Historical facts about the 2 world war. Interesting facts about World War II (15 photos). Which soldiers from Eastern Muslim countries fought on the side of the Nazi army

In the year of the victory over fascism, Nazism and Japanese militarism, Bob Marley and Nikita Mikhalkov, Evgeny Petrosyan and Leonid Yakubovich were born, and Pugacheva, Putin and Schwarzenegger were not yet “in the project”. See how long ago that time was. And if we stop celebrating Victory Day, soon our children will become like English schoolchildren, among whom three out of four do not know. And in schools in Japan, in general, the history of the Second World War is not stopped separately. So, a few words about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but about brothels in Japanese-occupied territory, desu.

If you do not read books, but draw knowledge about world massacre number two from computer games and films made by a person born in forty-five, then you can miss not only interesting, but also important. And then it will remain a mystery under what kind of bridge Hitler was caught with a tail or why the stew was called the “second front”.

But really, why, and what kind of war was this?

1. World War II is the most destructive conflict in human history. The most money was spent on its maintenance, the greatest damage was caused to the economy and property, the maximum number of people were killed - according to various sources, from 50 to 70 million people. More than any other war, World War II influenced the further course of world history.

2. The Soviet Union suffered the greatest humanitarian losses in the war - 26.6 million people, and even then officially.

3. Four out of five German soldiers killed on the battlefields laid down their lives on the Eastern Front.

4. The Holocaust claimed the lives of one and a half million children. Approximately 1.2 million of them were Jews, tens of thousands from gypsy families.

5. Eighty percent of Soviet men born in 1923 did not live to see the end of the Great Patriotic War.

6. The battle for Stalingrad, which became a turning point in the war, turned out to be the bloodiest in the history of the world, about 1.6 million people died in it. The corpses were counted in piles and buckets.

7. In the occupied German territories, the Red Army raped more than 2 million German women aged 13 to 70 years. Winners are not judged.

8. On the bank deposit of Max Heiliger - the man who was not there - the SS men put money, gold and jewelry that they seized from the Jews.

9. The swastika is an ancient religious symbol used by many civilizations. Until now, it has a place in the symbolism of Hinduism and Buddhism. Swastikas were found in the ruins of ancient Greek, Egyptian, Chinese temples. From the Sanskrit word "swasti" comes greetings in various languages of Asia (compare with "hello"). Hitler adopted the swastika as the symbol of the National Socialists in 1920. Flag with her - too. At the same time, swastika patches were also worn by the fighters of the southern parts of the Red Army, recruited from Kalmyk Buddhists, who were distinguished by their special military audacity.

10. In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt began work on the "death ray". This was the name of a supposedly possible beam of radio waves, which could destroy solid objects - enemy aircraft. Instead of a “death ray”, we got a radar - a device for detecting aircraft and controlling their movement. In our time, the United States has already learned how to shoot down ballistic missiles with a laser, but 68 years ago this could only be a fantasy.

11. Approximately 600 thousand Jews served in the US Army during World War II, about 8,000 of them died in battle, another 27 thousand were wounded, captured or missing.

12. More people died during the siege of Leningrad Soviet people(military and civilian) than on other fronts of the war, the Americans and the British combined.

13. Japanese kamikaze as a phenomenon appeared in October 1944 on the idea of Vice Admiral Onishi, in response to the technological superiority of US forces. Approximately 2,800 suicide pilots died in combat. They sank 34 American ships, damaged 368, killed 4,900 sailors and wounded 4,800.

14. Many Jews in the camps became the objects of medical experiments. For example, doctors irradiated the gonads of men and women with X-rays to find out what dose of radiation is sufficient to sterilize the Untermensch. The surgeons broke and spliced the bones of the experimental prisoners many times in order to find out how many regenerations the bone tissue is capable of. The science of organ transplantation was also developing at full speed. The results of many nightmarish experiments were useful to modern peaceful medicine. But their very fact led to the tabooing of eugenics. Similar experiments were carried out by Japanese military doctors on the inhabitants of China, preparing for a chemical-bacteriological war against the USSR and Mongolia.

15. Dr. Josef Mengele used about 3 thousand twins for his savage genetic exercises, mostly from among the gypsies and Jews. Only about 200 of them survived. Once the doctor had the idea to create artificial "Siamese twins" by combining two ordinary Romanian twins. Did the "Angel of Death" plan to open a circus after the war?

16. In addition to Jews and Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses also fell into the gas chambers of the Third Reich - a total of about 11 thousand adherents of a multinational sect.

