7 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
When the Japanese cargo ship Lisbon Maru was torpedoed by an American submarine in 1942, the Japanese guards locked the holds containing 1,816 British POWs below deck and covered them with hatch covers. When the Chinese fishing boats of Dongji Island…
Brigadier Orde Wingate's Chindits — officially the Long Range Penetration Groups — were formed to operate deep behind Japanese lines in Burma. In March 1943, 3,000 men crossed the Chindwin River and operated for three months behind Japanese lines, de…
POWs building the Burma Railway (the 'Death Railway') — constructed by the Japanese using 60,000 Allied POWs and 200,000 Asian forced laborers — developed a sophisticated communication system using tapping codes based on Morse code. But their most in…
POWs building the Burma Railway (the 'Death Railway') developed a sophisticated communication system using the tapping code based on Morse code, which allowed them to warn each other of approaching guards during sabotage. When Allied commando Operati…
Brigadier Orde Wingate's Chindits — officially the Long Range Penetration Groups — were formed to operate deep behind Japanese lines in Burma. In March 1943, 3,000 men crossed the Chindwin River and operated for three months behind Japanese lines, de…
Over 2.5 million Indian soldiers served in WWII — the largest volunteer force in history. The Sikh Regiment was particularly decorated. At the Battle of Monte Cassino, Sikh soldiers led three separate charges up the mountain against the German positi…
Teruo Nakamura, an indigenous Taiwanese conscript, was discovered in a cave on Morotai Island in December 1974 after living alone in the jungle for nearly 30 years. Still wearing Japanese military clothes and fighting a war ended 29 years earlier. Fo…