Little-known facts about World War II (11 photos). The most impressive and little-known facts about World War II
On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the Germans was signed. armed forces, which meant the cessation of hostilities on all fronts and the end of the Great Patriotic War For Soviet people. May 9 of the same year went down in history as Victory Day. Very soon we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of this important event for all of us. On the occasion of the holiday, we have collected the most interesting facts not only about the Great Patriotic War, but also about the Second World War in general.
1. During World War II, Japan dropped bombs filled with fleas infected with bubonic plague on China. This entomological weapon caused an epidemic that killed between 440 thousand and 500 thousand Chinese.
CDC
2. During World War II, Princess Elizabeth (the current Queen of Great Britain) served as an ambulance driver. Her service lasted five months.
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3. Japanese soldier Hiro Onoda surrendered 27 years after the end of World War II. The junior lieutenant of military intelligence of the Japanese armed forces hid on the island of Lubang until 1974, not believing in the end of the world conflict and continuing to collect information about the enemy. He regarded information about the end of the war as massive disinformation on the part of the enemy and surrendered only after former Imperial Japanese Army Major Yoshimi Taniguchi personally arrived in the Philippines and gave the order to cease combat operations.
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4. The number of Chinese killed by the Japanese during World War II exceeds the number of Jews killed due to the Holocaust.
Ministry of the Navy
5. During World War II, the Paris Cathedral Mosque helped Jews escape German persecution; Fake Muslim birth certificates were issued here.
LPLT
6. 80% of all Soviet men born in 1923 died during World War II.
ww2gallery/CC BY-NC 2.0
7. Winston Churchill lost the election in 1945 after winning World War II.
United Nations Information Office, New York
8. In 1942, during the bombing of Liverpool, carried out on the orders of the Fuhrer, the area where his nephew, William Patrick Hitler, was born and lived for some time was destroyed. In 1939, William Patrick left Great Britain for the United States. In 1944, he enlisted in the US Navy, burning with hatred for his uncle. He later changed his last name to Stewart-Houston.
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9. Tsutomu Yamaguchi is a Japanese man who survived both atomic bombings of Japan - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The man died in 2010 from stomach cancer at the age of 93.
Hiromichi Matsuda
10. During World War II, Japan accepted Jewish refugees and rejected German protests.
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11. At least 1.1 million Jewish children were killed during the Holocaust.
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12. A third of the Jews alive at that time were killed during the Holocaust.
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13. Czechoslovak President Emil Haha suffered a heart attack during negotiations with Hitler regarding the surrender of Czechoslovakia. Despite his serious condition, the politician was forced to sign the act.
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14. In October 1941, Romanian troops under the control of Nazi Germany killed more than 50,000 Jews in Odessa. Today the event is known under the term “murder of the Jews of Odessa.”
Brunnengr?ber
15. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Canada declared war on Japan even earlier than the United States.
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16. During World War II, Oscar figurines were made of plaster due to a metal shortage.
Prayitno / Thank you for (6 million +) views/CC BY 2.0
17. During the German occupation of Paris, Adolf Hitler was unable to get to the top Eiffel Tower, since the elevator drive was deliberately damaged by the French. The Fuhrer refused to go up on foot.
Archive photos
18. During World War II, doctor Eugeniusz Lazowski and his colleague saved 8,000 Jews from the Holocaust. They simulated a typhus epidemic and thus stopped the entry German troops in town.
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19. Hitler planned to capture Moscow, kill all the inhabitants and create an artificial reservoir on the site of the city.
Recuerdos de Pandora/CC BY-SA 2.0
20. Russians killed more Germans during Battle of Stalingrad than the Americans during the entire Second World War.
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21. Carrots do not improve vision. This is a false belief that was spread by the British in order to hide from the Germans information about new technologies that allowed pilots to see German bombers at night during the Second World War.
Nicholas Noyes/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
22. Spain maintained neutrality in the First and Second World Wars, but was subjected to civil war(1936-1939), in which 500,000 people died.
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23. During the German invasion of Poland, Wizna was defended by only 720 Poles, holding back the onslaught of the German 19th Army Corps, which consisted of more than 42 thousand soldiers, 350 tanks and 650 guns. They managed to stop the offensive for three days. In World War II, 20% of Poland's population died - the highest figure of any country.
Hiuppo
24. Brazil was the only independent country Latin America which took direct part in the hostilities of World War II.
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25. Mexico was the only country to oppose the German annexation of Austria in 1938 just before the outbreak of World War II.
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26. During World War II, 2 million German women aged 13 to 70 were raped by Red Army soldiers. Source
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27. In World War II, the United States and New Zealand secretly tested 3,700 tsunami bombs intended to destroy coastal cities.
GRENADE ON AIRPLANES
During the defense of Sevastopol in 1942, the only case in the entire history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War occurred when the commander of a mortar company, Junior Lieutenant Simonok, shot down a low-flying German plane with a direct hit from an 82-mm mortar! This is as unlikely as bringing down a plane with a thrown stone or brick...
ENGLISH HUMOR PERFORMED BY A TORPEDO
A funny incident at sea. In 1943, a German and a British destroyer met in the North Atlantic. The British, without hesitation, were the first to throw a torpedo at the enemy... but the torpedo’s rudders jammed at an angle, and as a result, the torpedo made a cheerful circular maneuver and returned... The British were no longer joking as they watched their own torpedo rush towards them. As a result, they suffered from their own torpedo, and in such a way that the destroyer, although it remained afloat and waited for help, did not participate in hostilities until the very end of the war due to the damage received. A mystery military history There is only one thing left: why didn’t the Germans finish off the British? Either they were ashamed to finish off such warriors of the “queen of the seas” and the successors of Nelson’s glory, or they laughed so hard that they could no longer shoot...
