89 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
Before becoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill graduated from Sandhurst military academy, fought in Cuba, India, Sudan, and South Africa. He was captured by the Boers during the Second Boer War and dramatically escaped from a POW camp in Pretoria …
Before WWII reached America, Nazi agent Fritz Julius Kuhn led the German American Bund — a pro-Nazi organization of 25,000 members in the United States. He was so bold that he held a pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939 with 20,000 attende…
London stockbroker Nicholas Winton organized the rescue of 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1939. He chartered trains, forged documents, found British foster families - all independently. His wife discovered the truth in 1988 in a scrapbook…
Nicholas Winton was a London stockbroker who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of WWII. He chartered trains, forged documents, and found British foster families — all on his own. The operation was kept …
On September 1, 1939, the Polish cavalry charged German infantry at Krojanty. Initially successful, they were forced to withdraw when armor appeared. A German propaganda officer described it to Italian reporters as proof that Poles charged tanks with…
During and after WWII, the 'Monuments Men' recovered over 5 million art objects stolen by the Nazis. But most people don't know about French art curator Jacques Jaujard, who secretly moved the Louvre's entire collection — including the Mona Lisa, Ven…
Brigadier John Malcolm 'Mad Jack' Churchill fought throughout WWII armed with a longbow, a Scottish broadsword, and bagpipes. He sounded the bagpipes to lead his men into battle in France. He killed an enemy with his bow and arrow (possibly the last …
Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Kaunas, Lithuania, issued transit visas to over 6,000 Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust — directly disobeying orders from Tokyo. He wrote visas by hand for 18-20 hours per day, his hands blistered…
Polish social worker Irena Sendler smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She buried their real names in glass jars under an apple tree. The Gestapo broke both her legs but she refused to name anyone. She escaped execution when a br…
Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker, smuggled approximately 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto between 1940 and 1943. She used toolboxes, body bags, and even dogs trained to bark when she passed to create distractions. Children were giv…
The Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) fought a three-front war: against the Germans, against Soviet partisans who wanted to install a communist government in Poland, and against Ukrainian nationalist forces (UPA) who were massacring Polish civilians i…
Ukrainian sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko had 309 confirmed kills during the Siege of Odessa and the defense of Sevastopol — the most kills by a female sniper in history. She started the war as a university student studying history, and volunteered for t…