World War Trivia and Cartoons - Riebel-Roque Publishing Company

THE WHITE-KNUCKLED COMMISSAR
Joseph Stalin was terrified of flying. The first time he was in an airplane was on his trip to meet Roosevelt and Churchill at Teheran.
Source: History Channel, July 2005

ENGLISH ONLY
In 1919, a powerful anti-foreigner attitude swept across America because it was widely believed that the US had been sucked into the horrible and costly Great War (WW I) in Europe by foreigners and events that happened in foreign lands. To suppress some of the effects of foreign influences, 15 states passed laws forbidding the teaching of any language but English in public and private schools.
Source: "The American Heritage History of the '20s and '30s"

THE MARMALADE PARADISE
In the late 1930s, the Nazis began a program of euthanasia - the deliberate elimination of physically and mentally disabled people - from German society. The program was to be on-going and one document on the subject predicted that by 1951, 5,902,920 kilos of marmalade would have been saved.
Source: "Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross" by Caroline Moorehead

FDR, THE AMERICAN FUEHRER
In the mid-1930s, support of Nazism was growing in America and the leaders of this movement hoped that President Roosevelt would be sympathetic toward their cause. On April 8, 1934, a pro-Nazi rally was held in New York City with some 9000 people attending. Throughout the rally cries of "Heil Roosevelt" were heard time-and-again.
Source: "Chronicle of the Twentieth Century" by Jacques Legrand.

THE LACKY
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler's chief military advisor, was seen by many to be nothing more that a "yes-man." Behind his back, he was called "Lakaitel" (lacky).
Source: "Blitzkrieg to Defeat: Hitler's War Directives 1939-1945" by H. R. Trevor-Roper"

A SPOT OF TEA, OLD CHAP?
As American airmen began falling into German hands in 1942, they were placed in prisoner of war camps holding British POWs. Since the Brits had been there for some time, camp life was well-structured about British customs and the Americans, with their numbers still small, were obliged to fit in.
Source: "War Prisoner Aid - Young Men's Christian Association During World War II" by Andre Vulliet.

THE SPY WHO WASN'T
The book "Counterfeit Spies" by Nigel West, investigates 20 authors who claimed to have been secret agents during WW II but, apparently were not. The book reveals bogus claims, doctored photographs, faked documents and manufactured archival records.
Source:"Counterfeit Spies" by Nigel West

WE NEED YOUR TIN TO WIN
In May 1941, Italy was desperately short of tin. Therefore, the Italian Government decreed that bars, coffee houses and restaurants in Italy with serving counters made of tin or tin alloys would have to give them up to the government upon demand.
Source: Newsweek Magazine June 2, 1941

IS THAT OUR LEADER?
On July 2, 1941, two weeks after the Germans had begun their invasion of the Soviet Union, Stalin spoke to the Soviet people over radio for the very first time. And for the first time, the Soviet people heard his heavy Georgian accent. Heretofore, many believed that Stalin was a Russian.
Source: The History Channel, August 31, 2001.

YOU SHOULD HAVE PAID MORE ATTENTION IN SCHOOL, ADOLF.
Despite the fact that Hitler was a masterful speaker, he never really mastered the German language. He made numerous grammatical mistakes and his spelling was atrocious.
Source: "The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler" by Robert G. L. Waite

THEY'RE HIDING IN THE CORN
On October 9, 1941, the following order was issued by the top German commander in occupied Yugoslavia: "In view of the fact that the cornfields serve as hiding places for bands of communists, the harvesting and cutting of the cornstalks shall be begun at once... (and) shall be completed not later than October 25."
Source: "Above and Beyond: The Canadians' War in the Air 1939-1945" by Spencer Dunmore

LET'S GO FISHIN'
Generals Ira Eakers and Carl Spaatz were very close friends. After they retired, they started a fishing lodge together.
Source: "Ultra Goes to War" by Ronald Lewin

HE'S ONE OF "THEM"
In 1918, Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the US 42nd Infantry Division, was "captured" by troops of the US 1st Division. Because of his unorthodox uniform, he was not recognized as an American Army officer.
Source: "The Illusion of Victory" by Thomas Fleming

A SPIT OF HISTORY
On August 26, 1944, just after the Allies liberated Paris, General Patton crossed the Seine River on a pontoon bridge standing majestically in a Jeep. Later that day he wrote to Eisenhower, "Dear Ike, Today I spat in the Seine."
Source: "Liberation" a Time-Life publication

GOD WAS SORRY
In 1971, Emperor Hirohito, who was considered to be divine, stated, "Certain things happened during the Second World War for which I feel personally sorry."
Source: "The Book of Political Quotes" by Jonathan Green

WW II - THE HEYDAY OF THE ACRONYM
FDR, 1-A, 4-F, GI, PFC, NCO, CO, DI, M-1, BAR, KP, SOS, AWOL, MP, OCS, SOP, SNAFU, USO, WAC, WAVE, POE, CBI, ETO, RAF, LSI, LST, DUKW, V-1, D-DAY, C-47, K-rations, SS, POW, V-2, HST, V-E Day, B-29, V-J Day, DSC, GI Bill, UN, VFW, DAV, VA.
Source: Various

