32 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
Of the 29 DD (Duplex Drive) Sherman tanks launched from landing craft toward Omaha Beach, 27 sank in the rough seas because the canvas flotation screens collapsed. Only two made it to shore. The tank commanders and crews drowned inside. The decision …
Captain Frank Lillyman of the 101st Airborne was the first Allied soldier to land on D-Day, parachuting into Normandy at 00:15 to mark the drop zone near Sainte-Mere-Eglise. Weather and cloud cover scattered his team - only two pathfinders landed cor…
Omaha Beach was divided into sectors named with colors: Easy Red, Easy Green, Fox Red, Fox Green — but the two least talked about sectors were 'Uncle Red' and 'Dog White.' The 116th Infantry Regiment assaulted Dog White sector and suffered devastatin…
The Germans at Normandy were partly misled by 'Operation Bodyguard' — the strategic deception that the main invasion would come at the narrowest point of the Channel (Calais/Dieppe), not the beaches. This deception included fake radio traffic from a …
When Brigadier General Norman Cota waded ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day, he reportedly told Col. George Taylor of the 16th Infantry: 'There are only two kinds of people on this beach: the dead and those who are going to die. Now let's get the hell of…
The Normandy bocage — thick hedgerows of earth and tangled bramble that separated centuries-old farm fields — created conditions worse than any planner anticipated. The hedgerows were over 2000 years old, planted by the Romans and reinforced over mil…
Percy Hobart designed swimming DD tanks, flail mine-clearing tanks, Bobbin canvas-laying tanks, ARK bridge carriers, and Crocodile flame-throwers. Churchill personally demanded their inclusion. Flail tanks cleared 90 percent of Sword Beach mines. But…
Private Keith Gaze of 12th Parachute Battalion was shot in the head on June 6, 1944. Comrades covered him with a parachute. Hours later he woke, pushed it aside, and returned to fighting. He was shot again later that day, fatal this time. A Normandy …
At Pointe du Hoc, Rangers found the German coastal guns had been relocated to an orchard 1,300 yards away — but they didn't know this when climbing the cliffs under fire. A two-man patrol, Sgt. Leonard Lomell and Sgt. Jack Kuhn, stumbled upon the gun…
The Allies towed 115 massive concrete caissons weighing up to 6,000 tons across the English Channel. Sunk to create breakwaters with floating roadways that flexed with tides. Mulberry A at Omaha was destroyed by a storm June 19. Mulberry B at Arroman…
The Vierville draw at Omaha Beach was defended by just 96 German soldiers in concrete casemates — yet they held off the 116th Infantry Regiment for over six hours. The German position was stronger than intelligence suggested because Colonel Gotthard …
On D-Day night, the RAF dropped 500+ dummy parachutists (code-named 'Ruperts') across Normandy. Each dummy was rigged with explosive charges and firecrackers to simulate gunfire. German troops were dispatched to hunt phantom paratroopers, tying up en…