No, we don't. But apparently this wasperuse. I mean, that actually checks when you
think about this globally. Yeah. How many? Yeah.Okay. One commando is captured alive. Kim
Shin-Jo. He's 26 years old and was tasked withkilling everybody on the ground floor of the Blue
(44:53):
House. Oh, okay. Like they were going to wipe outthe government. I feel like they could have done
this an easier way. I feel like they came reallyclose to doing it regardless. No, I think you're
right. Yeah. I'm not arguing. I just feel like ifyou're, if the goal is to remove everybody, why
(45:16):
send in, why send in a hand team when you can, I don'tknow, send in a plane? But if you cut the head off the
government, now you have more ability to send inthe plane. Yeah, I guess that's true. This was a
special strike. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Anyhow, heends up spending some time in prison. He serves his
(45:40):
time. He gets out. He becomes a Christian pastor.Wild. I did not see that being a segue. Okay. And he
resides in Seoul under a different name. Hechanges his name when he gets out, becomes a
pastor. Literally had to come to Jesus moment.Yeah. And just does his bits, right? There's
(46:04):
another survivor, Park Jae-young. He manages toget back home, crosses the DMZ back into North
Korea and receives a Hero's Welcome. He failed,but he made it home. Okay. So, I mean, I'm imagining
that's anywhere from 30 to 35 miles, dependingupon, you know, what area he does it in the dark at
(46:24):
night, freezing cold and then goes back home.Like, right, you know, I run six miles and act like I
deserve a Hero's Welcome. I don't run any miles andI act like I deserve a Hero's Welcome. But anyhow,
so yeah. Yeah. Like, so this guy like fears badass.He becomes eventually because of four star
(46:48):
general in North Korea and visits Seoul twice inthe early 2000s in this capacity. Okay. So, it goes
back to the scene of the crime. Twice. Yeah.Bullsie. Now, the fate of the last one of the member
of this enclave, he's unknown. It's rumored thathe managed to make it back to the North and serve in
(47:12):
the military. He doesn't reach the same level ofcareer success as Puck. But I mean, I'm still just
like, honestly, didn't see one getting back home,let alone two. Honestly, didn't see one becoming a
pastor, let alone any of them getting back home.So, that was a surprise. Right. So, yeah, North
(47:33):
Korea officially denies any and allresponsibility of this. Okay. Which, yeah, I'd
part for the course. According to the propagandathat they give out both domestic and overseas,
they're like, well, the operation was organizedby a by daring local resistance forces wasn't us,
but we support their efforts because that'sbadass. It's daring. Like, yeah, good for you.
(47:57):
Now, behind closed doors. Yeah, you know, they'rekind of over it. Like, so they end up talking to Lee
Hu, Hu Rock, who's the head of the K CIA, which is theKorean Central Intelligence. Okay. So, and Kim
Il-sung expresses his regret for the incident.It's just an incident. Okay. You know, like, I
(48:21):
might sneeze and pee my pants and call it anincident. He sends 31 special forces. Yeah. To go
and it's just an incident. So, apparently, onceyou hit a certain level, the word incident means
wildly different things. Yeah, it does. Now, heclaims rather implausibly that the attack was the
(48:45):
responsibility of some unspecified extremeleftists. Okay. Now, this regret is ultimately
timely because they're trying to improverelations with Seoul. Oh, okay. And they're like,
you know, we were caught. Boy, you know what? We'renot not our bad specifically, but we're sorry you
(49:11):
feel that way. It's really unfortunate. I'msorry. We're trying to improve our relationships
with you. Like, just when you come to tea, it's likewhen siblings fight. Don't tell mom. Yeah, I'm
sorry you feel like that. Oh my God, are you okay?Quit crying. Quit crying. Mom is here. It will
(49:34):
definitely be my fault this time. But that is theBlue House incident. I don't know what to make of
that. I was going to say that was delightful. But Ifeel like for the people on the bus, it wasn't. No.
Wild. I'll go with wild. That was wild. That storywas suggested by listener Ryan, who said that it
(50:01):
was a delightful romp and it will segue nicely intonext week's story. Love that. Which was not
suggested by him, but damn well should have beenbecause they're buddies. There is a part two and it
is one of those like, I'm sorry. What? Could you saythat again real quick? I just didn't catch it. Oh,
(50:26):
that was fun. Okay. I gotta tell you, I'm a big fan ofCommando stories, period. Like, yeah, big fan.
Yeah. Thank you for that. My absolute pleasure.And if you're thinking, what in the hell are they
going to tell us next week? We don't know.Actually, I think we both know what we're going to
(50:49):
do next week, even though we haven't told the otherone. But raise review, subscribe, send this to 416 00:50:55,930 --> your favorite would be a great Commando. And on that, love it. Goodbye. Bye.
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