Fascinating Facts About World War II.

23-10-2015

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1. The most decorated unit ever in S. history is the 442nd regimental Combat Team, whose motto was “Go for Broke.” It consisted of Japanese-American volunteers. Together they won 4,667 major medals, awards, and citations, including 560 Silver Stars (28 of which had oak-leaf clusters), 4,000 Bronze Stars, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, and one Medal of Honour, plus 54 other decorations. It also held the distinction of never having a case of desertion.
2. Norvell Gillespie, the garden editor ofBetter Homes and Gardens, designed the camouflage print for S. service uniforms in WWII.
3. The greatest tank battle in history occurred between the Germans and Russians at the Kursk salient in Russia from July 4-22, 1943. More than 3,600 tanks were involved.
4. The largest Japanese spy ring during WWII was not in the S. but in Mexico, where it spied on the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
5. Prisoners of war in Russian camps experienced an 85% mortality rate.
6. Germany had a total of 3,363 generals during the war while the S. had just over 1,500.
7. The vast majority of German war criminals passed themselves off as refugees at displaced persons camps when the war ended, thereby gaining freedom.
8. Before Nazi Germany decided to eliminate the Jews by gassing them, it had considered sending them to the island of Madagascar.

 Initial atomic explosions caused over 200,000 immediate casualties

9. If it became necessary to drop a third atom bomb on Japan, the city that would have been the target was Tokyo.
10. The greatest loss of life ever sustained by the U.S. Navy occurred on July 30, 1945. The USS Indianapolis was shot by Japanese submarine I-58. Captain Charles McVay, commanding officer of the cruiser, was the only U.S. Navy officer ever to be court-martialed for losing a ship in war.