World War II

       21 rare and weird facts about World War II

We’ve all seen “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers,”

 but here’s a list of facts from World War II that you 

probably didn’t know.

1. The first German serviceman killed in the war was 

killed by the Japanese.

A German soldier's moment of death is captured on 

film as he throws up his hands; his Mauser 

98k falls to the ground

2. The first American serviceman killed was 

killed by the Russians.

3. Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen 

were killed over Europe.

A B-17F destroyed by a German Me-262.

4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that

 the Marine Corps.

5. Polish Catholic midwife Stanisława Leszczyńska 

delivered 3,000 babies at the Auschwitz 

concentration camp during the Holocaust in 

occupied Poland.

6. In World War II, British soldiers got a ration of 

three sheets of toilet paper a day. Americans got 22.

7. In 1941, more than 3 million cars were manufactured

 in the US. Only 139 more were made during 

the entire war.

8. Four of every five German soldiers killed in the war

 died on the Eastern Front.

Captured German soldiers in 1944.

9. Only 20% of the males born in the Soviet Union

 in 1923 survived the war.

10. In World War II, the youngest serviceman in the 

US military was Calvin Graham — age 12. Graham 

lied about his age when he enlisted in the US Navy. 

His real age was not discovered after he was wounded.

11. Only one out of every four men serving on U-boats survived.

12. The Siege of Stalingrad resulted in more Russian 

deaths (military and civilian) than the US and 

Britain sustained (combined) in all of World War II.

13. To avoid using the German sounding 

name ‘hamburger’ during World War II, Americans

 used the name ‘Liberty Steak.’

14. Adolf Hitler’s nephew, William Hitler, served in 

the US Navy during World War II.

15. Adolph Hitler and Henry Ford each kept a 

framed picture of the other on his desk.

16. During World War II, the largest Japanese 

spy ring was actually located in Mexico.

17. The mortality rate for POWs in Russian camps was 85%.

18. The first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies 

killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

19. Had it been necessary for a third atom bomb, 

the city targeted would have been Tokyo.

20. Hiroo Onoda, an Imperial Japanese Army 

intelligence officer who fought in 

World War II, never surrendered in 

1945. Until 1974, for almost 30 years, he held 

his position in the Philippines. His former 

commander traveled from Japan to personally

 issue orders relieving him from duty in 1974.

21. Total casualties for World War II were between

 50 and 70 million people, 80% of who came form 

only four countries — Russia, China, Germany,

 and Poland. Over 50% of the casualties were 

civilians, with the majority of those being 

women and children.