9.
Nazi Statue in Uruguay
Back in 2006, a Uruguayan businessman named Alfredo Etchegaray had a rare Nazi sculpture
salvaged from the wreck of the Graf Spee, an armored ship that was scuttled in Montevideo
after being damaged in battle.
The 700-pound (318 kg) eagle statue has a wingspan of 9 feet (2.7 meters) and is just
one of a handful of known surviving examples of the Third Reich’s symbol.
But the discovery was shrouded in controversy from the get-go because it’s a reminder
of the 9,000 Nazi war criminals who fled to South America to avoid prosecution after World
War II.
Etchegaray argued in court that he spent $5 million over a 30-year period retrieving artifacts
from the Graf Spee.
It was ultimately ruled that he legally owned half the statue, and that the government also
owns half.
The businessman accused Germany of pressuring the Uruguayan government to keep the controversial
sculpture hidden from the public.
He said that the German government has every right to “bury” an artifact from a dark
chapter in history, but that it should at least pay him his fair share in order to do
so.
The art gallery housing the statue claimed that it was receiving offers for Etchegaray’s
share of ownership, which is supposedly valued at up to $15 million.
But the former head of the National Heritage Commission, William Rey Ashfield, scoffed
at the estimate.
He was one of several people who thought that the statue should go to a museum and be displayed
in an educational, but not glorifying historical context.
Others wanted to see the Nazi relic destroyed.
The battle appears to be ongoing.
At last update, a court decided that the statue should be auctioned off, leaving many concerned
that it would fall into the hands of neo-Nazis.
8.
Missing Aircraft
World War II entered its final year in 1945, and the fighting would continue for several
months.
While flying over the remote Indian Himalayas early that year, a C-46 transport plane vanished
with 13 passengers aboard.
It was en route from Kunming in southern China when it disappeared in a storm over India’s
Arunachal Pradesh.
The plane was never seen or heard from again – until now.
American adventurer Clayton Kuhles learned about the wreck when one of the passengers’
sons reached out to him and asked him to search for it.
Working with a team of guides from the local Lisu ethnic group, Kuhles embarked on a months-long
expedition to find the plane.
It was no easy feat – the group crossed chest-deep rivers, climbed to high altitudes,
and camped in freezing weather.
Even the experienced guides were uneasy about the trek, according to Kuhles, because three
Lisu hunters had died of hypothermia in the same area in 2018.
So it was probably a huge relief when the group finally found the aircraft on a mountaintop
and identified it based on its tail.
There were no human remains at the wreck site, which represents just one of hundreds of military
planes that went missing in India, China, and Myanmar during World War II.
Most are believed to have crashed due to severe weather conditions like ice damage and hurricane
force winds, according to Kuhles, who said that only some aircraft losses were at the
hands of the Japanese.
Would you make this kind of dangerous trek if you knew there was a chance of recovering
World War II era relics?
7.
German Hideout in Argentina
In 2015, archaeologists from the University of Buenos Aires announced the discovery of
what they believe is a World War II era German hideout.
Nestled in the thick vegetation of Argentina’s Teyú Cuaré National Park near the country’s
border with Paraguay, the site has long been associated with legends of secretive German
occupation.
Evidence to back these claims was finally unearthed when the archaeological team found
fragments of a German-made plate at the site, along with five German coins minted between
1938 and 1941.
Surrounded by 10-foot-thick (3 meter) walls and a hilltop tower, the alleged bunker is
big enough to accommodate six to eight families.
It’s in an extremely remote area that would have been extremely difficult to access in
the first place and even harder to survive in.
Argentina welcomed Germans from the end of World War II until 1955.
Their postwar population in the country numbered at least 5,000 according to records that were
found in 2012.
But most of them lived in cities or on ranches, not in secret bunkers, suggesting that the
hideout existed before Germans began migrating to South America in large numbers.
Skeptics deny that the clandestine refuge was used by Germans, arguing that it was a
failed homestead that was advertised as a German hideout as a gimmick for attracting
paying tourists to the site.
What do you think?
Actual Nazi hideout, or tourist trap?
Tell us in the comments.
6.
USS Independence Wreck
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Independence served in World War II between 1943 and 1945,
playing a critical role in the American naval offensive in the Pacific.
