In Feb 1945, Mikhail Devyataev, a Soviet fighter pilot escaped a Nazi concentration camp near Peenemünde with nine other POWs by taking over the commandant’s He 111 bomber. The NKVD didn’t believe his story and classified him as a criminal, but in 1957 he became a Hero of the Soviet Union. The post In Feb… Read More »
The first Soviet citizen to visit the White House was a female WWII sniper with 309 confirmed kills, one of which was a sniper she dueled for 3 days. But as the tour progressed, Pavlichenko began to bristle at the questions, and her clear, dark eyes found focus. One reporter seemed to criticize the long… Read More »
The long-standing notion of late WWII ‘Kamikaze’ pilots as hyper-nationalist zealots was largely fiction. Many pilots were reluctantly drawn from the educated and liberal in Japan, and many expressed frustration at the futility of their nation’s cause and the sanctity of the Emperor. The post The long-standing notion of late WWII… appeared first on Crazy… Read More »
The iconic photo of the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J day was actually a non-consensual kiss by a drunk sailor. The “nurse” was a dental assistant named Greta Friedman who later said “it wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed.” The post The… Read More »
Over 8,000 pieces of music were secretly created in Nazi concentration camps; including symphonies, operas, and songs scribbled on everything from food wrappings to potato sacks. One prisoner composed an entire symphony on toilet paper using the charcoal given to him as dysentery medicine. The post Over 8,000 pieces of music were secretly…. appeared first… Read More »
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, only 5 American pilots managed to get into the air against 353 Japanese planes, the first two were George Welch and Kenneth Taylor. They shot down 6 enemies. They were DENIED the Medal of Honor because … they didn’t have permission to take off from their CO. The post… Read More »
Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated combat soldiers of WW2, earned every combat award available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism, went on to have an acting career after the war and ended up starring as himself in a movie about his own wartime heroics. The post… Read More »
WW2 US Army Captain Moffatt Burriss, along with two other me in a Jeep, accidentally stumbled upon a 15,000 strong German Panzer Corps outside of Berlin toward the end of the war. He approached the enemy commander alone and tricked him into surrendering his army and being taken captive. The post WW2 US Army Captain… Read More »
During the D-Day invasion, the Allies dropped thousands of decoy dummy paratroopers called Ruperts that couldn’t be distinguished from real paratroopers at a distance, these fakes sent Nazi forces chasing them inland in pursuit while real paratroops landed closer to Cherborg and Caen. The post During the D-Day invasion… appeared first on Crazy Facts. Source
