25 Unbelievable Facts About World War II

PocketEpiphany Published 03/31/2022 in wtf

Each generation experiences new books, movies, games, and TV shows focusing on World War 2. You'd think most people would know everything about that war by now.

However, some of the coolest WW2 facts are virtually secrets. Read on to learn the most unbelievable World War 2 facts!

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1. The Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, one of the units in the Battle of Stalingrad, suffered 30% killed in the first day of fighting. Just 320 of the original 10,000 soldiers survived the entire battle.-u/409Narwhal
2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on a work trip to Hiroshima when the atom bomb went off. He then returned to his job/home in Nagasaki and was describing the blast to his unbelieving boss when the Nagasaki bomb went off. He survived both atom bombings.-u/LordBaranof
3. Only about 4% of Londoners used the Tube stations for bomb shelters in the Blitz. About 40% used Anderson shelters under their back gardens or cage-like shelters in their homes. The rest stayed in their usual bedrooms and hoped for the best.-u/ThisQuietLife
4. Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier who fought in the Japanese, Soviet, and Nazi Germany armies. He was caught by US Forces in France.-u/HighFiveKoala
5. My grandma is now almost 99, and what baffles me is when she talks about how during the war she felt like she was living in a women-only country. Talks about how she’d go days or longer without encountering a single man, and her and her girlfriends got to use their boyfriends' cool nice cars every day to go out and have fun together while their boyfriends were all away at war.-u/janet-snake-hole
6. 80% of Russian men born in 1923 did not live to see the end of WWII. About 40% died during the war, the rest died before it due to infant mortality and starvation-u/Mr_Engineering
7. The United States produced 150% more planes in 1944 alone than Japan did in the whole war.-u/sonofabutch
8. Operation Cottage: on August 15, 1943, Canadian and US troops decided to attack Japanese troops from opposite sides of the island. But they didn’t know that the Japanese army left the island 2 weeks prior. Canadian and US troops mistook each other for Japanese and started shooting. Friendly fire resulted in 28 Americans and 4 Canadians killed. Total of 313 casualties while there was no enemy.-u/028lucky
9. Joseph Kennedy, Jr, the eldest brother of President John Kennedy was killed in WW2 as part of Operation Aphrodite. Operation Aphrodite involved flying unmanned bombers into targets. Kennedy was killed after arming the explosives in an unmanned bomber but before the crew bailed out.Joe Kennedy, Jr died working on the precursor to the modern-day drone.-u/slider728
10. Winston Churchill had an oxygen mask for flying in airplanes specially made for him that would allow him to smoke cigars while he had the mask on.-u/ProbablyaDrugDealer
11. There's a tree (i think it is about 500yrs old but can't remember) that survived the bombing of Hiroshima. It still stands in the city.-u/Great-Unit9197
12. More US soldiers died in WWII in accidents (automobile/plane crashes, fires, falls, etc) than combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War.-u/doctor-rumack
13. There was no coffee in major German cities for much of WWII because of supply lines being disrupted. But they made up for the lack of coffee by switching to meth-filled chocolate.-u/didnsignup4dis
14. When in retreat, the Nazis would boobytrap pictures on the walls and leave them slightly crooked. They did this to entice officers to straighten them and set off an explosion.-u/oilfeather
15. Poland had a f*cking bear on its side-u/Pretend-Pea5182
16. In the African theater of war; both sides used fake tanks. Some were made of wood. They were used to seem much bigger than the opposing force. In some cases, they put up silhouettes in places to appear as they were there, but they were miles away.-u/Jhaj1087
17. The only two countries from Latin America to officially send troops overseas to fight were Mexico and Brazil. Mexico sent a squadron of pilots who distinguished themselves in the Philippines in particular, whilst Brazil sent 25,000 troops to Europe who fought in Italy.In northern Italy, the Brazilians were ordered to advance towards a German-held town, supported by an American force and Italian partisans.

They took the town in the Battle of Collecchio, and then took the initiative to rapidly advance north and cut off a German infantry division. The Germans were using this area as a rallying point to stage a fighting withdrawal back to Italy, but the Brazilians killed or captured them all instead - within three days they’d killed 500, captured 15,000 (including two Generals) and taken 1500 vehicles and 80 guns. The idea of a fighting withdrawal was perhaps slightly fanciful, and the town held little strategic value, but nevertheless, the battle contributed to the remainder of the German Army in Italy surrendering just four days later.