POLYGLOTS
A curious incident occurred in Hungary. Already at the end of the war, when Soviet troops entered Hungary, as a result of battles and communication, the majority of Hungarians were sure that “fucking your mother” is accepted greeting, like “hello.” Once, when a Soviet colonel came to a rally with Hungarian workers and greeted them in Hungarian, he was answered in unison “fucking your mother!”
NOT ALL GENERALS RETURNED
June 22, 1941 in the strip southwestern front Army Group South (commander Field Marshal G. Rundstedt) struck main blow south of Vladimir-Volynsky along the formations of the 5th Army of General M.I. Potapov and the 6th Army of General I.N. Muzychenko. In the center of the 6th Army zone, in the Rava-Russkaya area, the 41st Infantry Division of the oldest commander of the Red Army, General G.N., staunchly defended. Mikusheva. The division's units repelled the first enemy attacks together with the border guards of the 91st border detachment. On June 23, with the approach of the main forces of the division, they launched a counterattack and pushed the enemy back behind state border and advanced up to 3 km into Polish territory. But, due to the threat of encirclement, they had to retreat...
Unusual intelligence facts. In principle, German intelligence “worked” quite successfully in the Soviet rear, except in the Leningrad direction. Germans in large quantities sent spies to besieged Leningrad, providing everything necessary - clothing, documents, addresses, passwords, appearances. But, when checking documents, any patrol instantly identified “fake” documents of German origin. Works the best specialists forensics and printing were easily detected by soldiers and officers on patrol. The Germans changed the texture of the paper and the composition of the paints - to no avail. Any even semi-literate sergeant of the Central Asian conscription identified the linden at first sight. The Germans never solved the problem. And the secret was simple - the Germans, a high-quality nation, made the paper clips that were used to fasten documents from stainless steel, and our real Soviet paper clips were slightly rusty, the patrol sergeants had never seen anything else, for them the shiny steel paper clips sparkled like gold...
FROM PLANES WITHOUT PARACHUTES
A pilot on a reconnaissance flight during his return noticed a column of German armored vehicles moving towards Moscow. As it turned out -on a way There are no German tanks, no one. It was decided to drop troops in front of the column. They brought to the airfield only a complete regiment of Siberians in white sheepskin coats. When the German column was walking along the highway, suddenly low-flying planes appeared ahead, as if they were about to land, having slowed down to the limit, 10-20 meters from the snow surface. Clusters of people in white sheepskin coats fell from airplanes onto a snow-covered field next to the road. The soldiers got up alive and immediately threw themselves under the tracks of the tanks with bunches of grenades... They looked like white ghosts, they were not visible in the snow, and the advance of the tanks was stopped. When a new column of tanks and motorized infantry approached the Germans, there were practically no “white pea coats” left. And then a wave of planes flew in again and a new white waterfall of fresh fighters poured from the sky. The German advance was stopped, and only a few tanks hastily retreated. Afterwards it turned out that only 12 percent of the landing force died when they fell into the snow, and the rest entered into an unequal battle. Although it is still a terribly wrong tradition to measure victories by the percentage of living people who died. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine a German, American, or Englishman voluntarily jumping onto tanks without a parachute. They wouldn't even be able to think about it.
At the beginning of October 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command learned about the defeat at Moscow direction three their fronts from messages from Berlin radio. It's about about the environment near Vyazma.
AND ONE WARRIOR IN THE FIELD
On July 17, 1941 (the first month of the war), Wehrmacht Chief Lieutenant Hensfald, who later died at Stalingrad, wrote in his diary: “Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening, a Russian unknown soldier was buried. He alone, standing at the gun, spent a long time shooting at a column of our tanks and infantry. And so he died. Everyone was amazed at his courage.” Yes, this warrior was buried by the enemy! With honors... Later it turned out that it was the commander of the gun of the 137th Infantry Division of the 13th Army, Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin. He was left alone to cover the withdrawal of his unit. Sirotinin, took up an advantageous firing position from which the highway, a small river and a bridge across it were clearly visible. At dawn on July 17, German tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared. When the lead tank reached the bridge, a gun shot rang out. With the first shot, Nikolai knocked out a German tank. The second shell hit another one that was at the rear of the column. There was a traffic jam on the road. The Nazis tried to turn off the highway, but several tanks immediately got stuck in the swamp. And senior sergeant Sirotinin continued to send shells to the target. The enemy brought down the fire of all tanks and machine guns on the lone gun. A second group of tanks approached from the west and also opened fire. Only after 2.5 hours did the Germans manage to destroy the cannon, which managed to fire almost 60 shells. At the battle site, 10 destroyed German tanks and armored personnel carriers were burning out. The Germans were under the impression that the battery was firing at the tanks full composition. And only later did they learn that the column of tanks was held back by one artilleryman. Yes, this warrior was buried by the enemy! With honors...
ENGLISH HUMOR
Well-known historical fact. The Germans, demonstrating the supposedly impending landing on the British Isles, placed several dummy airfields on the coast of France, on which they “planed” a large number of wooden replicas of airplanes. Work on creating these same dummy airplanes was in full swing when one day in broad daylight a lone British plane appeared in the air and dropped a single bomb on the “airfield”. She was wooden...! After this “bombing,” the Germans abandoned false airfields.
CAUTION, UNFORMAT!
The Germans who fought on the eastern front completely refute the stereotypes we have based on films about the Second World War. As German WWII veterans recall, “UR-R-RA!” they had never heard and did not even suspect the existence of such an attack cry from Russian soldiers. But they learned the word BL@D perfectly. Because it was with such a cry that the Russians rushed into an especially hand-to-hand attack. And the second word that the Germans often heard from their side of the trenches was “Hey, go ahead, fucking m@t!”, this booming cry meant that now not only infantry but also T-34 tanks would trample on the Germans.
