Until she developed a reputation as the elusive “White Mouse,” as her enemies dubbed her, she brazenly flirted with German soldiers to waltz through checkpoints. In 1943, aware that her hunters were finally closing in, Wake fled to Spain and later to Britain, where she convinced special agents to train her as a spy and guerilla operative. In April 1944 she parachuted into France to coordinate attacks on German troops and installations prior to the D-Day invasion, leading a band of 7,000 resistance fighters.

Read more about Nancy and the rest at the link.

Link

It’s one thing to be a hero who kills hundreds of enemy soldiers in battle, but to become a hero without even using a weapon -now that’s impressive. Cracked has a great list of heroes who fought the good fight without ever handling a gun. Take, for example, Bill Millin who played bagpipes at the battle of Normandy.

So, he ordered his piper, Bill Millin, to go ashore on one of the main landing points for the invasion of Normandy and wail on a set of bagpipes. Once on the beach, Millin calmly walked up and down at the water’s edge, playing while carnage exploded and people died all around him….Millin later talked to some of the Germans who had been captured to ask why they never shot him, and discovered it was because they thought he had gone mad.

The other four fighters are just as impressive.

Link

Have you ever been told that eating carrots will improve your eye sight? Then congratulations, you’ve just been fed propaganda from a very successful, but very silly British propaganda campaign.

During the Battle of Britain, the Germans started noticing that a bunch of their planes were getting shot down in instances where the British shouldn’t have seen them coming. It was almost like they had some sort of radio device that could detect the presence of incoming objects — actually, it was exactly that: Britain had perfected the radar and didn’t tell anyone about it. Obviously the Brits couldn’t let the Germans know they had access to this new technology…British papers published a story about a RAF pilot called John “Cat Eyes” Cunningham who had shot down 20 enemy planes thanks to his superhuman night vision, an ability he achieved by eating lots of carrots.

While carrots are good for your eyes, they can’t actually improve your eyesight and they certainly can’t give you night vision. Even so, many people still believe that munching them down like Bugs Bunny will help them get rid of their glasses all because of a propaganda campaign.

Link

Cardiff University professor Brian Ford says he uncovered the plan while reviewing recently declassified documents for his new book, Secret Weapons: Technology, Science, And The Race To Win World War II.

British spies figured that if they could lace Hitler’s food with estrogen, over time he would become less cruel and aggressive, Ford says. The idea was to “feminize” Hitler, and make him behave more like his sister, Paula, a “mild-mannered secretary.” The Brits were encouraged by then-recent research into the effects of sex hormones in therapy. “There were agents who would be able to get it into his food,” Ford says, as quoted by The Telegraph. “It would have been entirely possible.”

No one ever put the plan into action, probably because it was crazy–just like some others highlighted in this article over on The Week. Link

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m a sucker for vintage photos shot in color and these gorgeous WWII images from the Library of Congress are both fascinating and stunning. You can find more of them over at The Atlantic.

Link

It’s amazing what a little camouflage can do.  Apparently during World War II to avoid potential bombing the government went to great lengths to disguise an aircraft  plant.  Check out more of these amazing photos at the link.

During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from a possible Japanese air attack. They covered it with camouflage netting to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air.

Link

The dog, Jackie, was a mutt owned by Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Borg’s wife Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog Hitler because of the strange way it raised its paw high in the air like Germans greeting the Fuehrer with a cry of “Heil Hitler!”

On January 29, 1941, German Vice Consul Willy Erkelenz in Helsinki wrote that “a witness, who does not want to be named, said … he saw and heard how Borg’s dog reacted to the command ‘Hitler’ by raising its paw.”

Borg was ordered to the German embassy in Helsinki and questioned about his dog’s unusual greeting habits.

He denied ever calling the dog by the German dictator’s name, but admitted that his wife called the dog Hitler. He tried to play down the accusations, saying the paw-raising had only happened a few times in 1933 — shortly after Hitler came to power.

The German Foreign Office was ready to arrest Borg for insulting Hitler, but no one wanted to testify against the man. Link -via Metafilter

See the last few minutes of Walt Disney’s “Victory Through Air Power”,  a WWII propaganda film that shows a Japanese octopus battling an American eagle. Spoiler: the eagle wins.

Link

A radio at the Montrose Air Station Heritage Center in Scotland has been picking up radio broadcasts from the WWII era.

The vintage radio set is kept in a recreation of a 1940s room. Several people have heard Second World War era broadcasts including the big band sound of the Glenn Miller orchestra and speeches by Winston Churchill. The broadcasts come on at random and can last for up to half an hour…

“It plays Glenn Miller, and that’s what everyone has heard. It is very faint and you have to put your ear to it, but that’s what it’s playing.

“It’s not just one of us who’s heard it – most of us here have. We are talking about highly educated, reliable people.

“My wife Aileen was with me when we heard the Glenn Miller Orchestra last weekend. She’s a physicist and not predisposed to believing in things like this but no-one has an explanation.

The fact that the radio is not plugged in will cause some people to be skeptical, and assume that an audio device has been hidden inside the radio case.  However…

Technicians who examined it removed the back, but found “nothing but cobwebs and spiders”.

So there.

Link.  RAF Heritage Center website.

Victorious armies have employed graffiti to celebrate their conquests for millennia.  A photoessay at Poemas del río Wang utilizes images from the archives of LIFE magazine and other sources to document the extensive graffiti that characterized Berlin after the defeat of Hitler.

The inscriptions remained intact for fifty years in the closed and isolated Reichstag. It was only in the 90s that they were discovered by Karin Felix, a collaborator of the restorations. She prepared a first, complete catalog of the inscriptions and she has made inquiries about the persons and the stories behind the names.

