Some Obscurish facts
#1640
The smallest army on record was formed on New Year's Eve, 1914, and fell to the last man the following day. It consisted of a butcher and an ice cream vendor, possessed two rifles, and traveled on an ice cream cart. The two men were Gool Mahomet and Mullah Abdullah, both Turkish citizens residing in the little Australian mining town of Broken Hill. In October, 1914, the sultan of Turkey declared jihad (holy war) against the British Empire. The two lone Turks in Broken Hill didn't hear of this until New Year's Eve. They decided that the call to arms included them as well. They made a Turkish flag from a tablecloth, loaded Mahomet's one-horse cart with ammunition, and went to war next morning. Two miles out of town the two graybeards ambushed a local train carrying miners' families to a picnic. They opened fire, slaughtering eight children and two adults with their first salvo. Police and militia units rushed up and surrounded their stone barricade, marked with the Turkish flag. The two men rejected all calls to surrender and fought for six hours in the broiling sun, chanting patriotic songs until the heat dried out their throats. They kept firing until they were shot to ribbons. The brightly painted wheels of the ice cream cart, two rusty rifles, and the tablecloth flag are still on view at the New South Wales Police Museum--mementos of the undoubtedly craziest war ever fought.
The smallest army on record was formed on New Year's Eve, 1914, and fell to the last man the following day. It consisted of a butcher and an ice cream vendor, possessed two rifles, and traveled on an ice cream cart. The two men were Gool Mahomet and Mullah Abdullah, both Turkish citizens residing in the little Australian mining town of Broken Hill. In October, 1914, the sultan of Turkey declared jihad (holy war) against the British Empire. The two lone Turks in Broken Hill didn't hear of this until New Year's Eve. They decided that the call to arms included them as well. They made a Turkish flag from a tablecloth, loaded Mahomet's one-horse cart with ammunition, and went to war next morning. Two miles out of town the two graybeards ambushed a local train carrying miners' families to a picnic. They opened fire, slaughtering eight children and two adults with their first salvo. Police and militia units rushed up and surrounded their stone barricade, marked with the Turkish flag. The two men rejected all calls to surrender and fought for six hours in the broiling sun, chanting patriotic songs until the heat dried out their throats. They kept firing until they were shot to ribbons. The brightly painted wheels of the ice cream cart, two rusty rifles, and the tablecloth flag are still on view at the New South Wales Police Museum--mementos of the undoubtedly craziest war ever fought.