May 9th, 2016
War in the Arctic.
A German submarine discovered an Allied transport carrying fuel, ammunition to Murmansk, military equipment and the tanks surfaced and launched a torpedo almost point-blank at the ship. A huge blast wave tore off the tanks standing on the deck and lifted them into the air. Two tanks fell on the submarine. The German submarine sank immediately.
Radio.
At the beginning of October 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command learned about the defeat of its three fronts in the Moscow direction from Berlin radio reports. We are talking about the encirclement near Vyazma.
English humor.
Well-known historical fact. The Germans, demonstrating the supposedly impending landing on the British Isles, placed several dummy airfields on the coast of France, on which they “planed” a large number of wooden copies of aircraft. Work on creating these same dummy airplanes was in full swing when one day in broad daylight a lone British plane appeared in the air and dropped a single bomb on the “airfield”. She was wooden...! After this “bombing,” the Germans abandoned false airfields.
For the king.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, some cavalry units were given old checkers from a warehouse with the inscription “For the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland”...
English humor performed by a torpedo
A funny incident at sea. In 1943, a German and a British destroyer met in the North Atlantic. The British, without hesitation, were the first to fire a torpedo at the enemy... but the torpedo’s rudders jammed at an angle, and as a result, the torpedo made a cheerful circular maneuver and returned... The British were no longer joking as they watched their own torpedo rush towards them. As a result, they suffered from their own torpedo, and in such a way that the destroyer, although it remained afloat and waited for help, did not participate in hostilities until the very end of the war due to the damage received. There is only one mystery left in military history: why didn’t the Germans finish off the Anghichans?? Either they were ashamed to finish off such warriors of the “Queen of the Seas” and the successors of Nelson’s glory, or they laughed so hard that they could no longer shoot….
Clip.
Unusual intelligence facts. In principle, German intelligence “worked” quite successfully in the Soviet rear, except in the Leningrad direction. The Germans sent spies in large numbers to besieged Leningrad, providing them with everything they needed - clothes, documents, addresses, passwords, appearances. But, when checking documents, any patrol instantly identified “fake” documents of the German
production. The works of the best specialists in forensic science and printing were easily discovered by soldiers and officers on patrols. The Germans changed the texture of the paper and the composition of the paints - to no avail. Any even semi-literate sergeant of the Central Asian conscription identified the linden at first sight. The Germans never solved the problem.
And the secret was simple - the Germans, a quality nation, made the paper clips that were used to fasten documents from stainless steel, and our real Soviet paper clips were slightly rusty, the patrol sergeants had never seen anything else, for them the shiny steel paper clips sparkled like gold...
Old master.
An interesting story, which is difficult to verify, because this is not officially recorded. In Izhevsk, during the Great Patriotic War, mass production of PPSh assault rifles was launched. To prevent the barrel of the machine gun from heating up when firing, and to prevent deformation, a procedure for hardening the barrels was worked out. Unexpectedly, in 1944 there was a defect - during test firing the barrels were “velocated”. The special department, of course, began to investigate - to look for saboteurs, but they did not find anything suspicious. They began to find out what had changed in production. We found out that for the first time since the start of production, the old master was ill. They immediately “put him on his feet” and began to quietly monitor him.
To the amazement of engineers and designers, it turned out interesting detail— the old master urinated in a quenching tank with water twice a day. But, the marriage disappeared!?? Other “masters” secretly tried to urinate, but it turned out that this particular person was required to participate in this “secret” procedure. They closed their eyes and continued to perform this secret function for a long time...
The master retired when the plant switched to producing the famous Kalashnikovs...
No man is an island.
On July 17, 1941 (the first month of the war), Wehrmacht Chief Lieutenant Hensfald, who later died at Stalingrad, wrote in his diary: “Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening, a Russian unknown soldier was buried. He alone, standing at the gun, spent a long time shooting at a column of our tanks and infantry. And so he died. Everyone was amazed at his courage.” Yes, this warrior was buried by the enemy! With honors...
It later turned out that it was the gun commander of the 137th Infantry Division of the 13th Army, Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin. He was left alone to cover the withdrawal of his unit. Sirotinin, took up an advantageous firing position from which the highway, a small river and a bridge across it were clearly visible. At dawn on July 17, German tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared. When the lead tank reached the bridge, a gun shot rang out. With the first shot, Nikolai knocked out a German tank. The second shell hit another one that was at the rear of the column. There was a traffic jam on the road. The Nazis tried to turn off the highway, but several tanks immediately got stuck in the swamp. And senior sergeant Sirotinin continued to send shells to the target. The enemy brought down the fire of all tanks and machine guns on the lone gun. A second group of tanks approached from the west and also opened fire. Only after 2.5 hours did the Germans manage to destroy the cannon, which managed to fire almost 60 shells. At the battle site, 10 destroyed German tanks and armored personnel carriers were burning out. The Germans had the impression that the fire on the tanks was carried out by a full battery. And only later did they learn that the column of tanks was held back by one artilleryman.
Yes, this warrior was buried by the enemy! With honors...
One tank, a warrior in the field.