MAKE 'EM WAIT, AND THEN SOME VEGETABLE SOUP.
Hitler was an excellent speaker and knew how to manipulate an audience. He preferred to speak at night and often spoke in beer halls where the beer flowed freely. He would intentionally keep his audiences waiting to build expectations. Eventually, he would appear and walk slowly and majestically to the speaking platform. He would then begin his speech in low and mellow tones and gradually build up emotionally until, at the end, he was shouting and gesturing wildly. At this point, he was often drenched in perspiration. Immediately following the speech he would, if circumstances permitted, withdraw to a quiet place and sip vegetable soup.
Source: "Storm to Power" a Time-Life publication

On December 7, 1941, the day Japan declared war on the United States, personnel at the Japanese embassy in Washington and at the various Japanese consulates around the country were ordered to burn many of their important papers. In San Francisco, Consul Yoshiomoto burned the papers in his home. The fire got out of hand and burned his house down.
Source: December 1941: America's First 25 Days at War, page 5

Prolonged riding in a Jeep caused a pilonidal cyst disorder at the base of the spine in some people. It was common enough for the doctors to give it a name - The Jeep Disease.
Source: Time-Life Time Capsule, 1944, page 227

Benito Mussolini was named after the famed Mexican social revolutionary Benito Juarez. His father was an ardent socialist and an admirer of Juarez.
Source: Mussolini's Italy: Twenty Years of Fascist Rule, page 9

Hitler spoke at times about conquering Switzerland. However, he was not very fond of the Swiss people. At one time he said of the Swiss "…we can use them, at best, as hotel keepers."
Source: Target Switzerland: Swiss armed neutrality, page 151

In 1942, a program was introduced at the New York Stock Exchange whereby able-bodied men would be given some military training. They had once-a-week drills and marched around the Stock Exchange in formation carrying fake rifles.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1943, page 661

On December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy headquarters in California received a report that Japanese aircraft carriers, battleships and destroyers had been sighted off the coast of southern California. The headquarters personnel believed the report and fully expected a Japanese attack the next morning. There was no attack and no Japanese fleet.
Source: December 1941: America's First 25 Days of War, page 13-25

When the British invaded Italian East Africa in 1941, neither side had modern aircraft. Rather, both had obsolete, but serviceable bi-planes from the 1920s and 1930s. On several occasions these planes came together in aerial dog fights, twisting, turning and firing at each other just as in World War I.
Source: World War II in Colonial Africa, page 137

On July 22, 1942, Hitler was conversing with his dinner table companions about Stalin and made the surprising remark "Stalin…must command our unconditional respect. In his own way he is a hell of a fellow."
Source: Hitler's Table Talk, page 586-590

In pre-war and wartime Japan, the Japanese military leaders ruled the roost. The Japanese Premier, his Cabinet and the Diet (parliament) were subordinate to the military leaders and something akin to window dressing to give the appearance that Japan had a conventional form of government. This imbalance was demonstrated in 1937. Japan was at war with China and had captured Peking (Beijing), China's northern capital. In December of that year the military leaders established a puppet provisional Chinese government in that city, but no one bothered to tell Premier Konoe. It came as a complete surprise to him.
Source: China and Japan at War 1937-1945, page 145

Hitler spoke from time-to-time about how the average German family would live after the war. They would have modern and spacious apartments with play grounds for the children situated in such a way that the mothers could watch them from the apartments. They would enjoy the services of a house keeper, most likely a woman from the East and there would be a Volkswagen in every garage. Hitler had already picked the man who would bring these things into being - Robert Ley, leader of the National Labor Front.
Source: If Hitler Had Won, page 179

The island of Rabaul in the South Pacific was a strong Japanese military base. It was pounded mercilessly by American planes and war ships. At one point, Admiral Halsey suggested that the name of the island be changed to Rubble Island.
Source: World War II magazine, page 42-49

During the summer of 1945, the Americans, British and French jointly administered occupied Berlin. The Russian soldiers, who hadn't been paid in months, were paid in new occupation money that would not be good back in the Soviet Union. As a result, they went on a spending spree driving up the prices of what few items were available in the market place. They also creating a bonanza for the black market. As a result, many scarce items in Berlin were made even scarcer.
Source: Diplomat Among Warriors, page 271

During March 1945, Walther Gerlach, Hitler's plenipotentiary for Germany's atomic bomb program, suggested that their one and only nuclear reactor be dropped on the enemy from a plane. Gerlach was informed that the reactor was much too large to fit in a plane and that it wouldn't explode in any case. Gerlach wasn't too knowledgeable about nuclear physics.
Source: Heisenberg's War, page 410

Soon after the United States entered the war, the Soviets began calling for a second front in Europe to relieve pressures on them in the east. The western Allies claimed that they were not prepared to launch such an attack. Ivan Maisky, the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, made a caustic remark in public that "there is no time to wait until the last button is sewed on the uniform of the last soldier."
Source: Life Magazine, April 13, 1942, page 38

During the first days of May 1945, German troops were surrendering to the Allies on the Western Front in droves and the Allies were hard pressed to accommodate so many prisoners of war so suddenly. When word came to General Omar Bradley that the entire German 11th Panzer Division wanted to surrender en masse, he replied that they could do so providing they brought their own food.
Source: Nazi Prisoners of War in America, page 11

In the late 1930s, as the German Navy was building its first aircraft carrier, aircraft designers were designing a naval version of the famous Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber to operate from the carrier's deck. They gave considerable attention to the problem of the plane having to be ditched at sea. The plane was designed to jettison its landing gear for a smoother landing in water and considerable survival gear was carried aboard including a small inflatable rubber dinghy. The plane itself was designed to stay afloat for up to three days in calm water.
Source: World War II Magazine, March 1988, page 8-17

