163 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1940 disobeyed Tokyo and issued transit visas to thousands of Jewish refugees. He wrote visas by hand for 18-20 hours daily. When ordered to leave he continued at the train station - writing his…
When Chiune Sugihara was ordered evacuated by Tokyo from Kaunas, he had hundreds of desperate Jewish refugees pounding on his door for visas. He kept writing visas until the very moment his train pulled out of the station. He wrote his last visa whil…
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…
Spanish diplomat Eduardo Propper de Callejon issued visas in occupied Paris to Jewish refugees in defiance of Franco's government and German authorities. Working as Third Secretary at the Spanish Embassy, he processed hundreds of visas for Sephardic …
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…
Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming 'Mad Jack' Churchill entered battle throughout WWII armed with a Scottish broadsword, a longbow, and bagpipes. He used his longbow to kill an enemy officer with an arrow during the retreat to Dunkirk in …
Polish cavalry officer Witold Pilecki deliberately allowed himself to be captured in Warsaw on September 19, 1940. Assigned prisoner number 4859, he spent 2.5 years inside Auschwitz and organized a resistance network called ZOW with hundreds of inmat…
Polish cavalry officer Witold Pilecki deliberately got himself arrested during a Warsaw street roundup in 1940 so he could infiltrate Auschwitz from inside. For 2.5 years he organized a resistance network inside the camp called the ZOW (Union of Mili…
On August 20, 1941, Soviet Lt. Zinoviy Kolobanov buried his KV-1 tank in a swampy overlook near Krasnogvardeysk. A column of 43 German vehicles from the 4th Panzer Division advanced. Kolobanov single-handedly destroyed 22 tanks and 2 anti-tank guns i…
Krystyna Skarbek, a Polish countess, was one of the first and longest-serving Special Operations Executive agents. She parachuted into Nazi-occupied Poland and crossed the Tatra mountains to reach Hungary, delivering intelligence. During an SOE missi…