Post by sherri on Jan 12, 2017 1:35:17 GMT
I came across these on a website. One of those painful websites where you have to load a new page and photo for each new fact. Why they can't just write an article where you can scroll down I do not know.
I copied some of it. Minus the photos.
I would like to know what became of Hiroo Onoda.
Strangely enough, despite invading and attacking numerous countries throughout Europe, Germany only officially declared war on one country, and it was a country that they never invaded: the United States.
The country to suffer the highest casualty percentage was Poland. 20% of the country’s population died during the war.
Bomber crews were signed on to do 25 mission tours but from 1942-1943 air losses were so common that it became statistically impossible for a bomber to complete a full tour.
The Japanese managed to hold on to American territory for over a year during the course of the war. Japanese soldiers occupied two of the Aluetian Islands which are located near Alaska. 1,500 American soldiers lost their lives during the 13 months that it took to reclaim the islands.
41,000 American POWs were captured during the course of the war. Of those captured by the Germans 10% lost their lives. Of the more than 5,000 captured by the Japanese, half died.
Calvin Graham became the youngest U.S. serviceman at the age of 12 by lying about his age. He was wounded at the Battle of Guadalcanal where his true age was discovered and his was given a dishonorable discharge, but Congress would later restore his benefits.
German U-Boats were a terror in the seas but 795 of them were sunk during the course of the war. 40,000 men manned those subs and 75% of them lost their lives at sea.
During World War 2 you were more likely to die as a member of the U.S. Air Force than as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. Pilots were required to complete 30 missions but the odds of dying before completing those 30 missions was 71%.
In order to help pilots aim their shots, every fifth round was loaded with a glowing tracer. This tracer was meant to help the pilot see if they were hitting their targets. Unfortunately the tracers behaved differently from the bullets, so if the tracers were on target 80% of the bullets would be missing it.
Another sobering fact about tracers was that pilots would end their rounds with several tracers as a signal to let them know they were out of ammo. Unfortunately it also let the enemy know that they were out of ammo. It was said that pilots who stopped using tracers improved their aim and suffered fewer casualties.
The U.S. Army had such a great need for troop transport ships to get across the pond that during the war the Army actually had more ships than the U.S. Navy.
Koreans were among the first German soldiers captured at Normandy. They were first forced to fight for the Japanese and then the Soviets and finally by the Germans.
Of the men born in the Soviet Union in 1923, only 20% survived the war.
Hiroo Onoda was a Japanese Intelligence Officer stationed in the Philippines during World War II. He refused to surrender or give up his position up until 1974 when his former commander personally came from Japan to tell him he could surrender.
Between 50 and 70 million people lost their lives during the war. 80% of the casualties came from 4 countries: Russia, China, Germany and Poland.
Penicillin was in such high demand during the war that it would actually be recycled. The drug would be extracted from the urine of soldiers who were already taking it and then it would be re-used for other soldiers.
Many people know the Kamikaze pilots but the Japanese also employed suicide subs known as Kaiten. Around 100 of these subs were used.
The 45th Infantry division of the U.S. army actually has a Swastika as their insignia. The 45th division was made up of the Oklahoma National Guard and they picked the swastika in tribute to the Native American population of the Southwest.
The Allies had a bad habit of overestimating their enemy. They thought the German power grid was much more secure than it really was and some experts have theorized that if 1% of the bombs had been dropped on power plants, the German infrastructure would have come to a stop.
The German town of Konstanz avoided being bombed during the war by convincing the Allies it was part of Switzerland. The town was right on the border between Germany and Switzerland and they kept all their lights on throughout the night which made the Allies think it was a Swiss city and not a German one.
Many believe due to Nazi propaganda that the Germans were a highly mechanized society with a technologically advanced army. But at the time of the war, Germany very few motor vehicles compared to the rest of the Western world. There were 47 Germans for every car in the country, compared to 14 Brits for every car in Britain, 8 French citizens for every car in France and 4 Americans for every car in the U.S.
The Schwerer Gustav was the largest caliber rifled weapon to be used in combat and was the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built at the time of the war.(This one had me laughing as it was headed," The 80cm Nazi Railway gun." 80cm=31 inches. I think they probably meant 80 metres.)
The Belsen Concentration Camp was burned to the ground after liberation in an attempt to stop the spread of typhus which had been killing hundreds of prisoners a day.