Need some Lesser Known Cool Facts About WW2

So I am helping teach a WW2 history course at my university and I'm looking for some cool lesser known facts to share with my students. Anything will do! Anything from weapons to specific parts of well known operations to information about the home front to espionage and propaganda. Any theater of war works! Thanks!

Edit: And of course facts about officers and enlisted men!

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Mincemeat-Bizarre-Assured-Victory/dp/0307453286

The Battle of Castle Itter: Americans, Wehrmacht Soldiers and POVs fighting an SS-Unit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter

Vichy France vs Thailand


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Thai_War

Operation Catapult the battle between the British and French navies leading to the loss of almost 1,300 French sailors, a French battleship and the damaging of 5 other ships on the orders of Winston Churchill.

Dunkirk:the Hythe lifeboat

Syndicated press report - Thursday 27 June 1940

REFUSED TO TAKE BOAT TO DUNKIRK. Lifeboat Coxswain Dismissed. Following a Royal National Lifeboat Institution inquiry into the refusal of the crew of the Hythe lifeboat to assist in the B.E.F. evacuation from Dunkirk, the coxswain and motor mechanic have been dismissed from the lifeboat service. Those members of the crew who were parties to this conduct are being informed of the dissatisfaction of the committee of management.

The report issued to-day states that the action was "mainly due to the action of the coxswain who induced not only his own but the crews of two other boats to refuse to take their boats from Dover to Dunkirk, and it is considered that this failure to perform a duty at a time of great national emergency reflects discredit on the lifeboat service and can in no way be excused." The report adds: — "The Naval Authorities, being unable to risk such behaviour by the crews of other boats which had not yet arrived, had no other course open to them but to summon ratings of the Royal Navy to man the boats." It should be added that when the crews of other boats arrived they expressed their strong regret at being prevented by the coxswain's action from taking part in this national service which will in days to come be recognised as one of the greatest epics of the sea. "The crews of the Ramsgate and Margate boats who manned their boats and went direct to Dunkirk were instrumental in saving many soldiers."

38 Years' Service. Coxswain H. Griggs had been a member of the Hythe lifeboat crew for 38 years. He was said at the time to have declared to an interviewer that he declined to go to Dunkirk because he was asked to drive the boat on to the sands. "I knew we could never get away again because at Hythe it takes 50 men and a steam winch to get us off one bar of sand when we launch," he explained. "I will defend my own shore with the next man, but here I had to use own judgment."

--------------

You will need to google 'Hythe, Kent' to realise the proximity of this (then) small Army garrison town in proximity to the Continent, in order to appreciate the startling revelation of this decision by the Coxswain

Tali ihantala battle

If soviets won RIP finland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tali-Ihantala

You should mention heroes: From generals, to those who were pulling the trigger. "Mad" Jack Churchill will surely become very favorite, just like Paddy Mayne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

You should mention heroes: From generals, to those who were pulling the trigger. "Mad" Jack Churchill will surely become very favorite, just like Paddy Mayne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

I was thinking about using him as a bonus question on the first exam. I mean the only confirmed longbow kill recorded during the war stands out pretty good.

There was this handbook for spies. I don't remember what it was called on Netflix, but the Americans and the British established a handbook for spies to use. By the end of the war, the two authors who used this handbook would be useful in the years of the Cold War. One of the authors was secretly an agent for the Soviet Union.

Known by WW2 aficionados but not by a lot of others, one of the best planes of the war, the DeHavilland Mosquito, was designed to be built by furniture makers.

Metal was in short supply, but there was a huge cottage industry of skilled furniture makers in England, and DeHavilland had already been designing "wooden" planes for a while. So they melded the excess available skill and the need for a new plane.

It had long range and the same payload capacity as a B-17, flew faster than a Spitfire, could be armed with MGs, cannons, and eventually night-fighter radar. Due to little metal had a very low radar signature. And some 8000 of them were built.

Lots of documentaries about it on Youtube.

Known by WW2 aficionados but not by a lot of others, one of the best planes of the war, the DeHavilland Mosquito, was designed to be built by furniture makers.