17. In 1941, an ordinary American army received $ 21 a month, in 1942 - already $ 50.

18. During the air attack on Pearl Harbor, 18 of the 96 ships of the US Navy that were laid up were put out of action. In the process, 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,280 were injured.

19. German submarines sent about 2,000 ships of the anti-Hitler coalition to the bottom, at the cost of losing 781 submarines.

20. The first jet aircraft were used by the Germans in World War II. Among them is the Messerschmitt ME-262. However, these successful fighting vehicles were created too late to influence the outcome of the conflict.

21. The most powerful self-propelled artillery gun in history was named "Karl" in honor of the developer - General Karl Becker. The muzzle length was 4.2 meters. Shells 60 cm in diameter pierced concrete walls two to three meters thick. Only seven such monsters were created. The Karl guns were used by the Fritz during the siege Brest Fortress and Sevastopol.

22. In Berlin, the brothel "Salon Kitty" worked for foreign diplomats and other important people. The brothel was crammed with microphones, and 20 high-class prostitutes underwent weeks of intense spy training. They were taught to extract important information from customers in the process of idle chatter. A feature film was made about the brothel.

23. The Second World War put an end to the planetary domination of the old woman Europe, her teeth were “knocked out”, and the centers of influence on the weather in our big house named Earth moved to the USA and the Soviet Union, countries that became superpowers. The invention and the first experiments in the use of nuclear weapons marked the beginning of the Cold War, which some people still itch to imitate.

24. Most historians believe that the first day of World War II was September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. Others say that the world slaughter began much earlier - on September 18, 1931, with the invasion of Japanese troops into Manchuria. But there are also scientists who generally consider the 1st and 2nd World Wars to be one protracted war with a break for the growth of a new generation of cannon fodder.

25. During the war, hamburgers in the United States were called "Freedom Steaks" to avoid the Germanic sound. Hamburg, they say, and we will bomb the burghers there, and if you please, eat steaks.

26. Erich "Bubi" Hartmann, a German military pilot, during the war years became and is still considered the best ace fighter in the history of aviation. On account of his 352 air victories, incl. 345 - over Soviet aircraft, in 1525 sorties. After the war, the first ace of the Reich spent 10 years in Soviet camps, and after returning to Germany, he commanded a squadron of the Bundeswehr. At the age of 48, he retired, not wanting to fly on "bad American planes", which at that time were really so-so.

27. Adolf Hitler's nephew William fled to the United States shortly before the war, and, by permission of President Roosevelt, participated in the war against his uncle. William Patrick Hitler was a pharmacist's assistant, so he hit the Nazis only indirectly. After the war, he changed his last name to Stuart-Houston, and made a fortune on his memoirs.

28. The German Nazis exterminated millions of Poles. But some Polish children seemed to them anthropologically similar to the Germans, so the Nazis abducted about 50 thousand boys and girls from Polish families for "Germanization" in the houses " true Aryans» Fatherland.

29. A purely Nazi invention was the so-called. Sonderkommando. In Auschwitz, the Sonderkommando was a special unit of physically strong prisoners who were instructed to invite newly arrived “subhumans” to the gas chamber, then remove the corpses and pull out gold teeth, and then burn and / or bury. The members of the team naturally went berserk and went crazy.

30. Above Hitler's desk hung a framed photo of Henry Ford. In turn, Ford carefully kept the portrait of the Fuhrer on his desk in Dearborn. The great industrialist was an anti-Semite and the Führer personally referred to him admiringly in the book "My Struggle". However, the Ford company was also friends with the Soviet Union. I wonder if Zionists drive Fords today?

31. The greatest tank battle in history took place between the forces of the Red Army and the German invaders on the Kursk Bulge on July 5 - August 23, 1943. Almost 6 thousand tanks, 4 thousand aircraft, about two million soldiers and officers took part in it. After the Battle of Kursk, Soviet troops finally seized the strategic initiative.

32. Mortality among prisoners of war Germans, Italians, Romanians, Hungarians in Soviet camps (a piece of wild land, fenced with barbed wire) reached 85 percent. In the camps for displaced persons in 1945, many German war criminals posed as refugees, thus avoiding retribution in hot pursuit.

33. A huge number of Japanese spies worked in Mexico, from where they tried to follow the US Atlantic Fleet.

35. If it became necessary to drop a third atomic bomb on Japan, then Tokyo would become the next target city. There were plans for Kyoto, but the Americans decided not to touch it because of its cultural and historical value. They did not feel sorry for the German Dresden, you see. But there, even without atomic warheads, half of the ancient city was razed to the ground.

