25 Wild Facts About World War II

‘80 percent of Soviet Males born in 1923 did not survive WW2’
25 Wild Facts About World War II

“I’m learning about World War II from the internet” is a genuinely concerning phrase to hear these days. I promise you, however, that the following are refreshingly based on actual right-wing forum doing a bit of brainstorm(front)ing. These are actual facts that you can find on websites with zero ominous runes in their header image.

Though it was obviously an incredibly dark period in history, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t small, independent occurrences that beg further curiosity. Not necessarily overly morbid curiosity either. Just a genuine, quizzical “huh” at what some people got up to while the world was on fire. 

Here’s a collection of Redditors’ favorite interesting World War II facts for you to toss on top of the really sad ones…

. 3y ago . Edited Зу ago Fanta was invented by during WW2. Coca Cola stopped selling syrup to once the us declared war. Coca Cola used beet sugar, whey, and apple pomace (useless scraps at that time) to come up with a Coca Cola substitute and called it Fanta.
OP 12 3y ago Wilhelm Canaris, the head of Abwehr (German Military Intelligence), was so disgusted by what he saw in during the invasion of Poland that he started working against Hitler. Using his position in Abwehr he set up ways to smuggle Jews out of occupied areas, helped with attempted assassination attempts on Hitler and is believed to even have been ing on intel to the Allies. Не was eventually found out, arrested and executed.
choibz . 3y ago In much of the Pacific theatre, disease amongst soldiers claimed more lives than combat
usmusket 3y ago A Chemist in Denmark dissolved the gold Nobel Prize medals of two jewish German winners in aqua regia and hid them in plain sight so the nazis couldn't confiscate them. The gold was recovered after the war and the medals re-cast and returned.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_re gia
foodfighter 3y ago Apparently, 80% of Soviet Males born in 1923 did not survive WW2.
Attackcamel8432 3y ago After the dropping of the first nuclear bombs and the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, the Japanese high command made the decision to surrender. The night befor the emperor announced the surrender, there was an attempted coup to overthrow the military high command, and continue the war until the bitter end. Thankfully it failed.
edwincito76 . Зу ago Edited 3y ago the night before d-day airborne troops had dummies strapped with a parachute and a bomb so once they landed they would explode which would lure the germans away from the actual landing points so the paratroopers could land and sabotage their designated targets which helped turn the tide of the invasion
alltherobots 3y ago There was only one functional dry dock that could repair the largest German battleship, in St Nazaire (occupied) . The British commandos disguised a ship as a German vessel, rammed the dock, got out, shot up the facility and tried to flee. Most got captured and the Germans mocked the prisoners for thinking a tiny ship could damage the dry docks. Thats when the timed explosives on the ship went off, destroying the docks and killing all the Germans posing for photos on the captured vessel.
Gickle87 . 3y ago There are 2 John Deere tractors, built in America on the Japanese ship Fujikawa Maru when she was sunk in the central pacific in 1944. They are still there to this day and nobody knows how the Japanese got them.
Antscannabis . 3y ago That the United States military fought against s military in French North Africa.
WhitePhatAss . 3y ago There was a Japanese military soldier in woods in the Philippines who had kept working on surveillance for 30 years since the end of war without knowing Japan Empire surrendered.
SuperstitiousPigeon5 . 3y ago Operation Mincemeat. The British dressed a cadaver in a uniform. They drew up fake invasion plans put them on the body and dumped it off the coast in order to feed the Germans misinformation.
SYLOH 3y ago During the Battle of Normandy, the 101st Airborne captured a Korean working for the Nazis in . The Nazis had captured him from the Soviets and forced him to work on the Atlantic Wall. The Soviets had captured him from the Japanese and forced him into the Red Army. The Japanese had enslaved him in Korean and force him to work in Manchuria. Не was later sent the Britain and eventually emigrated to the US.
Shogun_2 . 3y ago That all Purple Hearts are from the same stock produced for the invasion of mainland Japan. Really puts into perspective how awful an invasion would've been for both sides.
Cyanora Зу ago That when the allies liberated Ustica, they didn't understand that not everyone there were political prisoners like liberals, elitists, 'undesirables' etc. They also liberated a whole bunch of organized crime leaders that Mussolini and Mori threw in there too. Part of why the Sicilian Mafia blew up in post-WWII time was because the Allies armed them and set them up as local strongmen.
Risethewake . 3y ago Hitler orchestrated the takeover of a German radio station, where German soldiers dressed up as Polish soldiers took over the radio station and broadcast anti-German propaganda to justify the declaration of war and eventual takeover of Poland.
_spookyvision_ . 3y ago Stuka dive bombers had to be modified because the G forces during the dive was causing pilots to black out. That, and the siren was driving them insane.
AirpOw Зу ago I talked to my great uncle who served and he talked about taking cities and streets back from the Germans. The Germans were set up at the end of a lot of these long narrow blocks with snipers and/or machine gun nests. So they would clear a building, then blast into the next place through the walls because going into the streets meant certain death. Every closet, cupboard etc was treated like there was a German potentially hiding there. Horrifying.
I10Living Зу ago The attack on Midway was guessed when they figured out the code word for the island and sent fake messages to prove it. Because we were prepared for midway, we likely changed the course of the entire pacific theater. Code breakers determined midway was referred to as AF. So an update was released that the water purification system on midway was down. Japanese messages then relayed water shortage on AF or something like that. Fascinating stuff.
the_Blind_Samurai 3y ago Edited Зу ago The Battle of Castle Itter is the only battle where the Nazis and the Allies fought together. Basically, a rouge Wehrmacht unit in Austria ed with the US Army to fight against an SS division. Major Josef Sepp Gangl, the Nazi commander who sided with the US, is ed today as a war hero.
CICERO Cicerobully Зу ago Edited Зу ago BULLY Wojtek was a bear who fought in the Polish 22 artillery company. Не was enlisted into the army officially so that the soldiers could bring him with to Italy where they were being deployed. Soldiers reported that he helped carry ammunition during the battle of Monte Cassino. For his efforts he was promoted to corporal. After the war he was given to the Edinburgh Zoo where he lived out the rest of his life. Here's the wiki link if you want to know more.
dungeonthatneverends a Зу ago There was an all female Russian bomber plain unit who had crappy old WW1 plains. They mastered stealth by flying up really high, turning off their engines, and coasting in silently and drifting under the radar to bomb their targets. The fear they struck in the hearts of German forces earned them the name the Night Witches.
imcoolmymomsaidso . 3y ago . Edited 3y ago General Patton orchestrated the transportation of Lipizzaner horses through Soviet and Nazi territory. This horse breed would have most likely become extinct if it weren't for his efforts.
JohnTheMod 3y ago Р-51 pilot William Overstreet chased an enemy combatant between the legs of the Eiffel Tower in a move that was so badass, the French Ambassador to the US gave him the Legion d'Honneur in 2009. Не also bailed out of a plane seconds before impact, kept his plane in the air while blacked out, and honed his skills flying loops around the Golden Gate Bridge. Man was a badass through and through.
. 3y ago Nobody knows exactly how many people died, historians estimate the number to be between 70-85 million. The war was so wide spread there was no way to get an accurate body count when all was said and done. To this day they are still finding the occasional body.

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