Japanese forces holding out the mountains of the island of Luzon in the Philippines had lost all of their communication equipment and were not able to received orders from Japanese military commands. When Japan surrendered in September 1945, notice of the surrender was delivered to them by balloon.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946, page 611

Tax collectors in Nationalist China during the war were so corrupt that only about 1/3 of the taxes collected reached the Nationalist Government in Chungking.
Source: Stillwell and the American Experience in China, page 587

During the Depression, people flocked to Washington, DC hoping to get government jobs which, at the time, were considered "good" jobs because there were benefits and they were secure. More people came than there were jobs available so there was unemployment, a shortage of housing, the city's services were strained to their limits, many people were on welfare and there was poverty, despair and crime. These were the conditions that existed in the nation's capital when the war began.
Source: World War II Sites in the United States, page 50

At Karenhall, Hermann Goering's huge county estate north of Berlin, an oversize copy of Mein Kampf was prominently displayed on an ornate table in the main living area. The book was kept open and on either side were tall candles which were lit when visitors were present. Above the book, on a shelf, was a statue of the Madonna and Child.
Source: Life magazine, September 11, 939, pages 52-61

During the latter part of 1940 and early 1941, the American were greatly concerned that the Germans might invade Spain and Portugal. As a result, an American warship was permanently stationed in Lisbon harbor ready to evacuate American citizens on short notice.
Source: Casablanca Companion, page 17

At his dinner table, on the evening of August 1, 1942, Hitler discussed America at length. He seemed to be baffled as to why the United States was in the war. He told his listeners "According to the Americans themselves, American has the finest, biggest and most efficient of everything in the wide world….Why should a people of that sort fight - they've got everything they want!"
Source: Hitler's Table Talk, pages 603-608

On September 3, 1939, Hitler's interpreter read to him Britain's declaration of war on Germany. The interpreter later wrote of the moment "When I finished there was complete silence. Hitler sat immobile, gazing before him…After an interval which seemed to age, he turned to (Foreign Minister) Ribbentrop and said `What now'?"
Source: Modern Maturity Magazine, April/May 1985, page 43

A goat was kept at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and it was announced that a prize would be given to anyone who could kill it with a death ray. The goat survived the war.
Source: Indianapolis Star Newspaper, November 19, 1989, page F5

In late 1942, the Italian government-supported film organization Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC) was making a movie called "Bengasi" which glorified Italy's colonization of Libya. Bengasi was Libya's second largest city. In December, the British captured Bengasi and production on the movie was halted.
Source: The Italian Cinema, page 75

After Italy surrendered, many of the Italian prisoners of war in the U.S. were let out of prison, and allowed to work for the U.S. Army. Because of this, they fraternized with the American public and some of them married American women. Most of those war brides went back to Italy with their new husbands.
Source: Nazi Prisoners of War In The America, page 317

By 1939 the League of Nations was all but dead. One of the last actions taken by the League's Security Council was to expel the Soviet Union as a member. This was done on December 14, 1939. The Soviet Union had been declared an aggressor nation because it had joined with Germany in conquering much of eastern Europe. Of the 15 members of the Council, only 7 were present and three of them had to be elected especially for the purpose of expelling the Soviet Union.
Source: The Russian Version of the Second World War, page 111

In 1936, Italy conquered Ethiopia in East Africa. A viable and persistent Ethiopian guerrilla survived, however, operating in the country's western mountain. When the British invaded Ethiopia in 1941, they had need to communicate with the guerrillas, but the guerrillas had no radios or other modern communication equipment. So, the British fell back on an old tried and true system of communication - carrier pigeons. Two hundred pigeons were brought in along with their keepers and the two Allies were able to communicate satisfactorily thereafter.
Source: A Gathering of Eagles: The Campaign of the South African Air Force in Italian East Africa, June 1940-November 1941, page 97

On the evening of February 26, 1942, Hitler told his dinner companions that, when the war ended, he would "…resign the command of the Wehrmacht…(and) send for Speer." This was a very revealing statement because Albert Speer was not a military man but a very able administrator and an engineer. It was very unlikely that Speer would be given command of the Wehrmacht but rather become Hitler's political successor.
Source" If Hitler Had Won, page 178

British pilots and air crews operating in the desert areas of Africa were issued army boots to use in case they were forced down and had to walk long distances in the hot and abrasive desert sand.
Source: The Gathering of Eagles: The Campaigns of the South African Air Force in Italian East Africa June 1940-November 1941, page 69

During April 1938, military training became compulsory in all schools in Japan.
Source: China and Japan at War, page 142

In 1938, the German Navy launched the disguised merchant raider "Thor." The ship had previously been known as the "Santa Cruz," a banana boat.
Source: The Secret Raiders, page 132

A sign in the famous Casino Royal Night Club in Washington, DC read "Hey, you hear the news? FDR's Christmas present to Hirohito? A deep sea diving suit so he can go down and inspect his navy."
Source: Washington Goes to War, page 227

In October 1939, German planes bombed Rosyth, Scotland. Some of the bombs fell in the waters around the town and killed fish. The thrifty Scots gathered up the fish and ate them.
Source: Life Magazine, October 30, 1939, page 16

