Amazing WW2 Facts...

[unmerged(21278)]

http://www.5ad.org/AmazingFacts.htm

I found this one amazing....

17. Among the first “Germans” captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army.

Some more facts;

"The strategy behind 'fall Gelb' was to rush through the Netherlands and Belgium to attack France and by doing so avoid having to fight mobilized armies. The Belgian fort of Eben-Emael was an obstacle in this plan. The fort was build after WWI and was one of the strongest in the world and was regarded as impenetrable. When the Germans attacked it took them just one day to force the defenders to capitulate and suffer only 6 dead and 18 injured. The Germans landed on the roof of the fort with gliders and used hollow charges to destroy the gun turrets. The interesting thing about it is that only weeks (I'm doing this from memory) before the attack there were trees on the roof, making a landing with gliders impossible. The trees were cut down in order to make place for a soccer pitch to entertain the garrison. Or how soccer caused the strongest fort of Belgium (wikipedia says of the world) to fall in just one day."

 

[Thistletooth]

17. Among the first “Germans” captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army.

1. Geez, how many languages could they speak?

It might have been better to have them work in a factory.


2. Wouldn't it have been the ultimate irony if the US had sent them back to Korea, only to end up in the North, then have them fight the Americans again?

 

[Gaizokubanou]

http://www.5ad.org/AmazingFacts.htm

I found this one amazing....




Some more facts;

"The strategy behind 'fall Gelb' was to rush through the Netherlands and Belgium to attack France and by doing so avoid having to fight mobilized armies. The Belgian fort of Eben-Emael was an obstacle in this plan. The fort was build after WWI and was one of the strongest in the world and was regarded as impenetrable. When the Germans attacked it took them just one day to force the defenders to capitulate and suffer only 6 dead and 18 injured. The Germans landed on the roof of the fort with gliders and used hollow charges to destroy the gun turrets. The interesting thing about it is that only weeks (I'm doing this from memory) before the attack there were trees on the roof, making a landing with gliders impossible. The trees were cut down in order to make place for a soccer pitch to entertain the garrison. Or how soccer caused the strongest fort of Belgium (wikipedia says of the world) to fall in just one day."

Wow I never knew about Korean POW in western front! It was even more strange to me considering that I'm korean and our focus during WWII era is pretty much on Japan.

And as for soccer bringing down a fort... lmao

 

[unmerged(17581)]

I've heard that Korean story before. I've also heard the exact same one except with Tibetians, so I'm not sure of its veracity.

 

[Sir Humphrey]

What facts can even back this up? And yes, I have heard it was Koreans, Tibetians, Indian Nationalists and Pacific Islanders.

 

[scubasteve1233]

I've got some more interesting facts.

1. Hitler had a relative in the us navy.

2. The first bombing raid over berlin killed the only elephant in the berlin zoo.

3. Hitler only had one testicle.

4. The youngest us soldier was 12.

5. U-120 was sunk by a malfuntioning toilet.

6. Hitler's mom seriously considered abortion.

7. During WW1, the small country of Andorra was never invited to the treaty of Versallies. Thus they never offiacaly ended their war with Germany, although they only had a three man army. They finnally eneded the great war during the beggining of WW2.

 

[unmerged(17581)]

I'd say half or more of those are false urban legends.

 

[Panzer6]

A tank sunk a British destroyer.
I think it was Poland that had a bear carrying supplies.

 

[Thistletooth]

1. Saddam Hussein's father and uncle both fought at the Battle of Gazala, but on opposing sides.

2. Shocking, but true: While Kaiser Wilhelm II did die of a pulmonary embolism, it wasn't in Doom, Holland. In fact, he was the pilot of the Bf110 that was carrying Rudolf Hess to Britain. Shortly after Hess jumped out of the plane, the embolism struck Wilhelm, and the plane crashed to Earth in a farm in Southern Scotland. It took roughly forty minutes for British military officials to arrive, and by that time, Wilhelm's brains had been devoured by the farmer's pet tabby. Her name was Tibbles.

3. Since Chinese and Japanese people are actually the same, the Second Sino-Japanese War is more accurately referred to as a civil war.

 

[unmerged(17581)]

While the first two are clearly lies, the third is truth. :nods:

 

[unmerged(30040)]

I've heard that Korean story before. I've also heard the exact same one except with Tibetians, so I'm not sure of its veracity.

I seem to remember some photographic evidence, and it's theoretically possible. Not sure though.

 

[unmerged(57165)]

I think Germans usually not trusted other nations as soldiers, especially when these soldiers had fought on the side of the enemy.

 

[mib]

I seem to remember some photographic evidence, and it's theoretically possible. Not sure though.

EDIT: Cap looks like Imperial japanese Army, and experts assure me that the guy is an Unteroffiziersanwärter because of the Schulterklappen.

EDIT: See this for some discussion on Koreans at Normandy.

 

[unmerged(51738)]

http://www.5ad.org/AmazingFacts.htm

I found this one amazing....




