Category: Odd Facts
Flying Colours – A Short but Vivid History of Warplane Insignia
“The colourful crosses, roundels and stars that adorned early warplanes were more than just decorations.” THE ARMIES THAT MARCHED OFF TO WAR in 1914 had long since shed the flashy garb and colourful banners of the 19th…
From “Overlord” and “Desert Storm” to “Dracula” and “Mermaid Dawn” — The Cryptic History of Codenaming Military Operations
“Designating operations by their objectives or points on a map didn’t offer much in the way of security.” HAD IT NOT been for the direct intervention of Winston Churchill, the 1944 invasion of Normandy might…
The St. Albans Raid – The Confederate ‘Invasion’ of Vermont
In the fall of 1864, Vermont seemed far removed from the bloody battlefields of the American Civil War. Although as many as a tenth of the state’s 300,000 residents were in uniform, the actual fighting…
Hitler’s Holdouts – Meet the Last German Troops to Surrender in WW2
“Small pockets German troops refused to give up and in some cases fought on for days, even weeks, before finally calling it quits.” IT WAS JUST after 2:30 a.m. on May 7, 1945 when Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, commander of what…
Toons on the March — How Hollywood Animators Turned Their Characters Loose on the Axis
“Most cartoons in the wartime genre were quickly pulled from circulation. In fact, few born after the 1945 ever saw any of them.” DO YOU REMEMBER time Daffy Duck gave a Nazi the hot foot?…
The Gustloff Incident – History’s Deadliest (and Mostly Forgotten) Maritime Disaster
The RMS Titanic is by far the most famous ill-fated ship of all time. Yet the unlucky luxury liner, which went down with more than 1,600 on board, can’t touch the doomed Nazi cruise ship…