WHAT TIME IS IT?
When the German conquered Paris in June 1940 they put the city on Berlin time. When the Soviets conquered Berlin in May 1945, they put Berlin on Moscow time.
Source: Diplomat Among Warriors, page 267

BIGAMY
Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, confided in a close associate in 1943 that the Fuhrer was considering legalizing bigamy due to the great losses of men on the Eastern Front. Bigamy had been allowed in Germany after the Thirty Years War when German manhood had been significantly reduced by that war.
Source: Of Pure Blood, page 38

WHAT HAVE I DISCOVERED?
German scientist Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission in 1939, the basic phenomenon that made atomic bombs possible. Later, after the war, Hahn claimed that he knew the deadly potential of his discover and sometime after the discovery considered suicide.
Source: Heisenberg's War, page 437

ANOTHER ENEMY ON OKINAWA
Prior to their landing on the Japanese island of Okinawa, American troops were warned to be wary of two poisonous snakes on the island, the Habu and Kufau. They were among the most poisonous snakes in the world.
Source: Goodbye Darkness, page 350

PRESIDENT EVERYBODY
In late 1943, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy knew that the Italian monarchy was doomed because of its association with Fascism and that a republic would eventually be proclaimed. The King was bitter and told American diplomat Robert Murphy "A republican form of government is not suited to the Italian people. They are not prepared for it either temperamentally or historically. In a republic every Italian would insist upon being president and the result would be chaos."
Source: Diplomat Among Warriors, page 203

YOU WANNA BET?
In August 1944, the capture of Paris buoyed Allied hopes that the end was near for Germany. Rumors to that effect were rampant all over western Europe. General Eisenhower believed that it was possible and made a small wager that the Germans would surrender before the end of the year. Ike lost the bet.
Source: Diplomat Among Warriors, page 238

PART OF THE WHAT?
Allied reconnaissance photos of the German rocket center at Peenemunde, Germany revealed a strange-looking long, narrow concrete structure which was later identified as a part of the center's sewer system. They were dead wrong. It was a prototype of the launching pad for the V-1 rockets.
Source: Vengeance: Hitler's Nuclear Weapon: Fact or Fiction, page 71

BIG MOUTH
During the summer of 1910, young Adolf Hitler was living in a YMCA-like communal residence in Vienna known as The Mannerheim. One morning he was in the kitchen fixing his breakfast and, as he often did, ranting against socialism. Two moving men happened to be in the area and didn't like what he said. They beat him up and threw him out of the kitchen. For the next few days, the future Fuehrer had a swollen face and several bruises.
Source: Hitler in Vienna, page 178

TO THE RHINE RIVER
Soon after the war in Europe erupted, President Roosevelt extended the "American Security Zone" deeper into the Atlantic. This zone was the area in which the U.S. government declared that American warships and aircraft had a right to patrol to insure the security of America. A few days later, Roosevelt was interviewed by news correspondents in the oval office and was asked how much further the Zone might be extended. He replied that it would be extended as far east as America's interests required. One of the correspondents quipped that might that not be the Rhine River. Roosevelt laughed and replied he was talking only of salt water.
Source: Time-Life Time Capsule-1939, page 23

DEMOCRACY-LOVING CHINESE AND ARABS
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the American Communist Party actively recruited American volunteers to go to Spain and fight in the International Brigades. Their newspaper, The Daily Worker, which tended to exaggerate things, claimed that democracy-loving Chinese and Arabs were on their way to Spain and should not American manhood join in the crusade. Unfortunately for the Communist, no democracy-loving Chinese or Arabs ever showed up in Spain.
Source: Crusade of the Left: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War, page 88.

During the first days of August 1941, Hitler was ill. His physician, Dr. Theodor Morell, diagnosed his illness as a slight case of apoplexy and found that his blood pressure was high. Morell prescribed some pills for the apoplexy and leeches for the high blood pressure. Hitler's recovery was slow.
Source: If Hitler Had Won, page151

In late 1944 a team of American scientist, known as the "Alsos" team, was sent to western Europe to search for evidence of a German atomic bomb project. When Allied troops reached the Rhine River, the team filled several bottles with river water and sent them to Washington to be analyzed for radioactivity with the thought that there might be a German nuclear facility somewhere up stream. As a joke, they included a bottle of French wine with a note attached saying that it tasted funny and should be analyses too. Ironically, the water tested negative, but the wine had a small trace of radioactivity.
Source: Heisenberg's War, page 362

Werner von Braun, who was destined to become Germany's chief rocket scientist, was only 18 when, in 1932, when he jointed the "Dornberger Team," a group of German scientists already working on rocketry.
Source: Vengeance: Hitler's Nuclear Weapon: Fact or Fiction, page 3

Hitler was critical of the sport of hunting, and especially critical of the way his close friend, Hermann Goering, went about it. On July 26, 1942 he made the comment to his dinner companions "…shooting and hunting have the same effect on officials as jewels have on women." Goering wasn't present.
Source: Hitler's Table Talk, pages 593-598

During the war, the British recruited many East Africans for service in their armed forces. The large Turkana Tribe of Kenya, which had traditionally been loyal to the British, was one of their best sources for manpower in the region.
Source: World War II in Colonial Africa, page 136

