1Japanese American Internment
During World War 2, over 120,000 Japanese Americans were held in concentration camps around America, most without any reason except for their race. It wasn’t publicly acknowledged as a human rights violation by the US government until four decades later.
2. The Death Match was a historic World War 2 football match between the occupying German forces, Falkelf, and a team of Ukrainian locals. It was intended to showcase the German sporting superiority, but they lost 5-3, not realizing that the opposing team members were former Dynamo Kiev players.
3. During World War 2, an inexperienced German aircrew read their compass upside down and unwittingly landed in RAF Woodbridge. The plane gave the allies invaluable info about the German radar system.
4. Mariya Tsukanova was a Soviet medic during World War 2. She saved dozens of lives, and took up a machine gun, and fired it until she lost consciousness from injuries. Being outnumbered, she was brutally tortured and executed by the Japanese. She was named “Hero of the Soviet Union” posthumously.
5. During World War 2, American pilots flew P-51 Mustangs in very long-range missions operating from the island of Iwo Jima. These 7+ hour missions involved flying 3 hours across the open Pacific to targets in Japan and then 3+ hours return flight. Threats included bad weather, flak, enemy planes, etc.
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Hitler's Sleep
Some of the important decisions for Germany during World War 2 could not be made because Hitler was sleeping (and he liked to sleep up until noon). On D-Day invasion, the German officers couldn't get further command from Hitler, because of strict orders not to wake him up for any reason.
7. When German intelligence discovered the phrase “Kilroy was here” during World War 2, Hitler believed Kilroy was the name of a high-level Allied spy.
8. The autistic spectrum and the distinction between “high functioning” and “low functioning” autism were discovered by Hans Asperger in an attempt to save children in his clinic from the Gestapo during World War 2, who killed disabled children in preparation for the Holocaust.
9. Over 800,000 women served in the Red Army during World War 2, a significant portion of whom did so in combat roles. There were female snipers, machine-gunners, anti-air gunners, tank crews, and even pilots, with some bomber regiments being made up entirely of women, including the ground crews.
10. Winston Churchill got Iran to change its name to Persia, to avoid confusion with Iraq during World War 2.
11Karabiner 98k Rifles
Nazis left behind so many of their Karabiner 98k rifles at the end of World War 2 that they ended up being used for the rest of the 20th century all over the world, and some were even used in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
12. During World War 2, when the allies lost the battles of the Java Sea and the Sunda strait, HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen evaded Japanese aircrafts by camouflaging itself with jungle foliage giving it the appearance of a small island. It was the only one of three ships to escape Java.
13. “The Momsen Lung” was a device that was invented during World War 2 to escape from submarines that sank over the depth of 100ft. It recycled oxygen in your breath while filtering C02. It was used only once, in 1944, by 9 members of the USS Tang after it torpedoed itself and sank in 180 feet of water.
14. Agatha Christie wrote a novel in 1941 about World War 2 code breaking featuring a character named Major Bletchley. She was investigated by MI5 due to this name, but it turned out that the name she chose was entirely coincidental and unrelated to the then-secret code-breaking facility in Bletchley Park.
15. During World War 2, 18 American shipyards produced 2710 Liberty ships (a type of cargo ship). This was at a rate of 3 ships every 2 days. Each ship took an average of just 42 days to complete.
16Victory Speed Limit
During World War 2, the USA implemented a nationwide “Victory Speed Limit” of 35 mph to conserve gasoline and rubber for the war effort.
17. During World War 2, morale among the British Army (in desert campaigns) was directly proportional to the supply of tea that they had. This was due to them brewing it all the time in order to drink the foul-tasting water they were supplied with, as it came from fuel cans.
18. During World War 2, an edible explosive was created under the code name “Aunt Jemima.” It was a mixture of flour and the powdery explosive HMX. It could pass for flour and was even be used in cooking. It was smuggled by the Chinese guerrillas to bypass Japanese checkpoints.
19. After a Polish Admiral of German descent, Józef Unrug, was taken prisoner during World War 2, his former Imperial German Navy friends came to visit him. Unrug refused to speak German with them, saying that he had forgotten that language in September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland.
20. Although Japan was allied with Nazi Germany and Italy during World War 2, they secretly supported Poland, going as far as helping Poland evacuate a gold reserve from German-occupied territory and sheltering Polish Jews fleeing the occupation, even after Poland declared war on them in 1941.
21German Factories in USSR
To get around the Versailles Treaty restrictions, before World War 2 started, the Germans built their tanks in Stalingrad and aircraft factories near Moscow.
22. Bhagat Ram Talwar was an Indian spymaster who was codenamed “Silver.” He was essentially the only known example of a QUINTUPLE agent having spied for Germany, Italy, Japan, USSR, and Britain during World War 2.
23. During World War 2, American bomber “ye olde pub,” was nearly shot down. A German fighter gave chase and once in range, he noticed the dead and injured crew and the terror in the pilot’s face. He didn’t attack and escorted the plane. Both pilots survived the war and finally met in 1990.
24. Upon the archaeological discovery of Chechen-Soviet soldiers from World War 2 in Ukraine, archaeologists discovered letters addressed by them to their relatives, in Chechen towns which no longer exist. Further investigation revealed the Khaibakh massacre which was perpetrated by Soviet forces.
25. Toward the end of World War 2, when US Army Captain Moffatt Burriss along with two others were traveling in a Jeep, they accidentally stumbled upon a 15,000 strong German Panzer Corps outside of Berlin. He approached the enemy commander alone and tricked him into surrendering his army and being taken captive.