In the same July 1941 in Lithuania, near the city of Raseniai, one KV tank held back the entire offensive for two days!!! 4th German Tank Group Colonel General Gepner.tank kv
The crew of the KV tank first burned a convoy of trucks with ammunition. It was impossible to get close to the tank - the roads ran through swamps. The advanced German units were cut off. An attempt to destroy a tank with a 50-mm anti-tank battery from a distance of 500 m ended in complete fiasco. The KV tank remained unharmed, despite, as it turned out later, 14 !!! direct hits, but they only left dents in his armor. When the Germans brought up a more powerful 88-mm anti-aircraft gun, the tank crew allowed it to take a position 700 m away, and then shot it in cold blood before the crew could fire even one shot!!! At night, the Germans sent sappers. They managed to plant explosives under the tank's tracks. But the planted charges tore out only a few pieces from the tank’s tracks. The KV remained mobile and combat-ready and continued to block the German advance. On the first day, the tank crew was supplied with supplies by local residents, but then a blockade was established around the KV. However, even this isolation did not force the tankers to leave their position. As a result, the Germans resorted to cunning. FIFTY!!! German tanks began to fire at the KV from 3 directions in order to divert its attention. At this time, a new 88 mm anti-aircraft gun was pulled to the rear of the tank. It hit the tank twelve times, and only 3 shells penetrated the armor, destroying the tank crew.
Not all generals retreated.
June 22, 1941 In the zone of the southwestern front, Army Group “South” (commanded by Field Marshal G. Rundstedt) delivered the main blow south of Vladimir-Volynsky on the formations of the 5th Army of General M.I. Potapov and the 6th Army of General I.N. Muzychenko. In the center of the 6th Army zone, in the Rava-Russkaya area, the 41st Infantry Division of the oldest commander of the Red Army, General G.N., staunchly defended. Mikusheva. The division's units repelled the first enemy attacks together with the border guards of the 91st border detachment. On June 23, with the arrival of the main forces of the division, they launched a counterattack, pushed the enemy back across the state border and advanced up to 3 km into Polish territory. But, due to the threat of encirclement, they had to retreat...
Grenade on planes.
During the defense of Sevastopol in 1942, the only case in the entire history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War occurred when the commander of a mortar company, Junior Lieutenant Simonok, shot down a low-flying German plane with a direct hit from an 82-mm mortar! This is as unlikely as hitting a plane with a thrown stone or brick...
From airplanes without a parachute!
A pilot on a reconnaissance flight during his return noticed a column of German armored vehicles moving towards Moscow. As it turned out, there was no one in the path of the German tanks. It was decided to drop troops in front of the column. They brought to the airfield only a complete regiment of Siberians in white sheepskin coats.
When the German column was walking along the highway, suddenly low-flying planes appeared ahead, as if they were about to land, having slowed down to the limit, 10-20 meters from the snow surface. Clusters of people in white sheepskin coats fell from airplanes onto a snow-covered field next to the road. The soldiers got up alive and immediately threw themselves under the tracks of the tanks with bunches of grenades... They looked like white ghosts, they were not visible in the snow, and the advance of the tanks was stopped. When a new column of tanks and motorized infantry approached the Germans, there were practically no “white pea coats” left. And then a wave of planes flew in again and a new white waterfall of fresh fighters poured from the sky. The German advance was stopped, and only a few tanks hastily retreated. Afterwards it turned out that only 12 percent of the landing force died when they fell into the snow, and the rest entered into an unequal battle. Although it is still a terribly wrong tradition to measure victories by the percentage of living people who died.
On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine a German, American, or Englishman voluntarily jumping onto tanks without a parachute. They wouldn't even be able to think about it.
Elephant.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II only killed an elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
Camel.
The photograph shows Stalingrad during the Great Patriotic War. The 28th Army, which was formed near Astrakhan, took part in the heavy battles near Stalingrad. By that time there was already tension with the horses, so they gave out the camels! It should be noted that the ships of the desert coped with their tasks very successfully. And a camel named Yashka even took part in the Battle of Berlin in 1945.
Shark.
During World War II, Americans got the jackpot... in the stomach of a shark! The shark managed to “manage” the sunken Japanese destroyer, and the Americans accidentally got hold of a secret Japanese code.
Deer.
There are also very exotic cases of using animals in the Great Patriotic War. An entry from the diaries of Konstantin Simonov, about the story of one colonel, how he suffered in the war with reindeer transport. “They are too unpretentious animals! They are so unpretentious that they eat nothing but their own reindeer moss. Where can you get it, this moss? If you give him hay, he shakes his head; if you give him bread, he shakes his head. Just give him moss. But there is no moss! So I fought with them, with the deer. I carried the load on myself, and they went looking for their moss.”
A cat is known from the stories of participants in the hardest Battle of Stalingrad. Through the ruins of Stalingrad, the cat made his way at night from the Soviet trenches to the German ones and back, receiving treats in both places.
Hare.
There is a known case when, during positional battles near Polotsk, shooting suddenly stopped simultaneously on both sides. It turned out that a hare ran out into the neutral zone and began carelessly scratching its shed side with its hind paw.
A sad, but entertaining and instructive fact about the Second World War.
In his memoirs of General Eisenhower, D. Eisenhower, " Crusade to Europe"), recalled a conversation with Marshal Zhukov.
Russian method of attacking through minefields. German minefields were very serious tactical obstacles that led to large military losses. Marshal Zhukov, during a conversation, spoke quite casually about his practice: “When we approach a minefield, our infantry attacks as if it were not there. We consider losses from anti-personnel mines to be approximately equal to those that would have been caused to us by machine guns and artillery if the Germans had decided to defend this area large forces troops, not minefields." Eisenhower was shocked and could not imagine how long any American or British general would have lived if he had used such tactics. Especially if the soldiers of any of the American or British divisions found out about this.
On a ram with an open hatch!