In southern Ethiopia, then an Italian colony, lived the large Merille Tribe who were a pastoral tribe with thousands of head of cattle. They had long been the traditional enemy of the Turkana Tribe across the border in Kenya. The Italians had armed the Merille and the British had armed the Turkana. When the British invaded Ethiopia, Turkana tribesmen were a part of the invasion force. Pilots of the South African Air Force, who were providing air support for the invasion, were able to stampede hundreds of the Merille's cattle in the direction of the advancing Turkana tribesmen which resulted in the cattle being "captured" by the tribesmen.
Source: A Gathering of Eagles: The Campaign of the South African Air Force in Italian East Africa June 1940-November 1941, page 116-283

When World War II started in Europe in September 1939, the Swiss mobilized their army in the event that they might be drawn into the conflict. Because Switzerland was such a small and strategic nation, virtually every citizen had a role in defending the country - even blind people. They were employed at various locations around the country to listen for airplanes.
Source: Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality, page 78

Not many of the foreigners fighting for the Germans spoke German but many did speak French and/or English. Therefore, they communicated in these languages.
Source: Hitler's Spanish Legions, page 49

During the war, the German film industry made a sci-fi movie in which German scientists design and build an atomic reactor that turned lead into gold. After the war, U.S. government officials asked American scientists to review the film to see if there was anything in it of value. There wasn't.
Source: The Holt Foreign Film Guide, page 233

During April and May 1940, the German sea raider "Atlantis" was prowling for Allied ships off the coast of Africa posing as the Japanese ship "Kasil Maru" (Japan was neutral at this time). As part of the ruse, the short dark-haired members of the German crew were assigned to strut about on deck posing as Japanese passengers. Some of the men dressed as Japanese women and pushed baby carriages and carried parasols. The tall and blonde-haired members of the crew were ordered to stay out of sight.
Source: The Battle of the Atlantic - WW II, page 42

The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, on the border between France and Germany, had changed hands several times in the years before World War II. Prior to the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) they were French. Germany won that war and they went to Germany. After World War I, France took them back again. In the spring of 1940, the Germans conquered them again an in November 1940 they formally annexed the provinces again. Alsace became a part of the neighboring German state of Baden and Lorraine was renamed "Westmark." The use of the French language was then forbidden and families with French-sounding names had to change them to the nearest German version. General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, adopted the double-barred Cross of Lorraine as his symbol which told the world that it was the aim of the Free French to recover the two provinces. After World War II, the two provinces reverted again to France and are French today.
Source: Casablanca Companion, pages 31-32

On the night of January 25/26, 1942, Hitler expounded to his dinner companions his thoughts on marriage. He said "It is fortunate for many leading personalities that they have not married - it would be a catastrophe---That is the worst thing about marriage - it creates rights and claims on one's attention! It is far better to have a mistress."
Source: Hitler Close-up, page 88

In July 1940 the French Government fled Paris and took up residence in the town of Vichy in southern France. The deputies of the French Assembly were demoralized and divided but agreed on one thing - that democracy was no longer good for France. They therefore voted themselves out of existence and passed all of the powers of the Assembly on to the French Premier, Marshal Henri Petain, a World War I hero and highly respected father-figure. This action made Petain the dictator of France. He soon dropped the title of Premier and assumed the fascist-like title of "Head of State." This political structure in France remained in place throughout the war and Petain ruled as a dictator by decree.
Source: Casablanca Companion, page 28

Americans were portrayed in German films during the war as rude, whisky-drinking, cigar-smoking cads. American bankers, motel owners and newspaper publishers were especially not to be trusted, and American women were portrayed as bottle blonds with loose morals.
Source: Nazi Cinema, page 19

In Japan, pictures of the Emperor Hirohito were to be revered. They were never to be seen up side down, or have anything placed on them and they were never to be thrown away.
Source: Life Magazine, July10, 1939, page 48

When Spanish dictator, General Francisco Franco, was asked who would be his successor, he replied "Providence will provide for Spain when I go."
Source: The Book of Political Quotes, page 196

When the American invaded Leyte Island in the Philippines, General MacArthur set up his headquarters in the largest movie house in the town of Tacloban. This proved to be a mistake because it was an easy target for the Japanese.
Source: Goodbye Darkness, page 327

During the battle of Cape Esperance in October 1942, the Japanese fleet commander, Admiral Aritomo Goto was mortally wounded. He was carried to his cabin and his dying words were "bakayaro! bakayaro!" (stupid bastard! stupid bastard!). It was never known whether he was referring to himself or to the captain of a ship that he thought was Japanese that had fired upon him. The ship was actually American.
Source: World War II Magazine, July 1988, page 34

Colin Kelly, an Air Force pilot who was killed in action, was one of America's first heros of the Pacific war and was given lots of attention in the press. At the time, President Roosevelt wrote a letter to the American president of 1956 asking him to admit Kelly's son, then 18 months old, to West Point. President U.S. Grant had written a similar letter on behalf of a Civil War hero.
Source: Exhibit at the March Air Force Base Museum, April 1989

On September 1942, Hitler told his dinner companions that, as a school boy, he showed no aptitude for foreign languages. He went on to blame his teachers for this shortcoming.
Source: Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944, page 697

During the summer of 1943, Albert Speer, head of Germany's munitions production, had little faith in Germany's atomic bomb project. When Germany could no longer get the heavy metal wolfram from Portugal which was used in artillery shells, he authorized the use of uranium simply because it was a heavy metal
Source: Heisenberg's War, page 152

