8 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
After the fall of Bataan, Major Macario Peralta organized a guerrilla army of over 30,000 fighters on the island of Panay in the Philippines. His forces kept 8,000 Japanese troops pinned down, recovered downed Allied airmen, and established a complet…
After the fall of Bataan, a group of 1,100 Filipino and American soldiers escaped the Death March by slipping through a gap in Japanese lines that a local fisherman had discovered. Led by Lt. Col. Ed Ramsey, they formed a guerrilla force that survive…
The Military Intelligence Service trained over 6,000 Japanese-Americans as translators and interrogators. Many had families in internment camps. They translated captured documents including the Z Plan revealing Japanese fleet positions before Leyte G…
While the 442nd Regimental Combat Team is celebrated for their battlefield heroics, a smaller group of Japanese-American soldiers performed equally critical work in intelligence. The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) trained over 6,000 Nisei (secon…
Fourteen Comanche code talkers served in the European Theater, using their language to transmit tactical messages on D-Day and throughout the Normandy campaign. They were among the most effective code talkers because Comanche, with only a few hundred…
On September 12, 1944, the Japanese transport Arisan Maru carried approximately 1,800 Allied POWs, mostly Americans from Bataan, crammed below deck. The ship was torpedoed by USS Shark. Japanese guards abandoned ship while nearly all 1,800 POWs drown…
Operation Hailstone (February 1944) was the American attack on Japan's primary naval base at Truk Lagoon in the Central Pacific. In two days, U.S. forces sank 12 warships, 32 merchant ships, and 275 aircraft — earning it the nickname 'Japan's Pearl H…
On September 12, 1944, the Japanese transport ship Arisan Maru was torpedoed by the USS Shark in the South China Sea. What makes this tragedy uniquely obscured: the ship was carrying approximately 1,800 Allied POWs — mostly captured Americans from th…