36. Rudolf Hess, who held the rank of "Deputy Fuhrer", was called "Fräulein Anna" behind the back in the top of the Reich - because of homosexual inclinations. Hess's second nickname was "Brown Mouse". After fleeing to Britain, Genosse Rudolf was declared insane and became the last prisoner in Tower of London, where he sat from 1941 until the Nuremberg trials. Until his death in 1987, Hess remained a staunch National Socialist, and in 2011 the German authorities destroyed his grave so that neo-Nazis would not hold their Sabbaths there.

37. The name of the automobile concern "Volkswagen" was invented by Hitler, who desired to give the people of Germany the opportunity to acquire strong and inexpensive cars. The development of which was entrusted to the notorious Jacob Porsche.

38. The United States of America was the only country on which the Reich government officially declared war - on December 11, 1941. The Germans did not stand on ceremony with the rest of the states.

39. The Nazis called their regime the Third Reich (existed from 1933 to 1945) because the First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806) and the Second Reich was the united Germany of 1871-1918. Weimar Republic(1919-1933) was ruined by the World economic crisis and the advent of Adolf Hitler to totalitarian power. Every revolution has its Napoleon.

40. An amazing battle involving cavalry took place on August 2, 1942 near the village of Kushchevskaya, Krasnodar Territory. The Cossack units of the Red Army put up fierce resistance to the offensive of the Nazis. Some sources report that in the battle of Kushchevsky the horsemen successfully attacked the tanks. The angry Cossacks cut down the German infantry, as in the First World War, with sabers, into cabbage.

41. To this day, very effective tool combat is considered the legendary Soviet "Katyusha" - a rocket-propelled grenade launcher based on a truck. Adopted in the early days of World War II, the Katyusha could fire up to 320 rounds in 25 seconds. The Germans called these machines "Stalin's organs" for their resemblance to the pipe system of a musical instrument and the deafening roar during firing.

42. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, US President Roosevelt wanted a bulletproof car for himself. Since by law it was impossible to spend more than $ 750 on a car, Roosevelt got a free Cadillac limousine owned by a gangster. The President even joked about this: "I hope Mr. Capone will not mind." And the mister was in prison and suffered from syphilis.

43. In the German elections of 1928, less than 3% of Germans voted for the NSDAP. And exactly ten years later, Adolf Hitler was named Time magazine's Person of the Year. But in 1939 and 1942, that is, twice, Joseph Stalin was declared the person of the year, in 1940 and 1949 - Winston Churchill. Know ours.

44. The Nazis "licked off" the Nazi greeting from the Italian fascists, and those from the ancient Romans. Whom the "ridge" was spied on by the Romans themselves is not really clear.

45. In 1974, Japanese intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda, born in 1922, went out to people from the jungle of the Pacific island of Luban. On it, he robinsonized for 29 years (a year longer than the hero of Defoe's book), not knowing that his country capitulated and nothing threatens him. So the Soviet joke about the partisan grandfather, who for many years after the Victory derailed trains, is not such a fairy tale.

46. The war between the USSR and Japan formally, on paper, ended only in 1956. But the "bad peace" did not work either - the corresponding agreement has not yet been signed. Therefore, Japan considers the southern Kuriles to be its own, and half of Sakhalin is a territory with an unsettled status. Periodically, the Kremlin promises to give the Japanese Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and all sorts of Habomai, but that's what the Kremlin is to promise. Meanwhile, in the southern Kuriles, ancient Russian melancholy blooms with concrete gray hair.

47. Writer Ian Fleming "copied" his agent "007" from the spy of Yugoslav origin Dusko Popov (1912 - 1980). This guy came to intelligence with knowledge of 5 languages and his own recipe for sympathetic ink. Popov was the first superspy to take photographs on microfilm. Dusko knew when the Japanese were going to attack Hawaii, but the FBI did not believe the intelligence officer. After retiring, the spy lived happily ever after in his penthouse and had a reputation as a womanizer the world had never seen.

48. Beginning in 1942, American sailors in pacific ocean used the Navajo Indians to encrypt and decrypt radio messages. The Navajo language did not have words for, for example, a torpedo or a bomber, so they were replaced by "folk". About 400 Indians worked for the Victory, the Japanese, their unusual language, and even encrypted, turned out to be too tough.

