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6 fascinating WWII facts
This week we're rounding up 6 of the most fascinating facts from WWII. From toilet paper rations to umbrella weapons, check out our favourite facts.
Let us know which fact was your favourite, or share your most fascinating WWII fact in the comments below!
Let us know which fact was your favourite, or share your most fascinating WWII fact in the comments below!
1. British soldiers got a ration of three sheets of toilet paper a day. Americans got 22.
2. An Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda never surrendered in 1945. Until 1974, for almost 30 years, he held his position in the Philippines. His former commander travelled from Japan to personally issue orders relieving him from duty in 1974.
3. When Hitler visited Paris, after Germany seized control of France, activists cut the elevator cables of the Eiffel Tower so that he had to climb the stairs all the way to the top.
4. After the German occupation of France in 1940, the French car manufacturer Citroën was forced to build vehicles for the Nazis. However, workers of the car manufacturer manipulated the oil dipsticks of their cars in such a way that the Nazis assumed that there was enough oil when maintaining the engine, although this was not the case. As a result, the vehicles repeatedly suffered engine seizures and the Nazis were unable to move forward.
5. British soldier Digby Tatham-Warter was known among his comrades for always taking an umbrella along into battle so that his own comrades could identify him better and would not accidentally shoot him. He even managed to capture a German car after stabbing the driver in the eye with his umbrella.
6. A universal act of the Allied armies was to urinate in the Rhine River upon arrival at it. Everyone from the lowest of privates to men no less than Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) or General Patton (who had himself photographed in the act) did it.
Ken
When describing a thicket or dense shrub land I often say “There is probably a Japanese soldier in there who does not know the war is over” in tribute to M Onoda’s dedication.