world war ii remains one of the deadliest conflicts in human history
there are hundreds upon thousands of stories of heroic selfless actions along with stories about
the evil forces that were being fought against some stories have sadly flown under the radar
number five
founded on december 6th 1917 the 7th infantry division of the united states army has largely
been forgotten and left out of history books the 7th infantry division is the only active duty
multi-component division headquarters in the us army and is still active to this day while the
division was first created during world war one it wouldn't be until world war ii that
they would play their part in the war effort and become the center of a scary world war ii story
in 1943 after much preparation and training the 7th infantry division were ready for combat
and in their first mission they were sent to the aleutian islands in alaska while the division saw
combat here it wouldn't be until they were sent to okinawa japan that the real fighting would begin
after landing in okinawa on april 1 1945 the division embarked on a 51 day battle when the men
first landed they had no idea that 51 days later they would still be fighting to capture okinawa
for 51 long days the division battled not only with the enemy but with the elements
alongside the unconventional techniques used by the japanese army they had to battle with extreme
weather conditions and treacherous terrain making the battle all the more difficult
the division was constantly under the threat of ambush as japanese snipers would hide in caves
waiting for the perfect time to strike the division fought tirelessly to take key
positions only to be pushed back by the opposing forces or the unbearable weather conditions
many soldiers who were there that day described it as fighting a battle over a freezing tundra
and that it would be so cold that even the arctic explorers would shutter some days the temperatures
would reach a bitter negative 30 degrees celsius and the soldiers of the infantry division were
not well equipped for the tundra and were forced to brave it out staying warm however they could
after 51 days of fighting the japanese troops who were stationed in okinawa surrendered and
the us forces took control while the mission was successful the 7th infantry division had paid a
high price in total 2 340 soldiers were killed in action along with 6 872 men who were wounded
for their bravery 17 of the division soldiers were given medals of honor
next time you're researching world war ii remember to take a look at the 7th infantry division
number 4
during world war ii espionage and unique forms of communications were at an all-time high
armies around the world were desperately trying to discover new ways of sending coded messages
without the risk of having them deciphered by the enemy the u.s was no stranger to this
idea and during world war ii they called upon the indigenous population to help them
sadly lots of native and indigenous languages have already become extinct with hundreds of others
also at risk there are small pockets of society that still speak these languages however it's
becoming harder and harder for indigenous languages to stay alive during world war
ii the us army realized that only a small number of people spoke indigenous languages
such as navajo and they wanted to use this to their advantage it's estimated that between
400 and 500 native americans joined the armed forces and took up the position of codetalker
their job was to utilize both english and their indigenous language to send messages between bases
offices and other officials on the front line the axis forces had people who spoke english
french japanese and other languages but what they failed to prepare for were indigenous languages
in order to communicate secretly the code talkers would use words from their language to correspond
with the letter of the english language for example the letter a was represented by the words
walachi belasana cenil as the war progressed the indigenous people quickly learned that
their language did not have words for many things used in warfare the code talkers who spoke navajo
developed 411 new code words that did not originally appear in the navajo language
for example there was no word for submarine so in the navajo language it became known as bashlo
which literally translates to iron fish
in another instance the word for cemetery became known as gisha which translates to among devils
while most code talkers spoke navajo other languages were utilized as well the work of the
code talkers is rarely talked about yet remains one of the craziest world war ii stories out there
and their hard work and dedication isn't something that should be forgotten about
both during and after the war the code talkers were forced to keep their work a secret and it
wasn't until the 1970s that the us army officially recognized their war efforts while the us army
may have downplayed their involvement massively fifth marine division signal officer major howald
connor said quote were it not for the navajos the marines would have never taken iwo jima
number three
the final attacks on japan and world war ii need no introduction and those events will forever go
down in history as some of the creepiest world war ii events the lives of millions
of people were changed in an instant and the after effects can still be felt to this day
the final days in japan are well documented however there is another side of japanese
world war ii history that is hidden from view this is the story of the japanese holdouts
according to different sources the japanese holdouts held out for two different reasons
the first reason is that following the news of the surrender in august of 1945 the japanese
soldiers stationed in southeast asian and pacific islands didn't believe that it was true they saw
their country as tenacious and strong and never thought that they would be the ones to surrender
for some holdouts it's theorized that news simply never reached them as towards the end of world
war ii lines of communication had been cut off in 1974 hiro onada stunned the world when he came out
of hiding in the philippine jungle almost 30 years after world war ii had ended upon hearing the news
that his country had surrendered onoda went into a state of denial and went deeper into the jungle
fearing that the announcement had been a ruse to draw out japanese soldiers stationed around the
world for 29 years anoda survived in the dense philippine jungle using all of the knowledge he
had obtained during his time as a soldier news slowly trickled into japan that anoda was alive
and well efforts were made to assure him that the war had ended and that he was relieved of
his duties but he remained unconvinced that was until his former commanding officer visited him
and thankfully managed to convince him to return home the exact number of japanese
holdouts is unknown and it's possible that many of them passed away while still in hiding
number two
you'd be forgiven for thinking that only german citizens and soldiers were involved
in the nazis during world war ii but thanks to historical records we know that simply isn't true
between 1944 and 1945 the british free corps was created as the nazis attempted to spread their
wings and push their influence throughout europe these men were recruited while in german pow camps
as the nazis realized that they needed to spread their ideology into britain if they had any hopes
of surviving the war as a result leaflets were handed out to the british pows that described
the free corpse as quote a thoroughly volunteer unit conceived and created by british subjects
from all parts of the empire who have taken up arms and pledged their lives in the common
european struggle against soviet russia many of the men half-heartedly agreed to join the cause
and it's speculated that they did so while under duress because they had been brainwashed by
months of propaganda thankfully the british free corpse had no more than 27 members at one time
and while this number is small it's terrifying to think of what could have happened had the movement
taken off properly by the time the british free corpse had mobilized and were ready to see combat
the war was pretty much over and in 1945 the british free corpse was officially disbanded
after words spread about the british free corpse the british army and other agencies rounded the
men up and interrogated them thoroughly to gauge their involvement and motivations
many of the soldiers who were rounded up by the british forces proclaimed that they had
joined the organization to become a double agent and sabotage the organization from the inside
this excuse worked for a few people however for john amory
no amount of pleading or persuasion could change his superiors minds for his involvement he was
found guilty of high treason and is sentenced to capital punishment that was carried out
swiftly number one
one of the scariest little-known stories to come out of world war ii is that of the japanese fire
balloons world war ii was a highly experimental time for armies around the world as they tested
new weapons and techniques to give them an advantage during battle during 1944 and 1945 the
japanese army launched what they called the fusin bakudan which literally translates to fire balloon
these balloons measured 10 meters in diameter and inflated to hold 19 000 cubic feet of hydrogen
these balloons were then fitted with incendiary devices that would activate upon landing after
being carried by the strong winds causing maximum destruction the main target of these
balloons was the us and upon seeing them in the skies the u.s army and air force scrambled to
shoot them down and disarm them before they could reach the ground nine thousand fusing
bakudans were released by the japanese army and thankfully most of them landed in desolate and
uninhabited areas in the u.s when a balloon did land they were found to be extremely ineffective
and only claimed the lives of six people these weapons were a huge failure for the japanese army
who were left embarrassed and disappointed at their shortcomings it's a good job that these
weapons failed had they been successful the number of casualties might have been in the thousands
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