President Roosevelt's vice president during his third term, Henry Wallace, was informed of, and kept up-to-date on, the development of the atomic bombs. Roosevelt's fourth term vice president, Harry S Truman, was not informed of the program. Truman learned of it on April 12, 1945, the day he took over the presidency.
Source: The Manhattan Project, The making of the Atomic Bomb, page 9

Adolf Hitler often had tea at five in the afternoon. Franklin Roosevelt had martinis at five. Winston Churchill had a couple of belts of scotch whiskey when he got up in the morning.
Source: various

During the 1932 election in Germany, Hitler flew from point-to-point in an airplane. He wanted to show the voters that he was a modern man by using this new mode of transportation and that he supported the emerging German aircraft industry. Upon arriving at his destinations, Hitler -always the showman - would emerge from the cabin in full view of the waiting crowds and photographers wearing an aviator's helmet.
Source: Hitler at My Side, page 148

Single women workers of the American Red Cross in the European Theater of Operations were allowed to date only officers or civilians. The GIs had a name for these women - "the snooty dames."
Source: Durant's Dream; War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross, page 405

Before the war, the Nazis claimed that America's Ben Franklin had urged a ban on the immigration of Jews to America.
Source: Chronicle of the 20th Century, page 468

In 1926 a German patriotic organization called the "Hafraba" proposed the building of superhighways that would be known as "Autobahns." At the time the Nazis opposed the idea. But when the Nazis came to power in 1933 they embraced it. The beginning of the building of the Autobahns was accompanied by great fanfare and pro-Nazi propaganda and the leaders of the Hafraba were warned to stay out of the limelight so that the project would appear to be an all-Nazi idea.
Source: Storming to Power, Time-Life Books, page 169

On Guadalcanal the Marines and GIs noticed that the Japanese almost always launched air attacks on Sundays, but never knew why.
Source: World War Times, November 1987, page 27

In May 1941, the Italian Government decreed that chickens could be raised in private homes and that sparrows, thought to eat substantial amounts of grain, could be killed by any means.
Source: Newsweek Magazine June 2, 1941, page 27

On April 16, 1945, the British and Americans agreed to suspend large-scale bombing operations against German cities because there were no more suitable targets.
Source: World War II Magazine, January 1988, page 25

Soon after capturing Manila, the capital of the Philippines, the Japanese held a victory parade through the city. They hired a Filipino band to play music during the parade and at one point the band played "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Filipinos watching the parade cheered loudly. The Japanese, not knowing what the song was, believed that the people were cheering because they were pleased with the parade.
Source: Goodbye Darkness, a Memoir of the Pacific War, page 86

On February 26, 1942, the Academy Awards were held as usual in Hollywood but there were no searchlights and the women were discouraged from wearing orchids as a concession toward the war. Actor Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his portrayal of Sgt. York in World War I.
Source: Life Magazine, March 9, 1942, page 20

In Detroit, M1 tank production was crippled in October 1941 when, in a labor dispute, workers of the CIO refused to handle parts made by workers of the AF of L.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica 1942, page 528

During the development of the atomic bomb, scientist Enrico Fermi was sometimes referred to by his colleagues as "The Pope" because his theories on atomic physics were so often right that he seemed infallible.
Source: Indianapolis Star Newspaper Nov. 12, 1985, page F5

This German racist cartoon shows two barefooted African soldiers of the British Army and says: "We're fighting for culture, Jimmy." "But what is culture?"

On September 12, 1945, after the surrender of Japan, British and Indian troops flew into Saigon, the capital of Japanese occupied French Indo-China, to disarm the Japanese there. Conditions in the city were so chaotic and the British asked the Japanese to keep their guns and help restore order. The Japanese agreed to do so.
Source: The World Atlas of Military History 1945-1984, page 76

Secrecy was so intense at Los Alamos, New Mexico, the site of the development of the atomic bombs, that the people residing there lived in a social vacuum. Little or nothing was reported to the public of deaths, births, marriages, people leaving, high school graduations, etc.
Source: World War II magazine, page 18

During the war, people heard and read these six words over and over again: Berlin, London, Tokyo, Moscow, Rome, Washington. These were the capitals of the major warring nations. The only one of the six that was not attacked, bombed or captured was Washington.
Source: World War II Sites in the United States, page 50

During the spring of 1939, the British government ordered 1.4 million gas masks to be distributed to the British public. This included gas masks for young children. It was suggested that mothers of such children play peek-a-boo with their children to get them used to wearing the masks.
Source: Time-Life Time Capsule, 1939, page 85

In 1931, French Premier Pierre Laval met with Stalin and suggested to the Soviet leader that he tone down his persecution of Russian Catholics so as not to intensify the conflict between the Soviet Union and the Vatican. Stalin's reply was "The Pope? How many divisions has he?"
Source: The Book of Political Quotes, page 195

In 1939, when he was still First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill proposed that the British Navy construct ships for "mine bumping." These would be ships built with heavily armored bows to lead the way through enemy mine fields, detonate mines and not be damaged. Such ships were never built.
Source: World War II Magazine, May 2005, page 62

During World War II the Allies controlled the world's primary source of the metal, cobalt, which came from mines in central Africa. When jet aircraft were developed, cobalt became a very important alloying agent in the making of jet engine turbine blades enabling them to withstand the intense heat of combustion within the engine. The German's, on the other hand, had virtually no cobalt and had to use less effective substitutes. As a result, the engines of the Allied jet aircraft lasted a considerable length of time while the engine life of the German jet engines was only several dozen hours.
Source: World War II in Colonial Africa, page 109