Many thousands of other Latin Americans fought under Allied flags as well, and several countries participated in the Battles of the Atlantic and South Pacific. In fact, the smallest ever ship to sink a U-Boat was called CS13, an 83-foot patrol boat that sank U176 in May 1943. It was operated by the Cuban Navy.-u/seefroo
18. Near Paris, pilot Bill Overstreet and his squad were on an escort mission when they were attacked, leading to him being engaged with a German fighter pilot in a dogfight when the German tried to lose Overstreet by flying over Paris where the Nazis had anti-aircraft he thought would take him out.

Overstreet kept chasing him when the German tried to lose him by trying a crazy move by flying under the Eiffel Tower, which Overstreet also did like a goddamn lunatic, so there he is facing ground fire from soldiers and flak cannons and Overstreet still shot him down and managed to escape.

Possibly the only two fighter pilots in the world to fly through the Eiffel Tower during combat WWII fighter pilots in general from all counties were basically crazy as hell, they had none of the instruments pilots have now and were basically flying with only their eyes and basic radar, took a special kind of guy to step up to that challenge that’s why enemy fighter pilots had weird begrudging respect for each other even as they were trying to kill one another in the air-u/santichrist
19. A Finnish soldier took a whole bottle of Pervitin and skied 400km in a matter of days. He was high for 14 days.-u/stargill70
20. There was a Polish priest named Max Kolbe. He ran one of the biggest churches/monasteries in the world at the time. When the catholic church entered into a compact with Nazi Germany, he protested and turned his church into a haven for Jews, gays and slavs. This worked well until Germany took over Poland. Then, he was sent to Auschwitz. While there he would take other people's punishments and eventually took the death penalty on someone else's behalf as well. What did the catholic church do? They made him a saint.-u/haroldtitus425
21. FDR didn't really care who his Vice President was during his last term even though he was practically already dying. Party officials picked Harry Truman and FDR almost never included him in any decision-making even after they were elected. When FDR died a couple of months into their term, Truman wasn't really in the loop on what exactly was happening with the executive branch and ending WWII. A couple of months later he dropped the atomic bombs on Japan.-u/ProbablyaDrugDealer
22. Coco Chanel was an avid Nazi supporter-u/honfanatic94
23. The British had a rudimentary radar that allowed them to shoot down planes at night. To hide the fact that the technology existed, they put out propaganda that gunners eating carrots helped their eyesight to account for accuracy at night.Eating carrots does not improve your eyesight.-u/centstwo
24. The whole story of Ted Roosevelt Jr. He was a bazillionaire titan of industry and gave it up to serve in WWII. He was the deputy commander of the fabled First Infantry Division under Gen. Terrance Allen (who had famously been shot through the face in WWI.) Roosevelt led forces through North Africa and Sicily where he got on Patton’s sh*t list (some for good reason, some not) and wound up out of the war.

He was so determined to get back into the war he wound up leading soldiers in the first wave of landings at Normandy at Utah Beach and was the only general to do so. After that, he was awarded a second star, a Medal of Honor and command of an infantry division, but he never got to see any of that because he dropped dead of a heart attack in Cherbourg-u/Thirty_Helens_Agree
25. Hiroo Onoda, the last Imperial Japanese soldier to surrender. Survived 29 years in isolation in the Philippines.The dude didn’t know that the war was over. Wouldn’t believe what the allies were telling him and his command when they dropped leaflets, telling him to surrender and that the war was over.-u/WalterTangoFoxtrot

