11 Interesting Facts: World War II
Military-related events or ‘norms’ that you may not know about one of the most devastating times in history.
- The first German serviceman killed in World War II was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937), the first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940), the highest-ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the U.S. Army Air Corps – so much for allies.
- The youngest U.S. serviceman was 12-year-old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).
- At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top U.S. Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division was the Swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika.” All three names were soon changed for PR purposes.
- More U.S. servicemen died in the U.S. Army Air Corps than in the Marine Corps. While completing the required 25 missions your chance of being killed was 71 percent.
- Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.
- It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a mistake. Tracers had different ballistics so at long range if your tracers were hitting the target 80 percent of your rounds were missing. Worse yet, tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.
- When the Allied Armies reached the Rhine River in Germany, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal, from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. George Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).
- German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but it wasn’t worth the effort
- The German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.
- 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 then forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and further forced to fight for the German Army until they were captured by the U.S. Army.
- Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 U.S. and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. Twenty-one troops were killed in the firefight. It would have been worse if there had been any Japanese soldiers on the island.
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User Comments
Arazar
On September 23, 2007 at 9:41 am
lol sunk by toilet, stupid nazi sh8s
EdRoberts
On September 25, 2007 at 9:35 am
Most interesting fact is that they fought it to WIN. Something, the United States has not done in any war since then…
tia :)
On November 5, 2007 at 7:21 am
–this is really interesting!
milly
On November 10, 2007 at 12:33 pm
jiom fdf
Paul Harrison
On January 4, 2008 at 7:54 am
I,m gonna lead the 4th reich.
P.Harrison
On January 8, 2008 at 3:39 am
No seriously how did a gonad like hitler ever be taken serious look at him [ha ha]
S.Patton
On January 14, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Hitler must hav had rubbish plumbers
T.Ali
On March 7, 2008 at 11:58 am
—-interesting—-zzzzzz—-
ja
On March 12, 2008 at 9:27 am
rubbish site
blah
On March 14, 2008 at 3:57 pm
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH
a toilet?!
icy
On March 23, 2008 at 2:02 pm
well what happend 2 america NOW!
in wars????
thats what i thought
chelsea goodwin
On March 29, 2008 at 9:00 am
HEY ANYONE WHO TALKES ABOUT WORLD WARR 2 THE BOWLT CAUSE U DONT KNOW HOW THEY FELT WHEN THEY HAD TO LEAVE THERE MUMS AND HOW WOULD U FEEL IF THAT WAS U ATE SO JUST BOWLT
miss.misunderstood
On March 31, 2008 at 7:38 pm
awesome site i’ve read alot about world war ll but i never knew some of the facts listed here. By the way EdRoberts is right things have changed alot since world war ll. americans used to fight to win know the only reason we fight is for materialistic reasons.
russianvictory
On April 12, 2008 at 5:14 pm
onlyamerican, in both WORLD wars the large and powerful America avoided entering both of them until the end, just so it could profit from selling the waring countries arms and materials, Russia was already on the road to hammering Germany by the time you lot entered. Vietnam, you lost, face it. You pulled out when you did because you had already lost so why cotinue losing even more. It has been profiteering from world war,twice, that has made America so wealthy today, you have more weapons and technology than any other country but not a single braincell to use it with. There are good reasons why America is the most hated country in the world.
Canadian power
On April 18, 2008 at 10:32 am
canada is the bet country in the world
Russian spy
On May 5, 2008 at 12:29 am
Canadian power, of course! *rofl* Yooo peace keepers lol
WOW, now I got it, why german U-boats were annihilate so quickly. lol
person from nz
On May 5, 2008 at 12:56 am
lol a toilet….
rofl
me
On May 15, 2008 at 8:19 pm
A toilet?!!
me
On May 15, 2008 at 8:21 pm
yeah me again so want to get a girlfrnd or boyfrnd?
Keep on READIN!!!
me
On May 15, 2008 at 8:27 pm
say name of lover 3 times say your name blink 3 times vote for Barack Obama and watch the Utah Jazz Playoffs Tomorrow be Patient and….. BAM!!! Remember next Jazz game May 16 08 against Lakers(boooo!!!)
Losen
On May 17, 2008 at 5:28 pm
F you people
me me
On May 19, 2008 at 1:16 pm
it sank by a toilet that is kind of stupid why did it sink cause of the waz it cause people didnt flush it or spmething lol that is weird
Anonymous
On May 19, 2008 at 1:19 pm
that is weird
one word a lot of poop
hahahahah
lol!!
hu
On June 11, 2008 at 5:10 am
nice
Lolrotfllmaowut
On July 24, 2008 at 7:16 am
Wow, Stfu.