49. In 1939, the Nazis launched the T4 euthanasia program in Germany, according to which from 80 to 100 thousand German invalids, paralytics, epileptics, mentally retarded people and lunatics were taken out of hospitals and killed. First, injections were used to kill, then poison gases. The program was closed after numerous protests from relatives of patients and church authorities.

50. All countries participating in the war possessed chemical munitions, however, according to the Geneva Protocol of 1925, they did not have the right to use it. The convention, however, was ignored by the Italian fascists in Ethiopia (1936) and the Japanese militarists in China. The farther from Geneva - the "possible".

World history is replete with a huge number of wars that have affected almost all continents and most former and current states. Each of them is studied in detail by historians, scientists, politicians, however, despite scrupulous research, various monographs on a particular conflict, interesting facts about wars remain mostly unknown to a wide audience.

One of the bloodiest and largest in the history of mankind was the Second World War of 1939-1945, which affected more than 60 of the states that existed at that time. The main participants were members of two coalitions - the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) and (USA, UK, USSR, China).

Interesting facts about the war of 1941 - 1945

At the very beginning of the war, the United States watched the unfolding events from the sidelines without entering the war until, on December 7, 1941, Japan defeated the American fleet based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

After that, the United States became a full-fledged member of the anti-Hitler coalition. But almost immediately, the Americans faced significant difficulties: they needed to train and train pilots, preparing them for combat operations in the Pacific. It was not possible to do this in the open ocean because of the danger from German submarines. Then the American command decided to practice takeoffs, maneuvers and landings on aircraft carriers on the Great Lakes. Especially for this, 2 steamships were converted. During the exercises, more than 18 thousand pilots were trained and about three hundred aircraft were lost due to accidents. That is why so many fragments of this military equipment remained at the bottom of the Great Lakes.

Hawaiian dollar - what is this currency?

The attack on was the cause of the appearance of the "Hawaiian dollar". The government of the country urgently withdrew all dollars from the population, replacing them with banknotes with a large inscription "HAWAII".

This maneuver was made in case of a possible capture by the Japanese of the islands: if this happened, a currency that had no value would fall into the hands of the enemy.

"Camel Luck"

Interesting facts about the war of two coalitions give an idea not only about endurance and the ability to accept complex decisions command of the allies, but also about ingenuity and an extraordinary approach in the fight against the enemy. So, the German tankers who fought in North Africa started an unusual tradition - to move "for good luck" heaps of camel dung. The Allied troops, noticing this trend, began to make anti-tank mines, which disguised themselves as such piles, and destroyed more than one enemy tank. Having guessed the opponent's maneuver, the Germans began to go around the untouched manure. But here, too, the Allies showed their imagination by creating mines that looked like heaps of manure already with traces from caterpillars that had driven over them.

Carrot diet and vitamin A

What other interesting facts about wars show the extraordinary thinking of the allied command? A striking example, the effect of which has been preserved in our time, was the legend of vitamin A, which is allegedly found in large quantities in carrots and directly affects the improvement of vision and skin condition. In fact, the amount of carrots eaten does not directly affect good vision and healthy skin. This myth was invented by the British, who developed a radar with which pilots could see German bombers at night. To prevent the enemy from guessing about the invention, the military distributed publications in newspapers about the carrot diet of pilots.

The grave of Tamerlane and the war: is there a connection?

Whether there is a connection between fiction and reality can be found by examining some interesting facts about the war. 1941, June 21 - Soviet scientists opened the grave of the famous Turkic commander Tamerlane, discovered in Samarkand. According to one of the legends, the opening of the grave will lead to war. On June 22 of the same year, the Germans attacked the USSR, thereby unleashing a war that was called the Great Patriotic War. However, such an unusual circumstance among scientists is considered just a coincidence, since, according to available data, it was approved long before 1941.

Interesting facts about the Patriotic War: animals and their role

The theater of military operations of 1941-1945 unfolded on the territory of the USSR and was called the Great Patriotic War. During the conflict, a huge number of people who fought for the liberation of their homeland from the Nazi invaders died. However, not only human resources were involved in hostilities.

Interesting facts about the war of 1941-1945 indicate that animals were actively involved in the fighting. Soviet cynologists trained dogs, the purpose of which was to exterminate. The dogs were practically not fed, accustoming them to the fact that they can get food under the model of the car. Thus, already trained dogs with packs of TNT and an explosive device tied to them ran to enemy tanks during the battle, undermining them and themselves. Until now, there are disputes about the effectiveness of this method of dealing with the enemy.