1. The Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, one of the units in the Battle of Stalingrad, suffered 30% killed in the first day of fighting. Just 320 of the original 10,000 soldiers survived the entire battle.-u/409Narwhal
2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on a work trip to Hiroshima when the atom bomb went off. He then returned to his job/home in Nagasaki and was describing the blast to his unbelieving boss when the Nagasaki bomb went off. He survived both atom bombings.-u/LordBaranof
3. Only about 4% of Londoners used the Tube stations for bomb shelters in the Blitz. About 40% used Anderson shelters under their back gardens or cage-like shelters in their homes. The rest stayed in their usual bedrooms and hoped for the best.-u/ThisQuietLife
4. Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier who fought in the Japanese, Soviet, and Nazi Germany armies. He was caught by US Forces in France.-u/HighFiveKoala
5. My grandma is now almost 99, and what baffles me is when she talks about how during the war she felt like she was living in a women-only country. Talks about how she’d go days or longer without encountering a single man, and her and her girlfriends got to use their boyfriends' cool nice cars every day to go out and have fun together while their boyfriends were all away at war.-u/janet-snake-hole
6. 80% of Russian men born in 1923 did not live to see the end of WWII. About 40% died during the war, the rest died before it due to infant mortality and starvation-u/Mr_Engineering
7. The United States produced 150% more planes in 1944 alone than Japan did in the whole war.-u/sonofabutch
8. Operation Cottage: on August 15, 1943, Canadian and US troops decided to attack Japanese troops from opposite sides of the island. But they didn’t know that the Japanese army left the island 2 weeks prior. Canadian and US troops mistook each other for Japanese and started shooting. Friendly fire resulted in 28 Americans and 4 Canadians killed. Total of 313 casualties while there was no enemy.-u/028lucky
9. Joseph Kennedy, Jr, the eldest brother of President John Kennedy was killed in WW2 as part of Operation Aphrodite. Operation Aphrodite involved flying unmanned bombers into targets. Kennedy was killed after arming the explosives in an unmanned bomber but before the crew bailed out.Joe Kennedy, Jr died working on the precursor to the modern-day drone.-u/slider728
10. Winston Churchill had an oxygen mask for flying in airplanes specially made for him that would allow him to smoke cigars while he had the mask on.-u/ProbablyaDrugDealer
11. There's a tree (i think it is about 500yrs old but can't remember) that survived the bombing of Hiroshima. It still stands in the city.-u/Great-Unit9197
12. More US soldiers died in WWII in accidents (automobile/plane crashes, fires, falls, etc) than combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War.-u/doctor-rumack
13. There was no coffee in major German cities for much of WWII because of supply lines being disrupted. But they made up for the lack of coffee by switching to meth-filled chocolate.-u/didnsignup4dis
14. When in retreat, the Nazis would boobytrap pictures on the walls and leave them slightly crooked. They did this to entice officers to straighten them and set off an explosion.-u/oilfeather
15. Poland had a f*cking bear on its side-u/Pretend-Pea5182
16. In the African theater of war; both sides used fake tanks. Some were made of wood. They were used to seem much bigger than the opposing force. In some cases, they put up silhouettes in places to appear as they were there, but they were miles away.-u/Jhaj1087
17. The only two countries from Latin America to officially send troops overseas to fight were Mexico and Brazil. Mexico sent a squadron of pilots who distinguished themselves in the Philippines in particular, whilst Brazil sent 25,000 troops to Europe who fought in Italy.In northern Italy, the Brazilians were ordered to advance towards a German-held town, supported by an American force and Italian partisans.

They took the town in the Battle of Collecchio, and then took the initiative to rapidly advance north and cut off a German infantry division. The Germans were using this area as a rallying point to stage a fighting withdrawal back to Italy, but the Brazilians killed or captured them all instead - within three days they’d killed 500, captured 15,000 (including two Generals) and taken 1500 vehicles and 80 guns. The idea of a fighting withdrawal was perhaps slightly fanciful, and the town held little strategic value, but nevertheless, the battle contributed to the remainder of the German Army in Italy surrendering just four days later.

Many thousands of other Latin Americans fought under Allied flags as well, and several countries participated in the Battles of the Atlantic and South Pacific. In fact, the smallest ever ship to sink a U-Boat was called CS13, an 83-foot patrol boat that sank U176 in May 1943. It was operated by the Cuban Navy.-u/seefroo
18. Near Paris, pilot Bill Overstreet and his squad were on an escort mission when they were attacked, leading to him being engaged with a German fighter pilot in a dogfight when the German tried to lose Overstreet by flying over Paris where the Nazis had anti-aircraft he thought would take him out.

Overstreet kept chasing him when the German tried to lose him by trying a crazy move by flying under the Eiffel Tower, which Overstreet also did like a goddamn lunatic, so there he is facing ground fire from soldiers and flak cannons and Overstreet still shot him down and managed to escape.