HE WAS NO JOCK
Hitler was very un-athletic. He never learned to swim, never rode a horse and was never in a rowboat. He told an associate one time "After all, what business do I have in a rowboat?"
Source: The book "Hitler" by Joachim Fest, page 518

HE WAS A JOCK AND AN ELEGANT ONE AT THAT
Hermann Goering would go to a clinic in Italy on occasion to lose weight. Exercise was part of the regimens and on one occasion he was spotted on the tennis court wearing a coat, tie and a hair net.
Source: Life Magazine April 3, 1939, page 23

GROUNDED
After several frightening weather-related flying incidents in the late 1930s, Hermann Goering showed a distinct fear of flying and preferred to travel about in his private railroad car. Jokes were made behind his back that he should become Minister of Railroads rather than head of the Luftwaffe.
Source: Hitler at My Side, page 178

THERE'S ALWAYS THE BUSHES
In Albania, which became an Italian protectorate during the war, King Zog and Queen Geraldine lived in a palace - with only one bathroom.
Source: Life Magazine May 22, 1939

POOR BALTIMORE!
The super-secret OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the CIA) was headquarters in Washington, DC but used the city of Baltimore as a training ground. Several estates, hotels and schools were taken over by the OSS and converted into training facilities for their agents. They were taught the skills of blackmail, forgery, bribery techniques, wire tapping, poison-pen letter writing, lock picking, safe-cracking, Morse code and code deciphering. They would then participate in field exercises where they would try to infiltrate war plants, power plants, military installations, etc. Poor Baltimore!
Source: World War II Sites in the United States, page 112

HERE'S WHERE THEY WILL SURRENDER
In February 1944 American troops on Bougainville captured a Japanese map which showed the site of the future American surrender ceremony.
Source: History of Marine Corps Aviation in WW II, page 208

AN EXPENSIVE WAREHOUSE
When the war started, the German Navy was building its first aircraft carrier. Due to technical problems, Allied bombings and the less-that-stellar performance of the German Navy, Hitler lost interest in the project. The unfinished ship was towed to Stettin, anchored in the harbor and used as a floating warehouse for the rest of the war.
Source: World War II Magazine, March 1988

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
On January 30, 1943 the Nazi leaders were holding a ceremony in Berlin commemorating the 10th anniversary of their coming to power in 1933. The Allies joined in the party. The RAF bombed the city at mid-day and the USAAF bombed again in late afternoon. The latter raid interrupted a speech being given by Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda.
Source: Chronicle of the 20th Century, page 546

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL!
One of the first projects the Nazis undertook upon coming to power in 1933 was to subsidize the manufacture of radios so that every German family could afford to buy a radio and, of course, listen to what the Nazi government wanted them to hear. The program was very successful. Radio sales were brisk.
Source: If Hitler Had Won, page 50

BANG-BANG! TOOT-TOOT!
The US Marine Corps used Navajo Indian "Code-talkers" in the Pacific to transmit messages from unit to unit in their native language - a language the Japanese didn't understand. To counter this activity, the Japanese resorted to banging on cans, blowing horns and yelling to make it difficult for the Navajo radiomen to communicate.
Source: World War II Magazine, March 1989

HERO OR JAILBIRD
When Col. Paul Tibbits was told that he was to deliver the first atomic bomb to Japan, he was told he would probably emerge from the war either as a hero - or possibly go to jail.
Source: Lecture by Col. Tibbits

OLD BUT USEFUL
Fort Morgan, at the entrance to Mobile Bay in Alabama, was built in 1840 and had been turned into a park and tourist site. At the beginning of the war it was reactivated by the War Department. The Army installed artillery pieces to protect the harbor entrance and the Coast Guard used it as a base of operation for their horse and Jeep beach patrols. After the war, it was again made into a park.
Source: World War II Sites in the United States, page 2

LET'S STAY HOME TONIGHT
Soon after the Nazis came to power in Germany they took over the German film industry and began producing propaganda-laden movies for public consumption. The German movie-goers soon showed little interest in such movies and even laughed at some of the more ridiculous aspects of the propaganda. As might be expected, movie attendance dropped off. The Nazis then ordered the film makers to scale back the propaganda content in their films but it never ceased entirely.
Source: Film in the Third Reich, page 30

APRIL 1945
On April 12, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt was stricken and later died at his cottage at Warm Spring,, GA. With him at the time he was stricken was his mistress, Lucy Mercer.
On April 29, 1945, Benito Mussolini was executed by Communist Partisans in northern Italy. With him at the time was his mistress, Claretta Petacci, who was also executed.
On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler and his wife and former mistress, Eva Braun, committed suicide in the bunker in Berlin. Eva had been Hitler's wife for 37 hours.
Source: Various

LET'S TAKE THAT ONE
Refugees fleeing the war in Europe would often stop in big cities and visit the consulates of various nations to see if that country was accepting refugees and under what conditions. In this way, the refugees would "shop", as it were, for a country in which to settle. Source: Casablanca Companion, page 3

