Interesting facts about the Second World War. Little-known facts about the Great Patriotic War

Any war is a serious matter, however, and military operations can not do without entertaining, curious and interesting cases. Each person is prone to make mistakes, to be original and even to perform feats. And almost all entertaining and curious cases occur due to human stupidity or ingenuity. Below are some interesting facts about the Second World War.

Memories of Eisenhower

Eisenhower wrote that the minefields created by the Germans were a powerful obstacle to the rapid advance of the American army. Once he happened to talk with Marshal Zhukov. The latter shared the Soviet practice, saying that the infantry attacked directly across the field, not paying attention to mines. And the losses of the soldiers were equated with those that could have been, had the Germans defended this section with artillery and machine guns.

This story Zhukov shocked Eisenhower. If any American or European general thought so, he could immediately be demoted. We are not going to judge whether the Soviet commander did the right thing or not, in any case, only he could know what motivated such decisions. However, this tactic is rightfully included in the interesting facts of WWII 1941-1945.

Taking the bridgehead

There were funny cases not only with infantrymen. Interesting facts about the Second World War abound in accidents and with the participation of pilots. Once the squadron of storm troopers was ordered to drop the bombs on the bridgehead occupied by the Germans. The enemy antiaircraft guns shot so tightly that they could disable all the aircraft even before the approach to the target. The commander regretted his subordinates and violated the order. On his orders, the stormtroopers dropped the bombs into the forest, which was near the bridgehead, and returned safely.

Of course, the German units did not receive damage and continued to defend themselves steadfastly. The next morning a miracle happened. Our troops were able to take a foothold almost without a fight. It turned out that in that forest was the headquarters of the enemy's troops, and the pilots completely destroyed it. The authorities sought to distinguish themselves for the award, but the one who did it was never found. The pilots were silent, as it was reported that they had bombed the enemy's bridgehead according to the order.

Ram

Rich in the exploits was the Great Patriotic War. Interesting facts include the heroic behavior of individual pilots. For example, pilot Boris Kovzan once returned from a combat mission. Suddenly he was attacked by six German aces. The pilot shot all the ammunition and was wounded in the head. Then he reported on the radio that he was leaving the car and opened the hatch. At the last moment he noticed that an enemy plane was flying toward him. Boris leveled his car and sent it to the battering ram. Both planes exploded.

Kovzan was saved by the fact that he opened the hatch before the ram. The pilot fell unconscious from the cab, the automated parachute opened, and Boris landed safely on the ground, where he was picked up and sent to the hospital. Kovzan was twice awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Camels

Interesting facts from the history of the Great Patriotic War include the cases of domestication by military wild camels. In 1942, the 28th Reserve Army was formed in Astrakhan. For guns, there was not enough draft power. For this reason, the military was forced to catch wild camels in the vicinity of Astrakhan and to tame them.

In total, for the needs of the 28th Army, 350 "warships of the desert" were used. Most of them died in battle. Surviving animals were gradually transferred to economic units, and then transferred to zoos. One camel named Yashka came with the fighters to Berlin.

Hitler

Interesting facts about WWII include the story of Hitler. But not about the one who was in Berlin, but about his namesake, the Jew. Semyon Hitler was a machine gunner and bravely proved himself in combat. In the archives the award list has survived, where it is written that Hitler is presented to the medal "For Military Merit". However, in another award sheet for the medal "For Courage" was made a mistake. Instead Hitler wrote Gitlev. It is by chance done or deliberately unknown.

Tractors

Unknown facts about the war tell about the case when the tractors tried to remodel into tanks. During the fighting near Odessa, there was an acute shortage of equipment. The command ordered to sew 20 tractors with sheets of armor and to install on them imitations of guns. The bet was made on the psychological effect. The attack took place at night, and in the darkness of the tractor with the lights and implements of guns turned on, panic rumbled in the ranks of the Romanian units besieging Odessa. Soldiers nicknamed these machines NI-1, which means "To be afraid."

The feat of Dmitri Ovcharenko

What other interesting facts are known about the Second World War? The heroic deeds of Soviet soldiers occupy far from the last place in them. In 1941, Private Dmitry Ovcharenko was awarded the honorary title of "Hero of the USSR." On July 13, the fighter was carrying ammunition in his company. Suddenly he was surrounded by a German detachment of 50 people. Ovcharenko hesitated, and the Germans took his rifle from him. But the fighter did not lose his head and grabbed an ax from the cart with which the German officer who was standing next to him had cut off the head. Then he grabbed three grenades from the cart and threw them into soldiers who had time to relax and move away a little. On the spot, 20 people were killed, the rest in horror ran. Ovcharenko caught up with another officer and also cut off his head.

Leonid Gaidai

What else was unusual about the Great Patriotic War? Interesting facts include the story that happened to the famous film director Leonid Gayday. He was drafted into the army in 1942. He did not get to the front, since they sent him to Mongolia to go round horses for military needs. One day a military commissar arrived to collect volunteers for the transition to the active army. He asked: "Who is in the cavalry?". The director replied: "I". The military commander asked a number of similar questions about the infantry, fleet, intelligence - Gaydai was called everywhere. The chief got angry and said: "Do not rush, I'll first announce the entire list." A few years later Gaydai used this dialogue in his comic comedy "Operation Y" and other adventures of Shurik. "

Other interesting facts about WWII

And finally, a few other entertaining cases:

• Adolf Hitler did not consider Stalin his personal enemy, but Levitan (announcer). For his head was promised a reward - 250 thousand DM.
• Sometimes the troops had to use donkeys as draft force. However, these animals are known for their stubbornness. And in some cases, soldiers had to drag them on themselves.
• German intelligence successfully operated in the Soviet rear. Absolutely everywhere except Leningrad. The Germans sent spies to the blockaded city, supplying them with all the necessary things: documents, clothing, money, etc. However, they were calculated by the first patrol found when checking documents. The Germans tried all the tricks, they achieved complete similarity of counterfeit documents with these. But all the same, the "lime" was found by any semi-literate fighter, called from Central Asia. The Germans could not solve this problem. And the reason was simple: we made staples for sheets of ordinary iron, and the opponent was made of stainless steel. Accordingly, in blockade Leningrad there was no person who would have documents with new clips, they all had rusty. And the Germans were betraying themselves with their brilliance.
• The fascist submarine discovered transport ships carrying ammunition, fuel and tanks from America to Murmansk. Since the ships were practically not armed, the Germans apparently decided to mock. They surfaced next to one ship at a distance of 20-30 meters and fired at the torpedo. The blast wave lifted the tanks that stood on the deck. Two of them fell right on the submarine, she got a hole and sank.