Metal was in short supply, but there was a huge cottage industry of skilled furniture makers in England, and DeHavilland had already been designing "wooden" planes for a while. So they melded the excess available skill and the need for a new plane.

It had long range and the same payload capacity as a B-17, flew faster than a Spitfire, could be armed with MGs, cannons, and eventually night-fighter radar. Due to little metal had a very low radar signature. And some 8000 of them were built.

Lots of documentaries about it on Youtube.

First off the Mosquito could not carry a bomb load anywhere near that of a B-17.

Second, it could only go faster than contemporary Spitfires at extremely low altitudes, and all Spitfires except for the Mk. XVI were some of the slowest low altitude fighters of the entire war.

But yes, it was a very good bomber, and didn't do war crimes like the B-17 and Lancaster did.

First off the Mosquito could not carry a bomb load anywhere near that of a B-17.

Second, it could only go faster than contemporary Spitfires at extremely low altitudes, and all Spitfires except for the Mk. XVI were some of the slowest low altitude fighters of the entire war.

But yes, it was a very good bomber, and didn't do war crimes like the B-17 and Lancaster did.

Sorry, but better to cite if you are going to argue; It was FAST. Speeds in excess of 400 mph are fighter speeds. By comparison, the B-17 had a top speed of 287 and that was probably only on its way home. (The pilots didn't like having up-armored B-17s because while they had a lot of firepower and armor, they were as slow going back as going out since they had no payload to jettison.) Prototypes in 1941 and 42 were already exceeding 420 mph but that is usually with a stripped down plane, not one fit for combat. It is, nevertheless, fast.

It could carry a significant payload. It was a night fighter and an anti-ship platform. It had range and accuracy as well as low radar cross section. It was everything in a 2-engine plane the Germans wished they had and were never able to produce (see the me-210 for example).

FYI - your last sentence implies a particular bias.


From Janes (De havilland B Mosquito):

Performance

Maximum speed: 361 kn (415 mph (668 km/h)) at 28,000 ft (8,500 m)
Range: 1,300 nmi (1,500 mi (2,400 km)) with full weapons load
Service ceiling: 37,000 ft (11,000 m)
Rate of climb: 2,850 ft/min (14.5 m/s)
Wing loading: 39.9 lb/ft2 (195 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.189 hp/lb (311 W/kg)

Armament

Bombs: 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg)


B-17 Payload (B-17G):

Bombs:

Short range missions (<400 mi): 8,000 lb (3,600 kg)
Long range missions (≈800 mi): 4,500 lb (2,000 kg)
Overload: 17,600 lb (7,800 kg)

The US tank destroyer program. It was fundamentally flawed but by sheer coincidence worked in nearly everything else. Read the history behind it and it's almost astounding how officer politics produced a failure of an arm.

The US tank destroyer program. It was fundamentally flawed but by sheer coincidence worked in nearly everything else. Read the history behind it and it's almost astounding how officer politics produced a failure of an arm.

Added to that was that Leslie McNair (the man behind why it took so long for upgraded versions of shermans to reach the front, as wells as delays in the Pershing reaching the front and low production of Jackson ) was fatefully killed during the opening stage of operation cobra by the intense bombing that took place. Despite Bradley's best efforts to prevent friendly fire during that time some bombs fell on allied lines and Leslie McNair was killed by friendly fire. Not saying he was a bad guy either he just had very narrow minded thinking about the tank/anti-tank situation in 1943-44.

My contribution:
Project Habukkuk (Ice Carrier)
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/12/englands-proposed-secret-weapon-ship-made-ice/

Adolf Hitler's nephew served in the US navy. He settled in New York after the war and ran a medical laboratory. He died in 1987, but at least one of his kids is still alive and working in the US. (As a social worker, oddly enough.)

Apparently Japan and Russia are technically still at war. The Soviets declined to sign the Treaty of San Fransico and the two powers haven't been able to agree on what to do with the Kuril Islands, so no peace treaty has been signed.

That the standard M4 Sherman effectively had about the same frontal armor as a Tiger 1, due to the 50mm plate being sloped at 55 degrees.

The diaries of Hitler's personal doctor. Discovered by accident by David Irving whilst staying in an American Military records facility.

http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Morell/Morell.pdf

Very interesting indeed.