20 Dark Facts About World War II
War is hell, and you could say that all WWII facts are "dark" since it was, and will likely remain, the deadliest war the world has ever seen. That isn't to say it isn't worth your time to learn something new about the world's most violent conflict.
Over at r/AskReddit, they were discussing some of the darkest facts that took place during the second world war. It's not a time that would have been fun to live through.
1.
The Dirlewanger Brigade, named after its commander Oskar Dirlewanger, consisted of convicted criminals who were not expected to survive their service with the unit. During its operations, the unit participated in the mass murder of civilians and in other war crimes in German-occupied Eastern Europe. It gained a reputation among Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS officers for its brutality. After troops entered a makeshift military hospital, they first killed the wounded with bayonets and rifle butts before gang raping the women. The naked bleeding nurses were then taken outside and hanged by their feet and shot in their stomachs. u/[deleted]
2.
Japan performed horrific scientific experimentation on humans that killed roughly 250k in Manchuria. u/amthenothingman
3.
Dr. Gisela Perl, a Hungarian gynecologist, was in Bergen-Belsen camp. She performed abortions with her bare hands in order to save their mothers' lives because she knew Dr. Josef Mengele loved to experiment on pregnant women. u/ResurgentClusterfuck
4.
The shit the Nazis did to Belarus. They piled entire towns into churches and lit them on fire. They wiped out entire populations in hundreds of towns. They would also allow children to leave the church, seemingly sparing them, then they'd mow them down later after hearing their families screaming. u/Wazzoo1
5.
Germany used prostitutes as bio-weapons. Under their rule, any prostitutes who had STIs were imprisoned so they couldn't infect German troops. As Germany started to lose ground in occupied Europe, they would release all of the women in hopes of infecting allied troops. u/No-Patient1365
6.
Firebombing of Tokyo March 9th 1945 was the most destructive bombing raid in human history. u/KC-Slider
7.
Something you never hear about is what happened to displaced persons, or DP. Over 40 million people couldn’t go back to where they originally lived. A lot of people were prevented from going back. A lot didn’t want to go back. It’s a fascinating story that doesn’t get much coverage. u/emma7734
8.
A dozen Nazi department heads got together at a chateau to iron out the details of the Holocaust. It took less than two hours. u/Spidremonkey
9.
Japanese officers would test their swords on captured American airmen. A veteran I knew personally wrote about some friends who went missing after their B-25 was shot down on a strafing mission. Later, it was revealed they were used as bayonet practice after capture. When they learned their fate, they asked to be shot instead. Each man was bayonetted by a member of the Japanese infantry squad, for a total around 25 times. Other men were beheaded. u/Kishkumen7734
10.
It’s thanks to the horrific experiments that happened on prisonniers in Dachau camp that we know the limits of pressure, temperature and other environmental factors a human body can sustain. u/SplashingAnal
11.
The shit the Japanese were doing in China (not just Nanking) even made SS officers look away in horror. To this day the Japanese government refuses to admit it ever happened, and most Japanese people were never taught about it in school. Sino-Japanese relations are still soured by that. u/ChronoLegion2
12.
The world’s nations didn’t want their Jews back, they had already moved into their houses & businesses after all. The murder of Jews continued well after WWII ended & Germany fell. This is one of the biggest factors leading to 40% of Israel’s Jews having European ancestry. u/Nerdiedaddie
13.
The January 31, 1945 sinking of the German ship the MV Wilhelm Gustloff. The total casualties are unknown but are estimated at over 9000, making it by far the worst maritime disaster in modern history. u/llcucf80
14.
Oil is still leaking from the oil bunkers of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor to this day. u/Nate9370
15.
True story about a boy who's entire family is slaughtered by the Nazis, little kid manages to escape into the woods. Is found starving days later by Russian soldiers, gets treated well, becomes a beloved part of the corps, a Red Army Officer at age 12, serves in battle by carrying ammunition, uncovers Nazi spy campaigns, dances and sings cute little songs to his fellow soldiers to improve morale, gets blown up, saves a major general who later adopts him into his family. u/Monkee-D
17.
One of the Japanese officers, Masanobu Tsuji is known for the countless warcrimes in the south east asia, from death marches to hospital massacres, this fucker escaped the Tokyo trial and became a CIA agent in the US while also having a statue on him in one of the Japanese prefectures. Warcrimes from this fuck head includes: instigated an aggressive border policy, which triggered the Nomonhan Incident. plan the Sook Ching, a systematic massacre of thousands of Malayan Chinese. sought to have all American prisoners killed and encouraged the brutal mistreatment and casual murder of prisoners in the Bataan Death March. u/Death_Walker21
18.
Croatia had extermination camps which conditions were so brutal and inhumane even SS thought they were bad. u/SplashingAnal
19.
United States Senator from Minnesota, Ernest Lundeen collaborated with the nazis and used his office to push nazi propaganda though official channels. An agent from Hitlers government even wrote some of his speeches. u/Thebigpicture42
20.
England starved about 4-5 million Indians to death during the war because they refused to slow down their exportation of rice despite a low yield year (aka the exact same thing they did to India once before and Ireland with the potato). Churchill was directly involved. u/angusthermopylae
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