"I AIN'T NO JAP"
In the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the citizens of the U. S. west coast suffered an extreme case was war jitters - so much so that people of oriental descent were often harassed and even attacked in public. Many of the individuals targeted were not Japanese. Out of desperation, some of the non-Japanese orientals began wearing signs around their necks saying such things as "I am Chinese" (China was our ally) and "I'm not a Jap." Source: "Silent Siege II" by Bert Webber, 1988, pages 196-223

"IT'S MY BEACH AND I'LL PROTECT IT"
Local residents along America's coasts who knew their local beaches well were asked to join the Coast Guard Reserves. They would then be assigned to regularly patrol those beaches. Source: "Silent Siege II" by Bert Webber, 1988, pages 129-193

HITLER IS DEAD
In Raleigh, NC, North Carolina State Museum Director, Henry Davis, reported that one of the museum's rattlesnakes, named "Hitler," had died. He was survived, however, by three other rattlesnakes named Mussolini, Tojo and Hirohito. Source: World War II Chronicle, March 1990

HITLER AND MUSSOLINI AT OXFORD
Lord Halifax lamented to a friend "I often think how much easier the world would have been to manage if Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini had been at Oxford." Source: "The Book of Political Quotes" by Jonathon Green, 1982, page 116

Ironically, Hitler had thoughts on Oxford. During the latter half of 1940, when the Germans were planning the invasion and conquest of England, he favored an idea put forth to move the British capital from London to Oxford. Source: "World War II Super Facts" by Don McCombs and Fred L. Worth, 1983 page 449

"MY ARMY…MY WIFE…MY PEOPLE…AND ME"
King Boris III of Bulgaria, a staunch ally of Hitler, lamented his personal concerns to an associate on one occasion saying "My army is pro-German, my wife is Italian, and my people are pro-Russian. I am the only pro-Bulgarian in the country." Source: "Bulgaria During the Second World War" by Marshall Lee Miller 1975, page 1.

MUSSOLINI AND ME
On June 5, 1944, the day after the Americans liberated Rome, an American soldier of Italian descent, John Vitto, mounted the balcony in the Palazzo Venezia from which Mussolini had made many of his speeches and proceeded to make a well-gestured Mussolini-like speech. The people below seems to be very amused. When asked why he did it, Vitto replied "I promised my mother that is what I'd do when I got to Rome. I can do anything Mussolini can do. I'm an American," he said. Source: World War II Chronicle, May/June 1987

AL CAPONE'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WAR EFFORT
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Secret Service wanted to acquire an armored car for President Roosevelt. The only one available on such short notice was one that had been owned by Al Capone. Capone was in jail at the time. Source: "Washington Goes to War" by David Brinkley, page 88

WORDS IN HIS MOUTH
In 1947, General Hideki Tojo, then in the custody of the U.S. Army, asked that he be given a new set of dentures so that he could speak more clearly at his forthcoming war-crimes trial. The Army's dentists obliged and provided him with a new set of teeth. Unbeknownst to Tojo, the dentists had etched "Remember Pearl Harbor" on the back side of the teeth in Morse code. The ruse was soon discovered and the dentists were ordered to erase it. Source: San Jose Mercury Newspaper, April 13, 1991

TITLES, TITLES, TITLES
Hermann Goering loved to accumulate titles. He was Reichsmarshal of the German Armed Forces, President of the Reichstag, Reichsminister of Air Power, Prime Minister of Prussia, Plenipotentary of the Four Year Plan, Director of the Hermann Goering Works, Publisher of a leading newspaper in the Ruhr the "Essener Zeitung," Reichsdirector of Television, and Master of the Hunt. Source: "Justice at Nuremberg" by Robert C. Conot, 1984, page 137

WHICH HOTEL DO YOU STAY AT?
Lisbon, the capital of neutral Portugal, was a hotbed of intrigue and espionage during the war and many of the Allied and Axis agents operated quite openly. It was common knowledge that the Allied agents operated out of the Hotel Aviz in downtown Lisbon and that the Axis agents operated out of the Palacio Hotel in Estoril, a western suburb of Lisbon.
Source: Casablanca Companion, page 14

FROM THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TO THE CASPIAN SEA
In 1934, a year after he had been elected Germany's Chancellor, Hitler told an associate "…to make us independent of every possible political grouping and alliance…we must have the mastery as far as the Caucasus (for oil)…In the west we need the French coast…Flanders and Holland. Above all we need Sweden."
Source: If Hitler Had Won, page 49

"FEW HEADS"
In 1907, eighteen-year-old Adolph Hitler applied for acceptance as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna hoping to make art his life's career. He submitted sample drawings, but his application was rejected. The rejection slip read "Adolph Hitler, born Braunau/Inn, Upper Austria on 20 April 1889…Catholic, Father: Civil Servant, Sample drawings inadequate, few heads." "Few heads" meant that he was not good at drawing the human form.
Source: Casablanca Companion, page 16

YOU TAKE ASIA AND WE'LL TAKE AFRICA
In November 1940 Hitler met with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov to divide up much of the world. In August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a treaty of friendship and by now it appeared that the war would soon be over and that they would be friends forever. France had been defeated and it appeared that Britain would soon be defeated also. Therefore, the time had come to plan for the division of the spoils. Hitler and Molotov agreed that Germany and Italy would take all of Africa and that the Soviet Union would take all of the Middle East, Afghanistan and India. As Hitler and Molotov talked, Hitler's generals were secretly planning the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Source: World War II in Colonial Africa, page 125

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