Sometimes interesting facts about the great war become an unexpected find for history buffs. For example, it is known that in addition to dogs, camels also took part in the Great Patriotic War! To be more precise, the camels were the draft force for the guns in the 28th formed in Astrakhan during the battles for Stalingrad. Due to the lack of equipment and horses, the Soviet military was forced to catch wild camels and tame them. About 350 animals took part in hostilities. Most of them died, but two camels even reached Berlin along with the Soviet army. The surviving animals were sent to zoos.

Interesting facts about the war of 1945, or rather about the significant day of June 24, when the Victory Parade took place in Moscow, tell the layman about the notable event of this grandiose procession: one of the participants in the parade carried a dog on a tunic.

It was not a simple dog, but the famous Gilbras, who, during mine clearance operations, European states discovered about 150 shells and 7000 mines. But on the eve of the holiday, Gilbras was wounded and could not pass at the Parade among the rest of the representatives of the school of military dogs. That is why Stalin gave the order to carry him along the Red Spare on his tunic.

"Coca-Cola" in the USSR?

Interesting facts about the war also shed light on the unknown side of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the USA, in particular, between their prominent political figures. So, during the war in Europe, a meeting took place between the Marshal of the USSR and the General of the US Army, during which the general treated the Marshal with Coca-Cola.

Zhukov appreciated the drink and turned to Eisenhower with a request to deliver it to headquarters. To Avoid Rumors Regarding Worship Soviet general such a bright symbol of American imperialism, Zhukov asked to discolor Coca-Cola. This wish was conveyed to the beverage factory through President Harry Truman. Chemists succeeded in discoloring Coca-Cola, which was delivered to the marshal in 50 cases in ordinary bottles with a red star and a white cap.

How did Fanta come about?

However, this is far from the only episode associated with Coca-Cola. Interesting facts about wars tell how Fanta actually appeared.

Back in the early years of World War II, the German representative office of the bottling factory for this drink was left without ingredients that were supplied from the United States. In search of an alternative, the Germans began to produce another product, using food production waste (whey and apple pomace) for this. The drink received the unpretentious name "Fanta" - short for "fantasy". Until now, there is an opinion that the Nazi Max Keith was the director of the plant and the inventor of the drink. But this is not true, he was not a Nazi. After the war, Keith got in touch with the Coca-Cola headquarters in the United States, and the company's ownership of the plant in Germany was restored. The leaders did not abandon Fanta, which had already gained great popularity, and continued its production on a par with Coca-Cola.

30 years later

30 years after Great Victory Allies in the war, a rather symbolic event occurred: in July 1975, an American spaceship"Apollo" and the Soviet "Soyuz", during which the cosmonauts were supposed to shake hands. However, the calculation of the meeting place was made incorrectly, and the handshake took place over the Elbe River, where a meeting of American and Soviet soldiers had taken place 30 years before.

All these interesting facts about wars, little known to the general public, show the reverse side of the events that took place and sometimes highlight the curious or unusual cases that are woven into the story of difficult military everyday life like a bright ribbon.

1. During World War II, the Taj Mahal was covered with a huge canopy to make it look like a store of bamboo. In this way, any Japanese bomber pilot could be misled. In 1971, he was again camouflaged during the Indo-Pakistani War.

2. After World War II, Jewish mercenary groups nicknamed “Nokmim” appeared who sought out those who had terrorized Jews or their families during the war and meticulously executed them.

3. The Red Army (USSR) defeated 75-80% of the German troops during the Second World War. US forces / destroyed only 20-25%.

4. During World War II, there was a secret American program to disguise plastic explosives under the guise of pain. It was such a disguise that even pastries could be made from this "flour", which later could be used to make explosives.

5. A private in the US Army during the Italian campaign single-handedly forced the surrender of four machine gunners and captured 10 Italian prisoners of war. He was stripped of the medal only because he is a combat private in the US Army.

6. During the Second World War, the official gesture that accompanied the oath of allegiance in the United States was similar to the Nazi salute (Hitler). Therefore, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered to change it and put a hand on his heart.

7. During World War II, US Army Lieutenant Robert Klingman used the propeller of his F4U Corsair (single-seat carrier-based fighter) to destroy enemy reconnaissance aircraft. His weapon jammed, but he attempted an air ram, went into the tail of the enemy and, with the propeller of his aircraft, violated the control of the enemy aircraft, as a result of which it crashed. Robert Klingman returned to base and was awarded the Navy Cross.

8. There is an account in which the events that took place during the Second World War are posted, which correspond in date and time in real time (only with a difference of 70 years).

