30 Astonishing Facts About World War II That Will Change the Way You View It Forever Random but interesting article I saw on Yahoo today. Thoughts on these 'facts'?
"Fact" 1 - No, utter nonsense...and why have a picture of Soviet-era air defense missiles to "illustrate" it? 2 - "wave electric power"? They were microwaves...and it was 30 meters, not "half a mile". 3 - Yeah, so what? 4 - "Casualties" are not the same as "died"...and why Great War German soldiers? 5 - So how is that "astonishing"? 6 - Ditto? Sorry, but why waste your time on idiocy like this?
I guess he posted it for the same reason you took time to respond. When I see something like this it makes me realize how poor internet "research" is in general. WWII is a topic I have a fairly good understanding of, and article after article on the topic is often of this low level of quality. I makes one wonder that if a topic I know a fair amount about is consistently covered so poorly, then what is the level of knowledge for topics I'm not so familiar with? It's all fake news!
I have a smattering of information about WW2 and I wonder about the same thing. There is so much misinformation about a wide range of topics that I despair of those who don't or won't research deeply. I have to feel confident of my information before I post. I guess not all feel the same way.
11 is wrong as well, the last US serviceman killed in the war was not on 7 May, 1945. We were still at war with Japan through August. I'm not claiming I know the correct answer, but one candidate would be 20 year old Sgt. Anthony J. Marchione, of the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron on 18 August, 1945. I quit reading at 11.
My thoughts (from memory, forgive any mistakes): Overly simplistic view, and they did not "come close" to developing enough fissile material for an atomic bomb -- let along a Pu239 bomb. The "kill distance" referenced is wrong. IIRC, the actual distance was something like 100ft (not "half a mile"), and it was against a small animal. Yes, correct. Misunderstanding of what "casualty" means Yes.... Tall German poses for photo surrendering to small Brit. Not "tallest and shortest" in their militaries. A curiosity, nothing more.. Yes, as is to be expected for a theater of war. That's like saying the "Battle of Europe" lasted from September 1939 to May 1945. Approximately 1/3rd of the 1923 births died before the war. Not correct to attribute all deaths to WW2. This states what I stated above. Why break it into two points (one of which has nothing to do with WW2)? Yes, correct Wrong on multiple counts (revised per USMCPrice's post above) Yes... Yes... Yes... Yes... Andrews was not "killed in action". His B24 crashed in Iceland due to bad weather. Yes... Yes.... Yes... Yes... Yes. Possibly (probably?) Hitler was more concerned over retaliation as opposed to being morally opposed based on his WW1 experiences. Yes... I've never seen concrete evidence that the U234 fissile material was used to complete Little Boy. "Likely" is a stretch. McKinney was not on guard duty when the attack occurred, he was sleeping Yes... Estimates reach up to 40k in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Note that the Koreans were primarily forced labor -- seems like a bit of a stretch to say that they were "working" in Hiroshima which implies they had a choice in the matter. American POWs were also killed in the bombings. Also, there was no "South Korea" at the time, so how these are considered "South Koreans" is beyond me. This man wasn't the only Korean who served in the Wehrmact, and the "facts" behind his story are somewhat dubious. And "fought on every side" also seems to be a stretch. Japan, Russia and Germany? What about the western Allies? What about the many Osttruppen? Thye fought for both the USSR and Germany (Axis and Allies) -- does this count? Yes.... and 30. Two posts about Coca-Cola... Paid advertising?
Exactly....my point was to stir up discussion (this is what a forum is for) based on something presented as 'mainstream' and 'facts'. Obviously, our pool here is much more versed in actual facts of WW2, so its interesting to me to see what other people - people paid to write such articles - have to offer, and how poorly written and researched it all is. Thus my calling it an 'interesting' article, and wanting to poll the forums on what they thought about it too.
Wait!! You mean that the link claiming that there are 10 mature women in the next town who want to meet me is a lie? !! Actually I was hoping to see something about the brothel with US Govt medically cleared ladies for the GI's. Heard about it by the host of a radio gardening show who ran it.
To be fair, that slideshow is actually more interesting and more accurate than most of the click-bait "WW2 quizzes and facts" that I've read.