Fighter pilot Borya Kovzan, returning from a mission, entered into battle with six German fighters. Having been wounded in the head and left without ammunition, Boris Kovzan radioed that he was leaving the plane and had already opened the canopy to leave it. And at that moment he saw a German ace rushing towards him. Borya Kovzan again grabbed the helm and directed the plane towards the ace. The pilot knew that during a ramming operation he should under no circumstances turn aside. If you turn, your enemy will beat you with a screw. He, of course, will also break his own screw, but theoretically he will be able to plan, at least in principle, and there will certainly be nothing left of the “victim.” This is a war of nerves. Well, if no one turns, then glory and honor to the two!
But the German ace was a real ace and knew it all, and didn’t swerve either, and both planes crashed head-on, but the German ace’s canopy was closed, and the seriously wounded Boris Kovzan flew unconscious through the canopy that was open by coincidence. air. The parachute opened and Boris Kovzan Twice Hero of the Union landed successfully, but first to the hospital, of course.
Unformatted!
The Germans who fought on the eastern front completely refute the stereotypes we have based on films about the Second World War.
As German WWII veterans recall, “UR-R-RA!” they had never heard and did not even suspect the existence of such an attack cry from Russian soldiers. But they learned the word BL@D perfectly. Because it was with such a cry that the Russians rushed into an especially hand-to-hand attack. And the second word that the Germans often heard from their side of the trenches was “Hey, go ahead, fucking m@t!”, “This booming cry meant that now not only infantry but also T-34 tanks would trample on the Germans.
Another interesting WWII fact about pilots.
An order was received to bomb the occupied bridgehead Nazi troops. But the dense anti-aircraft fire of German guns burned our planes like matches. The commander changed course a little - he felt sorry for the crews. They would have burned everyone before reaching the bridgehead anyway. The planes bombed the usual forest area next to the German bridgehead and returned to the airfield. And the next morning a miracle happened. The impregnable bridgehead fell. It turned out that the carefully disguised headquarters of the central German group was completely destroyed at night in that very forest. The pilots did not receive any awards for this because they reported that the order had been carried out. Therefore, the headquarters was destroyed by someone unknown. The headquarters was looking for someone to reward, but they never found real Heroes...
Glamorous pink planes.
You can find many similar photographs of aircraft from World War II. But in reality, these planes did not look so gray and gloomy. In fact, they were a glamorous pale pink fighter from the Second World War. And this is not an accident.
Some fighter aircraft during World War II were so specialized that they only flew in certain time days. The beautiful pink RAF aircraft of the US No. 16 Squadron had a very big plus - they became almost invisible at both sunset and sunrise. And these “glamorous” fighters look really fun. And in fact, it was a really smart tactic to make stealth planes even then.
Gas attack in the metro.
The subway is the best shelter during air raids, everyone knows that. But in the subway you can be subject to a gas attack!
Do you think those in this photo are victims? gas attack? No, it's just a normal night on the tube for Brits. When German air raids over London became almost regular, the unperturbed British quickly adapted to sleeping right on the subway. And while the Germans were bombing London, the British people slept together - gathered in a gigantic but well-mannered “heap”. Seriously, look at the guy in front of the photo: he didn’t even take off his hat in the subway during the bombing... apparently it’s more comfortable to sleep in it. Unfortunately, Muscovites cannot boast of such photographs. Firstly, in Stalin's times, taking photographs in the metro was prohibited. It was considered a military facility, so there are only a few photographs taken during World War II in the Moscow metro, including those specifically for Life magazine.
Obviously a “staged” photograph - Muscovites during air raids.
Life photojournalist at the Mayakovskaya station, at a time when Muscovites are taking cover from another air raid. Usually the raids began late in the evening, with the onset of summer twilight. There is a motionless train on the tracks. As you can see, standard wooden trestle beds are prepared in advance to accommodate small children. And one more thing: young and middle-aged women are dressed relatively well.
Spacesuits for babies.Gas masks are not suitable for children, and yet somehow it was necessary to protect children from possible gas attacks. Thus, special devices have been developed to protect children in the event of a gas attack. Watch how mothers use a special pump to pump air into spacesuits for children. But it was thanks to these pumps that none of these children could fall asleep. It’s interesting that the mothers themselves were without gas masks, how were they going to breathe?
A plane without a wing.
This is the Avenger, a torpedo bomber from the USS Bennington, piloted by pilot Bob King during the Battle of Chichi Jima. He didn’t want to upset his loved ones, friends and family... so he managed to pull his plane out of a tailspin and fly to the airfield on this wounded plane without a wing! There is a legend that since then no one has ever denied the pilot Bob King a free drink at the bar.
Giant ears.
No matter how funny it looks, it's true big ears. This guy doesn't rest, but listens to the sky. In essence, this is a huge listening device. And the most interesting thing is that it really worked. AND the best way There was no way to hear the noise of bomber engines then. There is nothing high-tech about this setup, you simply plug a giant cone into your ear and listen to the sound of German pilots and planes. Elegant, effective and simple. The most popular caption for water photos during World War II was: “I just heard someone fart. Most likely, Goering’s pilots are already on their way to us.”
Half of you will be a fence, and the other half of you will be prisoners...
The fact remains that war is truly hell. And this is no longer a joke. And for the soldiers of the Red Army in 1941, it was hell on earth. Rare photographs that official propaganda does not like.
In 1939, Stalin and Hitler happily divided Europe in half by signing the famous pact. In 1941, Hitler was several days ahead of Stalin and was the first to attack Soviet Union. Then, in 1941, as a result of Operation Barbarossa and taking the USSR by surprise, the Germans captured about 5,500 thousand prisoners of war - that’s five and a half million soldiers and officers. For such a number of prisoners, the Germans naturally did not even have the opportunity to build such huge camps in the first days of the war. Therefore, the Germans solved the problem this way: “Half of you will be a fence, and the other half of you will be prisoners.” Without a roof over their heads, with ruthless Nazi guards, they could only cuddle together at night to keep warm. At night, these camps were hell. The losses were so unfathomably great that only prisoners of war Soviet soldiers According to the Germans, more than 3.3 million people died.