Some more facts;

"The strategy behind 'fall Gelb' was to rush through the Netherlands and Belgium to attack France and by doing so avoid having to fight mobilized armies. The Belgian fort of Eben-Emael was an obstacle in this plan. The fort was build after WWI and was one of the strongest in the world and was regarded as impenetrable. When the Germans attacked it took them just one day to force the defenders to capitulate and suffer only 6 dead and 18 injured. The Germans landed on the roof of the fort with gliders and used hollow charges to destroy the gun turrets. The interesting thing about it is that only weeks (I'm doing this from memory) before the attack there were trees on the roof, making a landing with gliders impossible. The trees were cut down in order to make place for a soccer pitch to entertain the garrison. Or how soccer caused the strongest fort of Belgium (wikipedia says of the world) to fall in just one day."

The Paras were training the action at Eben Emael for weeks or even months, even on a modell of the fort. Seems rather odd german intelligence shouldn't have noticed a forest on top of it!?!

 

[blue emu]

3. Hitler only had one testicle..

I'm sure everyone remembers the "Nazis All Balls" song:

"Hitler only has one ball;
Goebbels two, but very small;
Himmler... has something similar...
But Goering has no balls at all!"

My favorite World War Two stories are both "signals" stories, and both possibly urban legends:

1) A Canadian Flower-Class Corvette was escorting a North Atlantic convoy during a stormy night, in mountainous seas. As it was turning at the end of one leg of its Zig-Zag pattern, a much larger British Destroyer loomed out of the darkness behind it, apparently bearing down to ram.

Both crews put their helm over, but the ships responded slowly, and the Destroyer approached within a few feet of the Corvette's stern... then both were lifted up on a huge wave. As the Destroyer's bow hung poised over the Corvette's stern, nodding gently up and down, the Corvette's crew signalled "If you touch me there, I'll scream!".

2) The night-battle of Empress Augusta Bay was extremely confused, with both sides, American and Japanese, reportedly firing on their own ships at different points in the battle... and with both American and Japanese ships getting accidentally rammed by their own side. RADAR was still a new technology, and the RADAR operators were still learning how to interpret the echo returns.

At one point in the battle, a flotilla of US Destroyers launched a Torpedo attack on some Japanese heavy ships... under large-caliber shell fire all the way in. After launching their Torpedos and looping away again, they were dismayed when a salvo of huge shells passed low over-head and landed just beyond them... BETWEEN them and the Japanese. Looking back into the darkness behind them, they spotted the gun-flashes from a friendly line of heavy ships... reportedly Cruisers... firing steadily in their direction. They signalled "Hope you are not shooting at us". One of the heavy ships signalled back: "Please excuse the next three salvos, already on the way".

... I suppose neither of those stories is particularly amazing... how about this one... I think it qualifies as "amazing":

3) Over Guadalcanal, the Japanese fighter ace Saburo Sakai single-handedly attacked a formation of US Torpedo-Bombers, and was caught in a cross-fire from a dozen machine-guns. His aircraft was riddled, the canopy smashed, and a 50-caliber MG bullet passed through his skull, blowing out one eye, temporarily blinding him, and exposing his brain. He was able to fly his damaged Zero all the way back to base... nearly 1000 kilometers... and land it safely before passing out.

 

[unmerged(56271)]

The Paras were training the action at Eben Emael for weeks or even months, even on a modell of the fort. Seems rather odd german intelligence shouldn't have noticed a forest on top of it!?!

Yes, my understanding is that the Germans constructed a full size replica of the fort for the Paras to train on. So this story does sound a bit doubtful.

 

[System Lord]

3. Since Chinese and Japanese people are actually the same, the Second Sino-Japanese War is more accurately referred to as a civil war.

Gee thats as accurate as saying people from Africa are the same race as people from Scandanavia....

 

[unmerged(56271)]

3. Hitler only had one testicle.

Actually there's some evidence for this one.

There's one biography of Hitler (the name and author of which I've forgotten) which goes into this subject in detail and concludes that Hitler probably did indeed suffer from a condition known as monorchism or cryptorchism (ie, one testicle). His World War One medical exam appears to say so. Hitler was also apparently scrupulous in never allowing anyone to see him in a state of undress.

What's really interesting about this theory, according to the author, is that boys suffering from monorchism typically try to compensate psychologically for their physical deficiency by adopting ultra-masculine attitudes, such as excessive emphasis on competition, hardness, ruthlessness etc. Hitler's "survival of the fittest" philosophy, his obsession with war itself and with ruthlessness as policy - evidenced by his constant emphasis of the theme in his military directives - fits remarkably well with the psychological profile of the monorchid.

It's certainly deeply ironic to think that all those millions perished in World War Two because of one little boy's shortage of fishing tackle!

 

[unmerged(47431)]

Hitler was on a vegetarian diet from 1931 to his death.

 

[Zebedee]

I think it was Poland that had a bear carrying supplies.

Yeah. The Polish 2nd Corps had it. They took it to Monte Cassino with them. Sadly they had to get rid of it when they were redeployed to Britain because we Brits wouldn't allow it on base. It spent the rest of its life in a zoo in Scotland IIRC.

edit : link http://www.iranchamber.com/podium/history/050807_iranian_soldier_bear.php