163 obscure facts from the depths of WWII history. Even Mike might not know these.
Between 1944 and 1945, Japan launched 9,300 paper balloon bombs using jet streams - the first intercontinental weapons system. Over 1,000 reached North America. A balloon killed Elsie Mitchell and five children in Bly, Oregon - the only enemy-inflict…
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 …
Private Keith Gaze of the British 12th Parachute Battalion parachuted into Normandy on June 6, 1944, as part of Operation Tonga. During fighting shortly after landing in the early morning hours, he was shot in the head. His comrades, assuming him dea…
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 332nd Fighter Group, known as the 'Red Tails' for painting their aircraft tails red in red paint, was composed of African-American pilots who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. The pilots faced segregation from their own country — the…
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 …
Before D-Day, the Allies created an entirely fictional army group — FUSAG (First United States Army Group) — supposedly commanded by General George Patton and stationed in southeast England. They built a completely fake staging area with inflatable t…
In February 1944, US forces attacked Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon, sinking 12 warships, 32 merchant ships, and 275 aircraft in two days. The lagoon floor now holds 60+ shipwrecks, a premier wreck diving site. Sunken Fujikawa Maru still has Zero…
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…
U.S. Army Rangers scaled 100-foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc under fire to destroy six 155mm German cannons only to find telephone pole decoys. Sgt. Leonard Lomell and Sgt. Jack Kuhn discovered the real guns in an orchard 1,300 yards away and destroyed …
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest in July 1944 and immediately began issuing 'Schutz-Pass' — protective passports that identified bearers as Swedish subjects awaiting repatriation. He created safe houses for Jews throughout the ci…