9. "Night Witches" were members of the women's aviation regiment of Russian bombers. These pilots turned off their engines so that they would not be heard on approach, glided through the sky and bombed German targets. The Night Witches dropped 3,000 tons of bombs on German positions and constantly evaded enemy aircraft, as a result of which the German command had no choice but to promise the German pilots the Iron Cross for the destruction of at least one aircraft from the Night Witches.

10. The prototype for the creation of the plot of the battle near the Death Star from the cult film " star Wars” served as a military operation of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

11. During World War II, three bombs hit the same church in Malta. Two of them just bounced off to the side and didn't explode. The latter broke through the roof of the church, fell among the people who took refuge during the raid, but did not explode.

12. In the ranks of the Polish army as an ordinary soldier during the Second World War, there was an ordinary bear and, ultimately, its presence played an important role in the battle for Monte Cassino.

13. Finished paying her dues for Second world war only in 2006.

14. declared neutrality during World War II and so thousands of people invested their hard-earned money in banks. When depositors passed away, relatives were deprived of any access to their money, and banks continued to receive interest on invested funds.

15. During World War II, Italy issued an ultimatum demanding that they accept the Italian occupation. The Greeks answered “then it is war”. In the ensuing duel, the unarmed Greeks steadfastly held the line against the Italian forces, thus forcing Germany to intervene, diverting resources from the upcoming invasion of the USSR.

16. During World War II, the Manhattan Project used the code name "copper" for the element plutonium.

17. During World War II, Canadian soldier Leo Major single-handedly captured about 93 Nazis in the Netherlands. He also later single-handedly captured the city of Zwolle, also in the Netherlands, to escape the Germans. To everything he was blind to one.

18. The total losses of the USA, Great Britain and France during the Second World War together were approximately equal to the losses of Soviet Union V decisive battle near Leningrad. In general, Soviet losses are 26 times greater than those of other allies.

19. Fritz Haber, a German chemist, created a process for the production of fertilizers, which today make it possible to produce about half of the world's food. He also created chlorine gas. After his death, chlorine gas was used in the gas chambers, and pesticides were used to fertilize the soil.

20. Lauri Terni was a soldier who fought under three flags: Finnish, German (when he fought the Soviets in World War II) and American (where he was known as Larry Thorne) when he served in the US Army as a special forces soldier in the war.

21. During World War II, Britain shipped most of its stocks and foreign securities in boxes labeled “fish”. They were stored for years in an office building in downtown Montreal, where about 5,000 people worked throughout the war with no idea what was hidden in their basement.

22. The United States repeatedly bombed Tokyo during World War II, resulting in more than 100,000 casualties, more than the total number of casualties in and combined.

23. There is a separate cemetery in France for American soldiers who were executed for rape or murder during World War II.

24. The US only produced 139 cars during World War II because all factories used production capacity and supplies for the needs of the army.

PLANE Grenade

During the defense of Sevastopol in 1942, the only case in the history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War occurred when the commander of a mortar company, Junior Lieutenant Simonok, shot down a low-flying German aircraft with a direct hit from an 82-mm mortar! This is as unlikely as shooting down a plane with a thrown stone or brick ...

ENGLISH HUMOR PERFORMED BY TORPEDA

A curious incident at sea. In 1943, a German and British destroyer met in the North Atlantic. The British, without hesitation, were the first to hit the enemy with a torpedo ... but the rudders of the torpedo jammed at an angle, and as a result, the torpedo made a circular cheerful maneuver and returned ... The British were no longer joking watching their own torpedo rush towards them. As a result, they got it from their own torpedo, and in such a way that the destroyer, although it remained afloat and waited for help, did not participate in hostilities until the very end of the war due to the damage received. enigma military history only one thing remained: why didn't the Germans finish off the British? Either they were ashamed to finish off such warriors of the "queen of the seas" and receivers of Nelson's glory, or they neighed so that they could no longer shoot ...

POLYGLOTS

A curious incident occurred in Hungary. Already at the end of the war, when Soviet troops entered Hungary, as a result of battles and communication, most Hungarians were sure that “f @ b your mother” is an accepted greeting, like “hello”. Once, when a Soviet colonel came to a rally to the Hungarian workers and greeted them in Hungarian, they answered him in chorus “fuck your mother!”.

