10 lesser known facts about World War II

New Delhi: The Second World War was the most widespread war in the recorded history of mankind. It began on September 1, 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Hitler's Nazi forces, and ended with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.In a state of “total war”, the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust (pogrom of innocent Jews by Hitler's forces) and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it resulted in 50 million to over 73 million fatalities. These deaths make World War II by far the deadliest conflict in all of human history. But there are a few lesser known facts about the war. Here are ten such facts; 1. Japanese HoldoutsJapanese holdouts were Japanese based on islands throughout the Pacific who refused capitulation, or didn't know that Japan had surrendered. These soldiers remained isolated on these islands, often by themselves, for several years, or decades. One famous case is Hiroo Onada, who finally surrendered in 1974, 29 years after Japan surrendered!2. The Death MatchThe Death Match was a football (soccer for Americans) match between a POW Soviet team, “FC Start”, and a team comprised of Luftwaffe members, “Flakelf”. The match was played on August 9th, 1942, and was refereed by a Waffen SS soldier.The referee was biased, and he allowed fouls against the Soviet side. He even allowed a German to kick the Soviet goalkeeper in the head. Eventually, the Soviet team pulled off a 5-3 win. This win had huge consequences for the winners. A number of the FC Start players were arrested and tortured by the Gestapo (Hitler's secret service), allegedly for being NKVD (Stalin's secret service) members (as Dynamo was a police-funded club). One of the arrested players, Mykola Korotkykh, died under torture. The rest were sent to the Syrets labour camp, where Ivan Kuzmenko, Oleksey Klimenko, and the goalkeeper Mykola Trusevich were later killed, in February 1943.3. Aleutian Islands Campaign On June 3, 1942 , Japanese forces invaded and occupied Attu and Kiska, two islands which were part of the state of Alaska. However, these islands were in very bad condition and proved little of a threat to the U.S.4. South American InvolvementThough it is called “World War II”, a lot of people do not include any South American nation in the list of combatants. In fact, Brazil was a major combatant. During the eight months of the Italian campaign, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force managed to take 20,573 Axis prisoners, including two generals, 892 officers and 19,679 other ranks. During the War, Brazil lost 948 of its own men killed in action across all three services. Many other South American countries contributed in raw supplies and, in some cases, soldiers joined the Free French Forces.5. Vichy France vs the AlliesAfter France was invaded by Hitler's forces in 1940, Germany installed a puppet government in Vichy. This government did not have any real power or control. However, after the invasion of France, there were still French forces in places such as Northern Africa, Pacific colonies and on navy ships. During Operation Torch, Vichy forces were forced to fight against invading allies. The stiff Vichy resistance cost the Americans 556 killed and 837 wounded. Three hundred British troops and 700 French soldiers were also killed.6. Fire Balloons from JapanBy the autumn of 1944, until early 1945, the Japanese began launching over 9000 “Fire Balloons” from the island of Honshu. These balloons were made of Japanese paper (washi), filled with hydrogen and explosives. They were meant to go with the Jet Stream and fly to North America where they would detonate. The plan was very ineffective and only about 1000 made it to North America. However, 6 Americans were killed in 1945 in a single explosion.7. Operation DrumbeatNormally, people think of U-boats attacking ships in the Atlantic, around Greenland or closer to Europe, rather than off the coast of the USA. However, Operation Drumbeat involved 40 U-Boats attacking shipping very close to the coastline of various states. An even scarier fact is that German U-Boats even landed saboteurs on American soil! At Long Island, New York, and Ponte Vedra, Florida, eight English-speaking Germans sneaked into America (the four at Long Island were caught after many weeks).8. Additional Europeans in German ForcesA lot of people believe that only Germans were serving in Nazi forces, but this is not the case. German recruitment programs were started in diverse occupied countries, and were aimed at enlisting citizens and former soldiers into Nazi forces, including the Waffen SS. The 373rd infantry battalion of Wehrmach was a German battalion comprised of Belgians. Frikorps Danmark was created in Denmark to recruit Danish Nazi's. Similar forces were created in Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Norway, and even a British force (British Free Corps) was created with twenty-seven soldiers (from various parts of the Empire including New Zealanders, Canadians, and Australians)9. Stalag Luft IIIStalag Luft III was a German Nazi POW camp, mostly for allied airmen who'd been shot down and taken captive. However, these airmen were very crafty and over 600 had helped to organize an escape committee, which secretly began to dig tunnels and make plans. On March 24th, 1944, the plan was executed, but from the start, everything went wrong. Only 77 men managed to get into the escape tunnels, and were soon discovered. Of the 77, only 3 managed to get to safety. 50 escapees were executed on orders of Hitler. This escape attempt was made into a 1963 film, “The Great Escape”.10. The Niihau IncidentOn Dec 7, 1941, the Japanese bombarded Pearl Harbour. A lot of Japanese pilots were able to return to aircraft carriers, but a few had been shot down, or had crashed on the island of Oahu. Japanese pilots were told that if they were to crashland, they should do so on the island of Ni'ihau, which they thought was uninhabited. Shigenori Nishikaichi was a pilot whose plane had been damaged. He crashlanded on Ni'ihau, which he soon found out was inhabited.He was treated as a guest, but soon they found out about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Three Japanese on the island tried to help Nishikaichi to escape, but eventually they were stopped, and Nishikaichi as well as one of the Japanese who tried to aid him were killed. This became known as the Niihau incident .

10 lesser known facts about World War II

New Delhi: The Second World War was the most widespread war in the recorded history of mankind. It began on September 1, 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Hitler's Nazi forces, and ended with

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