Mind-Blowing World War II Facts You Weren’t Taught In School

Think you know all there is about WWII? Think again!

You Can Thank The Nazis For Fanta

Fanta was invented in Germany when the war made it difficult to bring in Coca-Cola syrup from the US.

Glad He Wasn’t In There

The SS officer who captured Anne Frank and her family bought her book to see if he was mentioned. He wasn’t.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Russia and Japan still haven’t signed a peace treaty to end WWII due to a dispute over sovereignty of the Kuril Islands.

He Was Still Holding Out Hope

The last Japanese soldier to surrender did so in 1974, 29 years after WII was over.

How Cool Is That?

A radio belonging to a British POW was hidden so well that when the soldier visited the camp 62 years later he found it right where he left it.

Seems Fishy

Leonard Dawe, a crossword compiler for the Telegraph, used D-Day operation code names as the answers to his puzzle a month before D-Day. MI5 interrogated him only to discover that it was a random coincidence.

True Heroes

Two doctors in Poland discovered that the Nazis would not deport anyone to a concentration camp who tested positive for typhus. The two injected Jews and non-Jews with a vaccine containing dead Epidemic Typhus that would test positive but have no adverse effects, saving approximately 8,000 lives.

Beat Us To The Punch, Eh

Canada declared war on Japan before the US did after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Talk About Commitment

Juan Pujol Garcia was a double agent who was awarded both the German Iron Cross and the Member of the British Empire award.

Behold, The Power Of Bamboo

The Taj Mahal was covered with a scaffold to camouflage it as a stockpile of bamboo and misguide bombers.

That’s Just Crazy

Royal Air Force sergeant Nicholas Alkemade fell 18,000 feet without a parachute and survived with only a sprained leg.

Who Would Have Thought That?

To prevent the Germans from finding out that the British had RADAR onboard aircraft, the British started a rumor that their pilots had excellent night vision from eating lots of carrots. This rumor has continued to today as many people think carrots improve eyesight.

Wow

80% of all Soviet males born in 1923 died in World War II.

That’s Not Scary At All..

Approximately 5,500 leftover bombs are discovered and defused in Germany every year.

Freedom Isn’t Free

World War II cost each person in the US $20,388.

Family Issues

Hitler’s nephew, William Patrick Hitler, fought for the US Navy against his uncle.

What A Maniac

Hitler ordered the collection of 200,000 Jewish artifacts to be displayed at the end of the war in a trophy case called The Museum of an Extinct Race.

Look At That Cute Soldier

The Polish Army trained a brown bear named Wojtek to move crates of ammunition. After the war he lived at the Edinburgh Zoo.

Willing, But Not Able

During the war, Canada gave out buttons to people who tried to enlist but were refused due to medical reasons to show their willingness to fight.

Pietro Is A Legend

When chocolate became scarce due to rationing, an Italian pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero started adding chopped hazelnuts to chocolate to stretch the supply. The product, Pasta Gianduja, was renamed Nutella in 1964.

As If Fleas Weren’t Bad Enough

In the fall of 1940, Japan bombed China with fleas infected with bubonic plague.

Those Poor Animals

All venomous animals at the London Zoo were killed at the beginning of the war in case the zoo was bombed and the animals escaped.

A Coconut Saved JFK?

John F. Kennedy and his crew were hit by a destroyer and stranded in the Solomon Islands. JFK carved a message into a coconut shell and asked a native to take it to the nearest Allied base. They were soon rescued as a result. The shell was preserved as a paperweight on his desk in the Oval Office.

Mr. Lucky

Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only person the Japanese government recognizes as having survived both the Hirsoshima and Nagasaki bombings.