Learn to type before you comment an article.
Queer.
;D!
mr haba laba dooo
On August 21, 2008 at 7:19 am
intresting facts
jhdjhwd
On August 27, 2008 at 9:32 am
cool
coolguy507
On September 3, 2008 at 9:14 pm
thats so funny
brittany dereth duffy
On September 5, 2008 at 2:52 pm
i think world war 2 should stop having children in it
American Patriot
On September 23, 2008 at 12:18 pm
that russianvictory dudes a queer and so is his country right now.
On October 24, 2008 at 4:15 pm
brittany FYI world war 2 has been over for at least 30 years.
sqeakyhands2
On October 30, 2008 at 9:37 pm
lol topilet hilariouly 10 out of 10
sqeakyhands2
On October 30, 2008 at 9:38 pm
lol toilet 10 out of 10
sqeakyhands2
On October 30, 2008 at 9:39 pm
this is a must see W E B S I T E !!!!!!! lol
TAMARA_SHAWTY_BAD
On November 16, 2008 at 10:04 am
DIS SHID IZ DUM
Shazia
On December 2, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Interesting——-zzzzzzz
Eugene Barry
On January 19, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Are you sources reliable, Mr. Woo?
emo kid
On January 21, 2009 at 12:03 pm
ha…some of those are kinda funny. lmao
m-dog98
On February 5, 2009 at 3:37 pm
a toilet!!!!!!! :>>>>> OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thts soooo fen weird!!!!!!!!!!!
m-dog98
On February 5, 2009 at 3:39 pm
im only 10 u know peeeeeepzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!
m-dog98
On February 5, 2009 at 3:40 pm
whats jiom fdf????????????
m-dog98
On February 5, 2009 at 3:42 pm
#9 is weird!!!!!!!!!!!!
wtfff
On February 9, 2009 at 3:06 pm
ha i love how you guys have no life at all so you come and post a comment on this really stupid websie!
Retard
On February 12, 2009 at 6:08 pm
# 9 isthe most wierdest thing i’ve ever heard of. How would a shpi sink from a toilet. Is that possible???? DID U JUST MAKE THAT UP
monkey :)
On March 8, 2009 at 5:20 pm
this helped alot
thanks,
lolmonkey
On March 16, 2009 at 3:09 am
thx for doing my homework XD
Anonymous
On March 29, 2009 at 6:10 am
lollll…
R.I.P. Jacob
On April 1, 2009 at 4:07 pm
hitler is dumb as a rock and im not even kidding you. and besides those people helping him were also stupid. HITLER SUCKS. if hitler was alive today i would want someone to freakin stab him. he a loser.
~deepdish~
hitler
On April 9, 2009 at 1:02 pm
hitler was a very stupid leader and lead to his so ya
Internet Critic
On April 20, 2009 at 12:50 pm
This site on World War 2 is trash and shall be soon deleted until it gets some actual facts
my name
On May 7, 2009 at 8:06 am
this is a good site for school projects/ ….a toilet….
the person who wrote it
On May 7, 2009 at 8:09 am
they must have been pretty stupid for a toilet to sink them…ha ha
Twix
On May 7, 2009 at 12:44 pm
NAZI SUCK! F@#$ NAZI!
twix
On May 7, 2009 at 12:46 pm
HI!
twix
On May 7, 2009 at 12:47 pm
HI! BIACHEZ!
digger
On May 8, 2009 at 11:24 am
white supremacy
digger
On May 8, 2009 at 11:31 am
Actually they are still to dumb to get here by themselves if my great grandpa didnt have slaves this would be an all white country
buffer
On May 12, 2009 at 7:08 pm
sink by a toilet is easy…flush the toilet it goes into a chamber sealed above and then released into ocean. if the seal doesn’t close the ocean water rushes in. Poor design…not hard to figure that one out.
fdjghshsidltg
On May 19, 2009 at 9:18 am
coollll dudeee
bob
On May 22, 2009 at 9:52 am
awesome
bob
On May 22, 2009 at 9:52 am
awesome
adriana baby
On June 4, 2009 at 11:42 am
ya r so funny
asshole
On June 22, 2009 at 12:42 am
i love anal. any takers? females only.
a secret someone......
On July 14, 2009 at 1:49 am
who would of thought a toilet could sink an army submarine?!!! ;P
MJ
On October 2, 2009 at 10:48 am
ITS COOL
kyle fortune
On November 11, 2009 at 10:41 am
That was prity good info ..
thx
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