RIP Heinz Stahlschmidt

He was a German naval demolitions expert ordered to blow up the port of Bourdeaux in the closing days of World War II. Instead, he blew up the Germans. Germany declared him a traitor and struck his name from naval records. That didn't stop the French resistance from claiming credit for the attack, nor the French government from trying to execute him after the war for his service with the German navy.

"Despite it all, in the same circumstances I'd do it all over again," Mr. Stahlschmidt told Reuters. "But to some people, I'm still just a 'boche' [a derogatory term in French for Germans]."