The following year, it was one of over 90 vessels that were used as a target fleet for
atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands.
Codenamed Operation Crossroads, the project aimed to test the effects of a nuclear explosion
on a naval fleet.
Like many of the other ships that were used in the experiment, USS Independence was damaged
during the tests.
It was towed back to U.S. waters and docked in San Francisco while experts performed decontamination
studies on it.
In 1951, the Navy towed the vessel out to sea and deliberately scuttled it.
Records of its location were imprecise and conflicting.
One document indicated that the ship was 300 miles (480 km) off the coast, yet in 2015,
researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found it just 30
miles (48 km) off the coast, near the Farallon Islands.
They confirmed the wreck’s identity using sonar imaging and by sending a remotely operated
vehicle 2,600 feet (790 meters) to the ocean floor to investigate the site firsthand.
The damage to the USS Independence from Operation Crossroads is apparent, but the ship’s hull
and flight deck were mostly intact at the time of the discovery.
And, as it turns out, the vessel was only partially decontaminated before it was sunk.
There’s detectable radioactivity at the site, and it’s bound to leak into the water
as the carrier continues to rust.
Researchers are considering ways that they could travel safely to the site and retrieve
parts of the wreck for further study.
5.
Massive Unexploded Bomb
In 2019, workers who were tasked with deepening Poland’s Piast Channel discovered a 6-ton
(5.5 metric tons) bomb known as a Tall Boy.
Designed by the British during World War II, the 19-foot-long (6 meters) explosive was
found in one of the country’s busiest shipping waterways.
Tall Boy bombs were among the largest weapons used during the conflict – their effects
mimicked an earthquake.
The bomb found in Poland was dropped on April 6, 1945 during an Allied raid of the German
cruiser Lützow, which was anchored in the channel.
The workers reported the discovery, and Navy divers were dispatched to the site.
They soon discovered that the 12,000-pound (5,443 kg) bomb was unexploded.
At first, authorities were unsure of what to do about the gigantic weapon.
It had sat, undisturbed, at the bottom of the channel for 75 years, and seemed like
a non-threat to shipping traffic.
Buried nearly 40 feet (12 meters) underwater, only the bomb’s nose stuck out from the
sediment.
The waterway remained open while a crisis team met to figure out what to do.
Finally, in 2020, a team of divers attempted to defuse the bomb, knowing that there was
a 50-50 chance that it would explode.
750 people were evacuated from the area before the team tried using a remote controlled device
to burn the bomb’s explosive charge without detonating it – a technique known as deflagration.
Nevertheless, the weapon exploded, causing a huge column of water to blast into the air.
Luckily, the divers were all at a safe distance and no one was hurt.
Do you think there are other as yet undiscovered unexploded bombs lurking in other European
waterways?
Tell us your theories in the comments, and be sure to like and subscribe to the channel!
4.
B-24 Liberator Bomber
Located in the sleepy countryside of Sussex, England, Arundel is a market town with a rich
history dating back to the medieval era.
But archaeologists recently found themselves excavating a much newer site with help from
military veterans.
Dating back to World War II, it consists of an American B-24 Liberator heavy bomber that
crashed on June 22, 1944 after being damaged during a daytime air raid over France.
Seven out of the 10 crew members aboard managed to escape the plane before it crashed, but
the cockpit crew died in the crash after working to keep it stable enough for everyone else
to exit.
Two of the three bodies were never recovered.
The men are still listed as missing in action to this day, leaving their loved ones back
home without closure and unable to properly grieve.
One of the goals of the team that’s currently excavating the site is to recover the missing
remains and return them to their families.
Veterans are assisting with the dig as part of the American Veterans Archaeology Recovery
(AVAR) program, which helps former service members cope with physical injuries and post
traumatic stress by offering archaeology as a form of therapy.
Founded in 2016 by former U.S. Air Force captain and archaeologist Stephen Humphreys, the program
has carried out 15 excavations.
The program helps veterans who are struggling to find meaning and purpose in their lives
while uncovering historically valuable artifacts and sites that help us to learn more about
the past.
3.
Maisy Battery Bunkers
Once the Germans were pretty sure that the Allies were planning to invade Nazi-occupied
Europe, they designed and built an extensive system of defenses throughout their occupied
territory.
