163 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
In the mountain village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in southern France, the entire Protestant community — led by Pastor Andre Trocme and his wife Magda — conspired to hide Jewish refugees and French resistance fighters. Magda Trocme hid resistance fight…
Vera Atkins was a Romanian-born woman who spoke four languages and had a photographic memory. She joined the SOE's French Section as an intelligence officer and personally recruited and managed 39 agents sent into occupied France — including 13 women…
Virginia Hall, an American socialite from Baltimore with a wooden prosthetic leg (which she named 'Cuthbert'), became arguably the most effective Allied agent in occupied France. Her work with SOE was so effective that Klaus Barbie, the 'Butcher of L…
In April 1942, a young Polish soldier of the II Corps in Iran purchased a Syrian brown bear cub from a boy who had tied it to a string. The bear was named Wojtek (Polish for 'joyful warrior') and was officially enlisted as a Private in the 22nd Artil…
A Syrian brown bear cub named Wojtek was adopted by the 22nd Polish Artillery Supply Company in Iran. He was formally enlisted as a private and given a paybook, barracks, and even a hammock. He drank beer, smoked cigarettes (ate them), and was traine…
Albert Gortz was a Danish schoolteacher in Jutland who used his school to hide Allied airmen shot down over Denmark. Under the guise of teaching, he ran a network that moved over 2,000 people from occupied Denmark to neutral Sweden by fishing boat. H…
While Desmond Doss's story is known, fewer know about Richard T. Trask, a medic who treated over 200 wounded soldiers under fire on the Volturno River in Italy without ever firing a weapon. Or about T5 Sergeant Carl E. Nelson, a Native American medic…
Geoffrey Pyke proposed building an aircraft carrier from Pykrete - 86 percent sawdust and 14 percent water frozen together. Pykrete was as strong as concrete but floated and self-repaired. The ship would have been 2,000 feet long. A 60-foot prototype…
Australian-born Nancy Wake earned the nickname 'White Mouse' from the Gestapo for her uncanny ability to evade capture. After witnessing Nazi persecution in Vienna in 1937, she began working as a journalist and later became a courier for the French R…
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…
Descendant of Tipu Sultan, Noor Inayat Khan was a pacifist childrens author who became the first female SOE wireless operator in occupied France. When her entire network was arrested, she stayed alone in Paris for four months sending vital intelligen…
Noor Inayat Khan was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, and was a published children's author before volunteering for the SOE. She was the first female wireless operator sent into occupied France, operating i…