Discover obscure history, hidden heroes, and rare stories from World War II
The artificial Mulberry harbors used at Normandy were designed by a team led by Welsh engineer Hugh Iorys Hughes. His revolutionary design used concrete caissons ("Phoenix breakwaters") and floating r Read more...
View Full StoryWhile the Tuskegee Airmen are famous, few know about the African American meteorologists who served with them. These men, trained at Tuskegee Institute, provided critical weather forecasts for mission Read more...
View Full StoryBritish MI9 developed an elaborate escape kit hidden inside Monopoly sets sent to POW camps. Real German, Italian, and French currency was hidden beneath the Monopoly money. Maps were printed on silk, Read more...
View Full StorySpecialized British units carried phantom radio equipment designed to simulate entire army groups transmitting false communications. These radio deceptions, part of Operation Titanic, included simulat Read more...
View Full StoryA obscure British oceanographic team spent years studying Normandy tides, currents, and moon phases to determine the exact date and time for D-Day landings. Their calculations showed only three days i Read more...
View Full StoryAllied Beachmasters coordinating D-Day landings used a system of colored flags and semaphore signals that changed daily according to a codebook. German intelligence never broke this system, allowing A Read more...
View Full StoryA massive German flying boat prototype built by Claude Dornier in 1916 that actually saw limited use in WWII as a transport aircraft. Despite being designed in WWI, the Rs.I was so advanced that the L Read more...
View Full StoryA bizarre but serious WWII weapons project where Mexican free-tailed bats were strapped with tiny incendiary bombs and dropped over Japanese cities. The bats would roost in buildings, then the timers Read more...
View Full StoryBritish intelligence secretly hid escape maps, compasses, and files inside Monopoly game sets sent to POW camps via fake charities. The maps were printed on silk to withstand water and folding, and ge Read more...
View Full StoryA British deception operation where a corpse carrying false documents was floated ashore in Spain to convince the Germans that the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia instead of Sicily. The body w Read more...
View Full StoryDuring the Battle of the Bulge, American troops used captured German uniforms to infiltrate enemy lines. However, many were executed when caught due to Hitler's Commando Order. Some cleverly used thei Read more...
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