7. Living Statue of Liberty.
In this photo you can see 18 thousand American soldiers standing in a formation that is very reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty. This photograph was used as an advertisement for war bonds during World War II.
Notice that if you just look at the base of the statue you will see a dozen soldiers standing there. But pay attention to the angle of the photo: This is not Photoshop - it simply didn’t exist then. And the image has almost ideal proportions. How did they do it? Well, the number of soldiers in the statue formation increased in geometric progression, the further they are from the camera. For example, 12,000 soldiers took part in the formation of the torch alone. The entire statue, from feet to torch, is almost three hundred meters long.
Donkeys in World War II
TO In addition to elephants, camels and horses, donkeys also took part in World War II!The donkeys, of course, did not want to go to war, but they were too stubborn to return home.
The Donkey Corps was a military unit deployed in 1943 for the invasion of Sicily. Bad roads and difficult conditions for ordinary Vehicle forced to use donkeys in Sicily! True, sometimes, because of their stubbornness, soldiers had to wear them...on themselves!
American children did the same greeting as the Hitler Youth!
Another interesting and little-known historical fact about the Second World War.
This is not a shot from the chronicle “What if the Nazis had won the war?” . This is a real photograph taken in an ordinary American classroom.
As you can imagine, as a result of World War II, and thanks to Hitler and stamps, many perfectly good things were destroyed forever. Like the tiny mustache, the swastika as a symbol of good luck, and all the hand signals that look anything like "Heil Hitler." But in fact, Hitler did not invent any of these symbols, but simply used them.
For example, in 1892, Francis Bellamy decided to come up with the American oath, as well as a characteristic hand gesture that should be made during the oath of allegiance to America, after the words "... one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
And it's a fact that for decades, children across America happily performed the "Heil Hitler" gesture, which was known in America as the Bellamy salute. But then the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini appeared in world history. When he came to power, he revived the so-called Roman salute, and Hitler thought it should be adopted, and a little later he adopted it as his Nazi salute. This caused obvious controversy when America entered World War II. It was somehow wrong for American children to do the same greeting as the Hitler Youth. Thus, during the war, Roosevelt adopted a new salute proposed by Congress - placing right hand on the heart.
Thanks to the bra war?
An interesting historical fact about World War II, but it was the reason for the popularity of the bra among women. The fact is that before World War II, women did not really want to use this wardrobe accessory. But when men went to the front during World War II, women had to take their place in factories and factories. And as welders, and as turners, etc., and a serious question arose about the safety of some parts female body. An industrial plastic bra was developed, which this girl is demonstrating.
By the way, it was in 1941 that a patent was received for a special cut of a bra made of natural materials, which finally solved the problem of poor fit of the bra cup to the body. And in 1942, a patent was issued for a length-adjustable bra clasp.
Levitan's reports and messages were not recorded during the Great Patriotic War. Only in the 1950s was a special recording of them for history organized.Which Jews were allowed to serve in the army of Nazi Germany?
In Nazi Germany, Jews were considered people who had at least three Jewish grandparents. They were deprived of citizenship, the right to hold public office and serve in the army. However, if there were only 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents, the person was considered a half-breed and was called the term "Mischlinge". Thousands of Mischlinge served in the German army as soldiers and officers, some of them among the generals. At one time, German newspapers published a photograph of an ideal German soldier- a blue-eyed blond man in a helmet. This soldier was Werner Goldberg, whose father was Jewish.Why was one dog carried in the arms of a Stalinist overcoat at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945?
During World War II, trained dogs actively helped sappers clear mines. One of them, nicknamed Dzhulbars, was discovered while clearing mine sites in European countries in Last year war 7468 mines and more than 150 shells. Shortly before the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, Dzhulbars was injured and could not participate in the military dog school. Then Stalin ordered the dog to be carried across Red Square on his overcoat.Who tried to sail a submarine with a sail and when?
In 1942, the Soviet submarine Shch-421 was blown up by a German anti-submarine mine, losing speed and the ability to dive. To prevent the ship from being carried ashore by the enemy, it was decided to sew a sail and raise it on the periscope. However, it was no longer possible to sail to the base, and it was not even possible to tow the submarine with the help of other ships. After the appearance of German torpedo boats, the crew was evacuated and the submarine was scuttled.What were military armored tires?
It is known that in the wars of the 19th century, World War I and World War II, many countries used armored trains. However, in addition to this, they tried to fight with the help of individual combat units - armored tires. They were almost like tanks, but limited in movement only by rails.What factor was decisive in the choice of Nagasaki for a nuclear strike by American troops?
If the city of Hiroshima was initially chosen by the Americans as the main target of the first atomic strike on Japan, then the city of Nagasaki was, one might say, unlucky. The target of the second bomb drop was the town of Kokura, but due to heavy clouds, the American pilot decided to act as a backup option and attack Nagasaki.Why did the Pentagon initially have twice as many toilets as needed?
In some Hollywood films about World War II, American soldiers of different races can be seen fighting side by side. This is not true, since racial segregation in the US Army was only abolished in 1948. Racial divisions also played a role in the construction of the Pentagon, which took place in 1942 - separate toilets were built there for whites and blacks, and the total number of toilets was twice as many as needed. True, the signs “for whites” and “for blacks” were never hung thanks to the intervention of President Roosevelt.Which episode in the film “Operation Y” was filmed by Gaidai based on personal army experience?
