World War II Facts
Find out the more interesting and amazing factoids, and information about the World War II. Learn & Share!
- World War II was the most destructive conflict in history.
- Most historians agree that WWII began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
- The original abbreviation of the National Socialist Party was Nasos.
- The swastika was the symbol of Nazi Germany.
- The Nazis called their rule the Third Reich (1933-1945).
- The Germans used the first jet fighters in World War II, among them the Messerschmitt ME-262.
- The Battle of the Bulge is the largest and deadliest battle for U.S. troops to date, with more than 80,000 American deaths.
- During WWII, Japan bombed China with fleas infected with bubonic plague.
- 80% of all Soviet males born in 1923 died in World War II.
- It is estimated that 1.5 million children died during the Holocaust.
- Many Jews were subject to gruesome medical experiments.
- Dr. Josef Mengele (the “Angel of Death”) used about 3,000 twins, mostly Romany and Jewish children, for his painful genetic experiments.
- The Nazis murdered approximately 12 million people, nearly 6 million of those being Jews killed in the Holocaust.
- Hitler never visited a single concentration camp.
- Germany had a total of 3,363 generals during the war while the U.S. had just over 1,500.
- 84 German generals were executed for various reasons by Hitler himself.
- It’s estimated over 50-70 million people died due to the conflicts.
- World War II ended on September 2, 1945, when Japan signed a surrender agreement on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
- World War II resulted in the downfall of Europe as a center of world power and led to the rise of the U.S. and Russia as super powers.