One fortification in Normandy, known as the Maisy Battery, was constructed in extra-strict
secrecy.
It wasn’t until 2006 that archaeologists discovered a collection of bunkers that formed
part of the complex.
The bunkers were found roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) inland from Omaha Beach, which served
as a landing area for the Allies during their invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, also
known as “D-Day.”
Josh Gates, who hosts the TV show “Expedition Unknown,” visited the site in an episode
that aired a few years ago.
He described the bunkers as “fairly large structures with hallways and multiple rooms,
staircases,” adding that the site consists of two large bunkers with three to four rooms
each.
Armed with 14 huge guns, the 20-acre (8.1 hectares) battery complex became one of the
largest German defensive positions due to its proximity to the Normandy invasion landing
sites.
It was also part of a chain of defensive sites along the coast of Northern France known as
the “Atlantic Wall.”
The site was ultimately captured by U.S. Army Rangers.
After the war ended, Maisy Battery fell into obscurity for over 60 years, becoming covered
with overgrowth and concealed by nature.
In fact, the complex was invisible to the naked eye until its rediscovery.
Researchers are still excavating at the site, eager to learn all it has to tell us about
this dark period in world history.
2.
A Dedicated Soldier
The Japanese surrendered to the Allies on September 2, 1945, officially bringing World
War II to an end.
But one soldier named Hiroo Onoda refused to believe that the conflict was over.
He spent the next three decades in the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang, relying
on his guerrilla warfare skills to remain hidden and evade capture.
Onoda was originally joined by three fellow soldiers, one of whom left the jungle and
returned to Japan in 1950.
Another one of Onoda’s companions died that same year, and the third lived until 1972.
In 1974, the lone warrior’s brother and former commanding officer traveled to Lubang
to try coaxing him out of the woods.
By then, numerous government officials had tried – and failed – to get Onoda to surrender.
Finally, after more than 30 years living in the wilderness, he emerged from the jungle
wearing his Imperial Army uniform, cap, and sword, which were in remarkably good condition
for their age.
Onoda formally surrendered to Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, who pardoned the man for
killing as many as 30 people who he mistook for enemy soldiers after the war ended.
In a later interview, he explained that he thought Tokyo’s pro-U.S. government was
scheming against him in their previous attempts to persuade him off the island.
Onoda spent a decade farming in Brazil before moving back to Japan, where he created nature
camps for children.
He passed away in 2014, at the age of 91.
1.
Munich Art Stash
The Nazis commited the biggest art theft in history, stealing around 650,000 paintings
and other works during their reign of terror throughout Europe.
Many were never recovered, but every now and then, some of these long-missing paintings
reappear.
In late 2013, German authorities found 1,285 of the stolen pieces of art at an apartment
in Munich.
They’re collectively worth an estimated $1 billion.
The situation started to unfold when border agents interviewed and searched an elderly,
white-haired man named Rolf Nikolaus Cornelius Gurlitt at the border between Munich and the
Swiss city of Zurich.
Officers had noticed the senior citizen acting nervous and flagged him for further investigation
after finding an envelope filled with 9,000 euros ($10,150) on him.
Strangely, the man had no records of paying taxes, receiving a pension, having health
insurance, or having any bank accounts, yet he had lived in a luxury apartment for over
50 years.
Authorities became even more suspicious when they realized that Gurlitt has the same last
name as Hildebrand Gurlitt, an art dealer who helped the Nazis amass their huge cache
of stolen artwork despite his one-quarter Jewish heritage.
It just so happened that Hildebrand was Cornelius’s father.
Police raided the suspect’s apartment and discovered a treasure trove of stolen art,
including paintings by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, and more.
Gurlitt had clearly carried on his father’s legacy of selling looted masterpieces.
But he was never criminally charged because Germany’s laws on the matter are ambiguous,
and it’s not necessarily a crime there just to own a stolen painting.
He passed away in 2014, shortly after the scandal broke.
World War II discoveries continue to amaze, even decades later.
There’s always more to learn, and while that’s all for today, there’s more to
come– thanks for watching, and if you enjoyed this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up
and don’t forget to subscribe.
Bye for now!