Discover obscure history, hidden heroes, and rare stories from World War II
While most histories focus on the glider troops who captured Pegasus Bridge, few know that A Company of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (later the Worcestershire Regi Read more...
View Full StoryThe 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 StoryIn the months before D-Day, French civilian women risked their lives to map German minefields on Normandy beaches. Working at low tide, they would feel for mines with bare feet, mark safe paths with s Read more...
View Full StoryPierre Seel, a French homosexual, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941 and deported to Schirmeck-Vorbruck concentration camp. After his release, he joined the French Resistance, using his knowledge of Read more...
View Full StoryIva Toguri d"Aquino, an American citizen visiting Japan when war broke out, was forced to host a radio propaganda show called "Zero Hour." Despite the "Tokyo Rose" moniker, she secretly sabotaged broa Read more...
View Full StoryIn February 1945, 350 American POWs identified as Jewish or "undesirable" were separated from other prisoners at Stalag IX-B and sent to Berga an der Elster, a subcamp of Buchenwald. There they were f Read more...
View Full StoryBefore D-Day, a team of Allied geologists and engineers conducted covert reconnaissance of Normandy beaches using midget submarines and frogmen. They collected sand samples to determine beach composit 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 StoryOver 39 female agents of the British Special Operations Executive were parachuted into Normandy before D-Day to coordinate with the French Resistance. They sabotaged rail lines, destroyed bridges, and Read more...
View Full StoryIn retaliation for Resistance activities, the German SS Das Reich division hanged 99 men from balconies and lampposts in the French town of Tulle on June 9, 1944. The bodies were left hanging for days Read more...
View Full StoryJapanese prison guards at Sugamo Prison who secretly provided extra food, medicine, and comfort to Allied POWs classified as war criminals. Despite risking execution if caught, these guards smuggled i Read more...
View Full StoryA mysterious WWII incident where French collaborationist Admiral François Darlan was assassinated in Algiers by 20-year-old monarchist Bonnier de La Chapelle. While officially a lone act, evidence su Read more...
View Full StoryBefore WWII, Nazi spies infiltrated the civilian workforce at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, where the Hindenburg crashed. They gathered technical data on American airship operations a Read more...
View Full StoryThe 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, was a tactical deception unit composed of artists, designers, and sound engineers. They used inflatable tanks, sound effects, and radio t Read more...
View Full StoryA French fighter squadron that fought on the Eastern Front alongside the Soviet Air Force. Despite being from Vichy France initially, they chose to continue fighting the Nazis after the Allied landing Read more...
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