When the Nazis Underestimated the One-Eyed Canadian

Leo Major, a one-eyed Canadian sniper, single-handedly liberated the Dutch city of Zwolle from German occupation on the night of April 13, 1945. After losing his best friend to machine gun fire, Major refused to turn back. Armed with two Sten guns and a sack of grenades, he walked alone into a city garrisoned by hundreds of German troops and spent six hours creating chaos — capturing soldiers, setting fire to the Gestapo headquarters, storming the SS headquarters, and convincing the entire garrison that a massive Canadian assault was underway. By morning, the Germans had fled and 50,000 Dutch civilians were free without a single civilian casualty. Leo Major lost his left eye to a phosphorus grenade on D-Day at Juno Beach but refused to leave the front lines. During the Battle of the Scheldt he captured 93 German prisoners alone. He survived a landmine that broke his back in three places, escaped the hospital, and returned to fight. He remains the only Canadian soldier to receive the Distinguished Conduct Medal in two separate wars — World War II and the Korean War. The city of Zwolle named a street after him and made him an honorary citizen in 2005. The true details of this engagement vary between sources and some elements remain debated by historians. We took the liberty of trying to recreate it as best we could.