Possibly the only two fighter pilots in the world to fly through the Eiffel Tower during combat WWII fighter pilots in general from all counties were basically crazy as hell, they had none of the instruments pilots have now and were basically flying with only their eyes and basic radar, took a special kind of guy to step up to that challenge that’s why enemy fighter pilots had weird begrudging respect for each other even as they were trying to kill one another in the air-u/santichrist
19. A Finnish soldier took a whole bottle of Pervitin and skied 400km in a matter of days. He was high for 14 days.-u/stargill70
20. There was a Polish priest named Max Kolbe. He ran one of the biggest churches/monasteries in the world at the time. When the catholic church entered into a compact with Nazi Germany, he protested and turned his church into a haven for Jews, gays and slavs. This worked well until Germany took over Poland. Then, he was sent to Auschwitz. While there he would take other people's punishments and eventually took the death penalty on someone else's behalf as well. What did the catholic church do? They made him a saint.-u/haroldtitus425
21. FDR didn't really care who his Vice President was during his last term even though he was practically already dying. Party officials picked Harry Truman and FDR almost never included him in any decision-making even after they were elected. When FDR died a couple of months into their term, Truman wasn't really in the loop on what exactly was happening with the executive branch and ending WWII. A couple of months later he dropped the atomic bombs on Japan.-u/ProbablyaDrugDealer
22. Coco Chanel was an avid Nazi supporter-u/honfanatic94
23. The British had a rudimentary radar that allowed them to shoot down planes at night. To hide the fact that the technology existed, they put out propaganda that gunners eating carrots helped their eyesight to account for accuracy at night.Eating carrots does not improve your eyesight.-u/centstwo
24. The whole story of Ted Roosevelt Jr. He was a bazillionaire titan of industry and gave it up to serve in WWII. He was the deputy commander of the fabled First Infantry Division under Gen. Terrance Allen (who had famously been shot through the face in WWI.) Roosevelt led forces through North Africa and Sicily where he got on Patton’s sh*t list (some for good reason, some not) and wound up out of the war.

He was so determined to get back into the war he wound up leading soldiers in the first wave of landings at Normandy at Utah Beach and was the only general to do so. After that, he was awarded a second star, a Medal of Honor and command of an infantry division, but he never got to see any of that because he dropped dead of a heart attack in Cherbourg-u/Thirty_Helens_Agree
25. Hiroo Onoda, the last Imperial Japanese soldier to surrender. Survived 29 years in isolation in the Philippines.The dude didn’t know that the war was over. Wouldn’t believe what the allies were telling him and his command when they dropped leaflets, telling him to surrender and that the war was over.-u/WalterTangoFoxtrot

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The Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, one of the units in the Battle of Stalingrad, suffered 30% killed in the first day of fighting. Just 320 of the original 10,000 soldiers survived the entire battle.-u/409Narwhal

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25 Unbelievable Facts About World War II

1. The Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, one of the units in the Battle of Stalingrad, suffered 30% killed in the first day of fighting. Just 320 of the original 10,000 soldiers survived the entire battle.-u/409Narwhal

2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on a work trip to Hiroshima when the atom bomb went off. He then returned to his job/home in Nagasaki and was describing the blast to his unbelieving boss when the Nagasaki bomb went off. He survived both atom bombings.-u/LordBaranof

3. Only about 4% of Londoners used the Tube stations for bomb shelters in the Blitz. About 40% used Anderson shelters under their back gardens or cage-like shelters in their homes. The rest stayed in their usual bedrooms and hoped for the best.-u/ThisQuietLife

4. Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier who fought in the Japanese, Soviet, and Nazi Germany armies. He was caught by US Forces in France.-u/HighFiveKoala

6. 80% of Russian men born in 1923 did not live to see the end of WWII. About 40% died during the war, the rest died before it due to infant mortality and starvation-u/Mr_Engineering

7. The United States produced 150% more planes in 1944 alone than Japan did in the whole war.-u/sonofabutch

10. Winston Churchill had an oxygen mask for flying in airplanes specially made for him that would allow him to smoke cigars while he had the mask on.-u/ProbablyaDrugDealer

11. There's a tree (i think it is about 500yrs old but can't remember) that survived the bombing of Hiroshima. It still stands in the city.-u/Great-Unit9197

12. More US soldiers died in WWII in accidents (automobile/plane crashes, fires, falls, etc) than combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War.-u/doctor-rumack

13. There was no coffee in major German cities for much of WWII because of supply lines being disrupted. But they made up for the lack of coffee by switching to meth-filled chocolate.-u/didnsignup4dis

14. When in retreat, the Nazis would boobytrap pictures on the walls and leave them slightly crooked. They did this to entice officers to straighten them and set off an explosion.-u/oilfeather

15. Poland had a f*cking bear on its side-u/Pretend-Pea5182

16. In the African theater of war; both sides used fake tanks. Some were made of wood. They were used to seem much bigger than the opposing force. In some cases, they put up silhouettes in places to appear as they were there, but they were miles away.-u/Jhaj1087

19. A Finnish soldier took a whole bottle of Pervitin and skied 400km in a matter of days. He was high for 14 days.-u/stargill70

22. Coco Chanel was an avid Nazi supporter-u/honfanatic94

23. The British had a rudimentary radar that allowed them to shoot down planes at night. To hide the fact that the technology existed, they put out propaganda that gunners eating carrots helped their eyesight to account for accuracy at night.Eating carrots does not improve your eyesight.-u/centstwo

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