Leonid Gaidai was drafted into the army in 1942 and first served in Mongolia, where he trained horses for the front. One day a military commissar came to the unit to recruit reinforcements for the active army. To the officer’s question: “Who’s in the artillery?” - Gaidai replied: “I am!” He also answered other questions: “Who is in the cavalry?”, “In the navy?”, “In reconnaissance?”, which displeased the boss. “Just wait, Gaidai,” said the military commissar, “Let me read out the whole list.” Later, the director adapted this episode for the film “Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures.”What fairy-tale role did Georgy Millyar play with almost no makeup?
Georgy Millyar played almost all the evil spirits in Soviet fairy-tale films, and every time he was given complex makeup. Millyar hardly needed him only for the role of Kashchei the Immortal. The actor was naturally thin; in addition, during World War II, he contracted malaria while being evacuated to Dushanbe, turning into a living skeleton weighing 45 kilograms.How did Edith Piaf help French prisoners of war escape from German camps?
During the occupation, French singer Edith Piaf performed in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany, after which she took souvenir photographs with them and German officers. Then in Paris, the faces of the prisoners of war were cut out and pasted into false documents. Piaf went to the camp on a return visit and secretly smuggled these passports, with which some prisoners managed to escape.Who and where carried out partisan activities until 1974, not knowing about the end of World War II?
In 1944, junior lieutenant Japanese army Onoda Hiro was ordered to lead a guerrilla detachment on the Philippine island of Lubang. Having lost his soldiers in battle, Onoda managed to survive and disappeared into the jungle. In 1974, Onoda Hiro was found on the same island where he was still conducting partisan activities. Not believing in the end of the war, the lieutenant refused to lay down his arms. And only when Onoda’s immediate commander arrived on the island and ordered to surrender, he came out of the jungle, admitting the defeat of Japan.Whose Nobel medals were hidden from the Nazis in dissolved form?
In Nazi Germany it was prohibited to accept Nobel Prize after the Peace Prize was awarded to the opponent of National Socialism, Karl von Ossietzky, in 1935. German physicists Max von Laue and James Frank entrusted the custody of their gold medals to Niels Bohr. When the Germans occupied Copenhagen in 1940, the chemist de Hevesy dissolved these medals in aqua regia. After the end of the war, de Hevesy extracted the gold hidden in the aqua regia and donated it to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. New medals were made there and re-presented to von Laue and Frank.Why did Canada give one of the maternity hospital wards in Ottawa status outside Canadian jurisdiction in 1943?
During World War II, the Germans occupied the Netherlands and the royal family was evacuated to Canada. There, the current Queen Juliana gave birth to her third daughter, Margrit. The ward in the maternity hospital where the birth took place was declared outside Canadian jurisdiction by a special decree of the Canadian government. This was done so that Princess Margriet could lay claim to the throne of the Netherlands in the future, because having received foreign citizenship at birth, she would have lost this right. In gratitude to the Canadians after returning home, the Dutch royal family sends thousands of tulip bulbs every year to Ottawa, where the annual tulip festival takes place.How did a sailor manage to survive on a raft in the ocean for 133 days without any supplies of water or food?
In 1942, a German submarine sank a British merchant ship. The sailor of Chinese origin, Pun Lim, who served on it, managed to jump overboard wearing a life jacket, and then found a free raft in the water. The small supplies of water and cookies on the raft quickly ran out. A sailor, drifting on a raft on the Atlantic Ocean, collected rainwater and ate raw fish, which he caught with an improvised fishing rod, and once he managed to catch a seagull and suck the blood out of it. So he sailed for 133 days until the raft washed up on the Brazilian coast. Lim lost just 9kg and was immediately able to walk without assistance.Why did Stalin give Roosevelt a copy of the film “Volga, Volga”?
In 1942, Stalin invited the US Ambassador to watch the film “Volga, Volga” with him. Tom liked the film, and Stalin gave President Roosevelt a copy of the film through him. Roosevelt watched the film and did not understand why Stalin sent him. Then he asked to translate the lyrics. When a song dedicated to the steamship “Sevryuga” was played: “America gave a steamship to Russia: / Steam from the bow, wheels at the back, / And terrible, and terrible, / And a terribly quiet move,” he exclaimed: “Now it’s clear!” Stalin reproaches us for our quiet progress, for the fact that we have not yet opened a second front.”What Japanese managed to survive two atomic bombings in a row?
August 6, 1945 Japanese engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi was among those who were in Hiroshima during the atomic bombing of the city. After spending the night in a bomb shelter, the next day he returned to his hometown, Nagasaki, and was exposed to the second atomic explosion. Until the beginning of 2010, Yamaguchi remained the last living person officially recognized as a victim of the two bombings mentioned at once.Which soldiers from eastern Muslim countries fought on the side of Hitler's army?
Hitler's army included several units composed of Muslims. The most exotic was the Free India Legion (‘Freies Indien’), most of whose soldiers came from the Muslim parts of India and the territories of modern Pakistan and Bangladesh, who were captured by the Nazis in North Africa.Why was St. Isaac's Cathedral almost undamaged during the war?
During the years of the Great Patriotic War, St. Isaac's Cathedral was never subjected to direct shelling - only once did a shell hit the western corner of the cathedral. According to the military, the reason is that the Germans used the highest dome of the city as a target for shooting. It is unknown whether the city leadership was guided by this assumption when they decided to hide in the basement of the cathedral valuables from other museums that had not been removed before the start of the blockade. But as a result, both the building and the valuables were safely preserved.Where were aircraft carriers built from ice?
When the Allies were preparing to land in Europe, given the shortage of metal, they seriously considered the project of building a fleet of huge aircraft carriers made of ice. It came down to a real prototype - a smaller copy of an aircraft carrier made from a frozen mixture of water and sawdust, but large similar ships were never built.Why did the British spread the belief that carrots directly improve vision?
