World War 2 or WW2 for short is one of the most violent and also most important periods in our history. There are many incredible stories from the war which are still be told to this day and while this might not be a problem, the issue is that history has gotten some facts wrongs. These facts are now spread everywhere and people call them “common knowledge”. With that said, today we are going to show you some incredible facts from WW2 that you might be surprised to find out that were nothing but fairytales right from the start.
Without any further ado, let’s get into it. Everyone knows that France surrendered to Germany back in 1940 without putting up too much resistance. This fact is actually false and the French fought with everything they had against the Germans, taking down more than 800 German tanks and 150,000 soldiers. However, they lost the battle.
The movie Dunkirk led many people to believe that Hitler let more than 330,000 British soldiers escape the beaches at Dunkirk. However, this is not what happened.
Hitler believed that the air force was more than enough to take out the soldiers and this is why he recalled the tanks.
Another interesting myth about the WW2 is that returning US soldiers abandoned thousands of expensive and vintage cars in the Belgian forest. This is not actually true.
We don’t know why the cars were been abandoned there, but the US soldiers are not the ones responsible.
There is a myth that says Hitler was elected as the Nazi leader by just one vote. This is not true.
Hitler won the 1923 ballot by 553 to 1! So, it’s the other way around.
One of the most popular WW2 facts that is actually false says that General Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered his army to hide war treasures in the caves of the Philippines.
According to legend, the General hid more than the one-billion-dollar worth of treasure but to the disappointment of many treasure hunters, this is not true.
Another WW2 legend about the Nazis is that Hitler celebrated the surrender of France with a jig. The truth is that Hitler never expected the French to surrender and he was actually shocked to hear the news.
This was caught on camera!
One of the most interesting so-called facts that everyone seems to believe is that a German U-Boat was sunk by its own toilet getting overflowed with water.
What actually happened is that the ship’s captain opened the wrong valve by mistake and when the water flooded, it also brought with it poisonous chlorine gas from the battery room.
Ask any American who won WW2 and they will tell you that it’s the US. This is not actually true.
The war was won through a jointed efforted and if just one nation were to get the credit, then it would be Russia. After all, Russia lost 10 million soldiers, another 15 million soldiers were wounded and Russia also lost 17 million civilians.
This might come as a surprise to most people, but Churchill wasn’t such as a beloved leader as the history books are saying. Yes, he did a great job of motivating people during the time of war but that’s about it.
The problem with him is that he wanted the war to continue and this meant that millions of Englishmen would have to fight for him. He wasn’t that popular after WW2 ended.
Another WW2 myth that everyone claims it’s true is saying that the US army force was packed with volunteers.
This is not true since two-third of the US army force was drafted and not enlisted, as the myth would have it.
As we all know, more than 6 million Jews died at the hands of Nazis. However, they were not the only ones to suffer.
The Nazis are also responsible for exterminating 5 million other civilians from other groups such as Polish intelligentsia, the disabled, Roma, Serbs and more.
Many believe that Axis soldiers never touched American soil. This is another false fact because more than 400,000 Axis soldiers landed in the United States between 1942 and 1945.
However, they all were made prisoners of war.
This might come as a shock to some people, but the Nazis were not the only ones who committed war crimes. The Japanese also exterminated hundreds of thousands of people and lots of them in strange medical experiments.
In addition, the American soldiers had their fair share of war crimes as well.
There is a rumor that a soccer team made up of Ukrainian players was killed after they beat a Nazi team.
What actually happened is that the players performed a resistance act against the Nazis and this is what got them shot, not their skills on the pitch.
A popular WW2 fact is saying that the only reason why the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 is because the Soviets were planning to invade Germany first. This is actually a conspiracy theory and what happened is that Germany invaded the Soviet Union for other reasons.
Stalin might have been planning to invade Germany, but not at that time.
One of the most interesting myths about the WW2 is that the British tried to burn down the sea in order to avoid getting invaded by the Germans.
What really happened is that the British Petroleum Warfare Department was actually looking for a way to set fire to the British Channel but this never happened.
The British Ministry of Information was the one to start the myth that carrots are helping people see better at night.
This myth was started to motivate citizens to grow vegetables so that they could help feed the armies and keep the morale up.
It’s rumored that the Polish fought the Nazis while horseback. As cool as this fact might be, it’s unfortunately false.
This an urban myth that people love to talk about.
Another interesting but false fact from the WW2 is that US President Roosevelt knew that the Pearl Harbor attack was going to happen.
This is actually a controversial myth that is used in conspiracies.
The SS was the most feared Nazi military arm and according to legend, all SS soldiers were pure Aryans.
This is another false fact that was started in order to boost the morale of Nazis.