NOT ALL GENERALS RETRACTED

June 22, 1941 in the strip southwestern front Army Group "South" (commanded by Field Marshal G. Rundstedt) delivered the main blow south of Vladimir-Volynsky on the formations of the 5th Army of General M.I. Potapov and the 6th Army of General I.N. Muzychenko. In the center of the strip of the 6th Army, in the area of Rava-Russkaya, the 41st Rifle Division of the oldest commander of the Red Army, General G.N. Mikushev. The division's units repulsed the first blows of the enemy together with the border guards of the 91st border detachment. On June 23, with the approach of the main forces of the division, having launched a counterattack, they pushed the enemy back beyond the state border and advanced up to 3 km into Polish territory. But, due to the threat of encirclement, they had to move away ...

Unusual intelligence facts. In principle, German intelligence quite successfully "worked" in the Soviet rear, except for the Leningrad direction. The Germans sent spies in large numbers to besieged Leningrad, supplying them with everything they needed - clothes, documents, addresses, passwords, appearances. But, when checking documents, any patrol instantly revealed "fake" documents of German production. The works of the best specialists in forensic science and printing were easily detected by soldiers and officers from patrols. The Germans changed the texture of the paper, the composition of the paints - to no avail. Any even semi-literate sergeant of the Central Asian conscription revealed a linden at first sight. The Germans never solved the problem. And the secret was simple - the Germans, a high-quality nation, made the paper clips that fastened the documents from stainless steel, and our real Soviet paper clips were slightly rusty, the patrol sergeants had never seen others, for them the shiny steel clips sparkled like gold ...

FROM AIRCRAFT WITHOUT PARACHUTE

The pilot, who made a reconnaissance flight during the return, noticed a column of German armored vehicles moving towards Moscow. As it turned out -on a way there are no German tanks. It was decided to drop troops in front of the column. Only a completed regiment of Siberians in white sheepskin coats was brought to the airfield. When the German column was walking along the highway, low-flying aircraft suddenly appeared in front, as if they were about to land, dropping their speed to the limit, 10-20 meters from the snow surface. Clusters of people in white coats rained down from the planes onto a snow-covered field next to the road. The soldiers got up alive and immediately threw themselves under the caterpillars of tanks with bundles of grenades ... They looked like white ghosts, they were not visible in the snow, and the advance of the tanks was stopped. When a new column of tanks and motorized infantry approached the Germans, there were practically no “white jackets” left. And then a wave of planes again flew in and a new white waterfall of fresh fighters poured from the sky. The German advance was halted and only a few tanks retreated hastily. After it turned out that when falling into the snow, only 12 percent of the landing force died, and the rest entered into an unequal battle. Although all the same it is a terribly wrong tradition to measure victories by the percentage of dead living people. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine a German, an American, or an Englishman voluntarily and without a parachute jumping on tanks. They wouldn't even think about it.

In early October 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command learned about the defeat of three of its fronts in the Moscow direction from messages from the Berlin radio. We are talking about the encirclement near Vyazma.

AND ONE WARRIOR IN THE FIELD

On July 17, 1941 (the first month of the war), Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht Hensfald, who later died near Stalingrad, wrote in his diary: “Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried a Russian unknown soldier. He alone, standing at the cannon, shot at a column of our tanks and infantry for a long time. And so he died. Everyone marveled at his bravery." Yes, this warrior was buried by the enemy! With honors ... Later it turned out that it was the gun commander of the 137th Infantry Division of the 13th Army, Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin. He was left alone to cover the retreat of his unit. Sirotinin, took an advantageous firing position, from which the highway, a small river and a bridge across it were clearly visible. At dawn on July 17, German tanks and armored personnel carriers appeared. When the lead tank reached the bridge, a gunshot rang out. With the first shot, Nikolai knocked out a German tank. The second shell hit another, closing the column. There was a traffic jam on the road. The Nazis tried to turn off the highway, but several tanks immediately got stuck in a swamp. And senior sergeant Sirotinin continued to send shells at the target. The enemy brought down the fire of all tanks and machine guns on a lone gun. A second group of tanks approached from the west and also opened fire. Only after 2.5 hours the Germans managed to destroy the cannon, which managed to fire almost 60 shells. At the battlefield, 10 destroyed German tanks and armored personnel carriers were burning down. The Germans got the impression that a full battery was firing at the tanks. And only later did they learn that a single gunner was holding back the column of tanks. Yes, this warrior was buried by the enemy! With honors...