Vitamin A contained in carrots is important for healthy skin, growth, and vision. However, there is no direct connection between eating carrots and good eyesight No. This belief began in World War II. The British developed a new radar that allowed pilots to see German bombers at night. To hide the existence of this technology, the British Air Force circulated press reports that such visions were the result of the pilots' carrot diet.What game is famous for the game that was not interrupted during the atomic bombing?
August 6, 1945, when it was dropped on Hiroshima atomic bomb, a game of Go was taking place in the suburbs for one of the most honorable Japanese titles. The blast wave broke the glass and left the room in chaos, but the players restored the stones on the board and played the game to the end.Who used Indians as code talkers?
In both world wars, the Americans used Indians of different tribes as radio operators. The Germans and Japanese, intercepting radio messages, could not decipher them. In World War II, for the same purposes, the Americans used the Basque language, which is very little widespread in Europe with the exception of the Basque country in northern Spain.Red Army soldier, Stalingrad
Second World War(September 1, 1939 - September 2, 1945) became the largest armed conflict in human history. 62 states out of 73 existing at that time took part in it - this is 80% of our planet.
Currently, World War II is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons were used.
Military operations during World War II took place on the territory of 40 states. In total, about 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces.
Human losses worldwide reached about 65 million people, 26 million of whom were citizens of the USSR.
During the entire Second World War, the German armed forces suffered the most losses on the Soviet front - 70-80% of losses. During the entire war, about 7 million German citizens died.
After the war, Adolf Hitler's former adviser, Joachim von Ribbentrop, voiced 3 main reasons for Germany's defeat: unexpectedly stubborn Soviet resistance; global supplies of weapons and equipment from the United States and the successes of Western allies in the struggle for air supremacy.
The Holocaust led to the violent death of 60% of Europe's Jews and the extermination of about a third of the entire Jewish population of our planet.
As a result of the war, some countries were able to achieve independence: Ethiopia, Iceland, Syria, Lebanon, Vietnam, Indonesia.
During World War II, on August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States carried out atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to hasten Japan's surrender. About 70-80 thousand people died simultaneously during the bombing of Hiroshima. Some of the dead who were near the explosion simply disappeared in a split second, disintegrating into molecules in the hot air: the temperature under the plasma ball reached 4000 degrees Celsius. The subsequent light radiation burned the dark pattern of clothing into people’s skin and left silhouettes human bodies on the walls.
According to Hitler's calculations, in 1941 the Soviet Union as a powerful power should have ceased to exist. Then Hitler would not have had an enemy behind him, and he would have received a large amount of raw materials and agricultural products.
It was almost impossible to determine even approximately the military power of the Soviet Union during the war. For twenty years, the USSR, which was already fenced off with an iron curtain from the rest of the world, provided information about itself only when it was in the interests of the state. Often the data was presented in an embellished manner, and where it was advantageous, the situation was portrayed as less favorable than in reality.
Adolf Hitler's father and mother were related, so he always spoke very briefly and vaguely about his parents.
In his youth, Adolf Hitler showed great interest in painting and even then decided that he would become an artist, and not an official, as his father wanted. He tried to enter the art academy twice, but failed each time. entrance exams. However, he worked as an artist for some time and successfully sold his paintings.
During the Siege of Leningrad, according to various sources, from 600 thousand to 1.5 million people died. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling; the remaining 97% died of starvation.
In the first years of its existence, the fighting qualities of the Red Army, which played a decisive role in World War II, were low, since it was formed from heterogeneous elements - units of the old army, detachments of Red Guards and sailors, and peasant militias.
During the Holocaust, the only successful uprising took place at the Sobibor concentration camp, led by Soviet prisoner officer Alexander Pechersky. Immediately after the prisoners escaped, the death camp was closed and wiped off the face of the earth.
Before the war, Leningrad was one of the largest industrial centers of the Soviet Union. Despite the blockade of Leningrad, death, famine and the closure of many factories, the city's enterprises continued to operate, but on a smaller scale.
Over the course of his life, 20 attempts were made on Hitler's life, the first of which occurred in 1930, and the last in 1944.
The longest air battle of World War II was the Battle of Britain, which lasted from July 1940 to May 1941.
Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide on April 30, 1945, when Berlin was surrounded by Soviet troops. Hitler died from a shot in the temple, but no visible injuries were found on his wife. The corpses were doused with gasoline and burned that same day.
During the Great Patriotic War, more than 29 million people were drafted into the ranks of the Red Army, in addition to the 4 million who were under arms at the beginning of the war.
The Battle of Stalingrad, which took place during the Second World War, became one of the bloodiest in human history: more than 470 thousand Soviet soldiers and about 300 thousand German soldiers died on the battlefield, which lasted from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. Victory Soviet army in this battle the political and military prestige of the Soviet Union was highly raised.
The scale of celebrations in honor of Victory Day in the USSR began to increase only 20 years after the actual victory, thanks to Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. For the first 20 years, celebrations were limited, for the most part, to fireworks. In the first 20 post-war years, only one parade in honor of the Victory was held on the territory of the USSR - on June 24, 1945.
The act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed on May 7 in Reims, France. The surrender of Nazi Germany came into force on May 8 at 23:01 Central European Time and on May 9 at 01:01 Moscow time.
Having accepted the surrender, the Soviet Union did not sign peace with Germany—in fact, Germany and the Soviet Union remained at war. The decree to end the state of war was adopted by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR only on January 25, 1955.
The Second World War ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of the act of unconditional surrender of Japan on board the American battleship Missouri.