ENGLISH HUMOR

Famous historical fact. The Germans, exposing the supposedly impending landing on the British Isles, placed several fake airfields on the coast of France, on which they "planned" a large number of wooden copies of airplanes. Work on the creation of these very dummies-aircraft was in full swing when one day in broad daylight a lone British plane appeared in the air and dropped a single bomb on the "airfield". She was wooden...! After this "bombardment" the Germans abandoned false airfields.

BEWARE, UNFORMED!

The Germans who fought on the eastern front completely refute the stereotypes that have developed in our films about the Second World War. As the German veterans of the Second World War remember "UR-R-RA!" they have never heard and do not even suspect the existence of such an attacking cry of Russian soldiers. But the word BL@D they learned excellently. Because it was with such a cry that the Russians rushed into the attack, especially hand-to-hand. And the second word that the Germans often heard from their side of the trenches - “Hey, go ahead, fucking @ m @ t!”, This booming cry meant that now not only infantry but also T-34 tanks would trample on the Germans.

On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the German armed forces, which meant the cessation of hostilities on all fronts and the end of the Great Patriotic War for the Soviet people. May 9 of the same year went down in history as Victory Day. Very soon we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of this important event for all of us. On the occasion of the holiday, we have collected the most interesting facts not only about the Great patriotic war but also about World War II in general.

1. During World War II, Japan dropped bombs on China filled with bubonic plague-infected fleas. This entomological weapon caused an epidemic that killed between 440,000 and 500,000 Chinese.

2. During World War II, Princess Elizabeth (the current Queen of Great Britain) served as an ambulance driver. Her service lasted five months.

3. Japanese soldier Hiro Onoda surrendered 27 years after the end of World War II. The junior lieutenant of the military intelligence of the Japanese armed forces was hiding on the island of Lubang until 1974, not believing in the end of the world conflict and continuing to collect information about the enemy. He regarded the information about the end of the war as massive disinformation on the part of the enemy and only surrendered after the former Major of the Imperial Japanese Army, Yoshimi Taniguchi, personally arrived in the Philippines and ordered the cessation of military operations.

4. The number of Chinese killed by the Japanese during World War II exceeds the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

5. During World War II, the Paris Cathedral Mosque helped Jews escape German persecution; fake Muslim birth certificates were issued here.

6. 80% of all Soviet men born in 1923 died during World War II.

7. Winston Churchill lost the election in 1945 after winning World War II.

8. In 1942, during the bombing of Liverpool, carried out on the orders of the Fuhrer, the area where his nephew, William Patrick Hitler, was born and lived for some time, was also destroyed. In 1939, William Patrick left Great Britain for the United States. In 1944, he enlisted in the US Navy, burning with hatred for his uncle. He later changed his last name to Stuart-Houston.

9. Tsutomu Yamaguchi is a Japanese who survived both the atomic bombings of Japan - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The man died in 2010 from stomach cancer at the age of 93.

10. During World War II, Japan accepted Jewish refugees and rejected German protests.

11. At least 1.1 million Jewish children were killed during the Holocaust.

12. A third of the Jews living at that time were killed during the Holocaust.

13. Czechoslovak President Emil Hacha suffered a heart attack while negotiating with Hitler regarding the surrender of Czechoslovakia. Despite his grave condition, the politician was forced to sign the act.

14. In October 1941 Romanian troops under the control of Nazi Germany, more than 50,000 Jews were killed in Odessa. To date, the event is known under the term "murder of the Jews of Odessa."

15. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Canada declared war on Japan even before the United States.

16. During World War II, the Oscar statuettes were made from plaster due to a shortage of metal.

17. During the German occupation of Paris, Adolf Hitler could not get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, as the elevator drive was deliberately damaged by the French. The Fuhrer refused to go up on foot.

18. During World War II, doctor Eugeniusz Lazovsky and his colleague saved 8,000 Jews from the Holocaust. They simulated a typhus epidemic and thus stopped the entry of German troops into the city.

19. Hitler planned to capture Moscow, kill all the inhabitants and create an artificial reservoir on the site of the city.

20. The Russians killed more Germans during the Battle of Stalingrad than the Americans in all of World War II.

21. Carrots do not improve eyesight. This is a false belief spread by the British in order to hide from the Germans information about new technologies that allow pilots to see German bombers at night during the Second World War.

22. Spain remained neutral in the First and Second World Wars, but was subjected to civil war(1936-1939), in which 500,000 people died.

23. During the German invasion of Poland, Wizna was defended by only 720 Poles, holding back the onslaught of the 19th German army corps, which consisted of more than 42 thousand soldiers, 350 tanks and 650 guns. They managed to stop the advance for three days.