During the restoration of the Reichstag, some of the graffiti was conserved as an item of historical interest.

Link.

Sixty five years ago, on April 30, 1945, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun ended their lives in an underground bunker after Berlin fell.

Shortly afterwards, LIFE photographer William Vandivert was on scene to photograph the destroyed city and the bunker itself. These never-before-published images are now available from LIFE Photo Gallery WWII: Inside Hitler’s Bunker.

This one above is captioned:

With only candles to light their way, war correspondents examine a couch stained with blood (see dark patch on the arm of the sofa) located inside Hitler’s bunker. In his typed notes Vandivert wrote: "Pix of [correspondents] looking at sofa where Hitler and Eva shot themselves. Note bloodstains on arm of soaf [sic] where Eva bled. She was seated at far end …. Hitler sat in middle and fell forward, did not bleed on sofa. This is in Hitler’s sitting room." Remarkable stuff — but, it turns out, only about half right. Historians are now quite certain that Braun actually committed suicide by biting a cyanide capsule, rather than by gunshot — meaning that the blood stains on the couch are quite likely Hitler’s, and not Eva Braun’s, after all.

Link – Thanks Ben!

Previously on Neatorama: 17 Strange Facts About Hitler

Photo: U.S. Air Force under Creative Commons

As the United States became fully devoted to fighting in World War II, and Japanese submarines, aircraft, and even attack balloons started threatening the west coast, Holly wood stepped up to help the war effort.  The War Department had ordered the installations along the western lands (such as aircraft manufacturers) to be protected… disguised, if possible.

That’s when Colonel John F. Ohmer, a seasoned camouflage genius, came into play.  He enlisted Hollywood to create fake landscapes (in tromp l’oeil style) to hide the precious targets from aerial discovery.

Movie studios in Hollywood, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal Pictures and others accepted the challenge and offered scenic designers, painters, art directors, landscape artists, animators, carpenters, lighting experts and prop men.  While not experienced in military affairs, this legion of experts from the movies would make Colonel Ohmer’s assignment considerably easier and entirely possible.

Concurrently, there were efforts at misdirecting prying eyes in the sky to fake targets.

In other sections of March Field, scattered decoy aircraft made of canvas scraps, ration boxes, and burlap on chicken wire as well as flattened tin cans dominated the landscape.  None of these aircraft looked real up close but looked great from a distance.  Fake runways were made by burning grassy strips.  On high, they looked like the real thing.  In all 34 air bases were camouflaged to include the planting of fake foliage and structural cover.

The massive scale of such a project is very impressive, and evident in photos documenting the whole operation.

Link

Yes, Minnesotastan has posted about the Otis Historical Archives of the National Museum of Health and Medicine’s photo collection on Flickr before on Neatorama, but I found these posters telling the public how to distinguish various poison gases through their distinct smells to be utterly fascinating!

I mean, whodathunk that mustard gas would smell like garlic? (Shouldn’t they just call it garlic gas?). Or that phosgene can result in "increased dopey feeling"? Link

Photo: Ronald Playforth

Early in May, 1945, officers from the German army and Gestapo met with Allied commanders, including Field Marshall Montgomery to offer their country’s surrender at his headquarters near Hamburg.  Interestingly, the only color photographs of this event were taken by a clerk, Ronald Playforth, who hid in the trees during the meeting.

Thequintessential wrote a brief synopsis of this event:

His pictures show Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg, the most senior member of the delegation, General Eberhard Kinzel, chief of staff of the north west Germany army, and Major Friedl, a 6ft 6ins Gestapo chief. They were received by Field Marshall Montgomery, with his customary black beret and army uniform, who, when the Germans tried to negotiate, reportedly gave them a ‘tongue lashing’ about the bombing of Coventry and the horrors of Belsen. The delegation reported back to their HQ and Admiral Karl Doenitz – Hitler’s successor – and were given permission to sign the surrender papers, which they did the next day, May 4. When it was all over Montgomery is said to have leaned back and said simply: ‘That concludes the surrender.’

Link

Waddington PLC, the printing company best known for its games including Monopoly, was involved in a most unusual venture during the Second World War: printing maps on silk, rayon and tissue paper for military use and smuggling some of them to prisoners of war.

[...]

During WWII hundreds of thousands of maps were produced by the British on thin cloth and tissue paper. The idea was that a serviceman captured or shot down behind enemy lines should have a map to help him find his way to safety if he escaped or, better still, evade capture in the first place. A map like this could be concealed in a small place (a cigarette packet or the hollow heel of a flying boot), did not rustle suspiciously if the captive was searched and, in the case of maps on cloth or mulberry leaf paper, could survive wear and tear and even immersion in water. The scheme was soon extended to cover those who had already been captured, although a certain amount of ingenuity was required to get the maps into the POW camps.

Link – via holeinthedonut

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by baweibel.

This very interesting 14 minute video demonstrates the functionality as well as the effectiveness of Germany’s infantry weapons during WWII. Listed is a description of the Karabiner 98K, MP40 Machine Pistole, the famous Luger, the Stielhandgranate or better known as the Potato masher both MG34 and MG42 machine guns and more.

The video appears to be a vintage color film that was probably used for training purposes between 1939-1945 (unconfirmed)

Link: YouTube

A bag belonging to a World War II soldier from Lancashire has been discovered in the Egyptian desert after lying there for more than 60 years. Alec Ross, from Burnley, lost the bag containing personal letters and photos, while serving with the 8th Army. Egyptian tour guide Kahled Makram found the bag in the Sahara desert and traced Mr Ross’s family through a BBC website on World War II. The bag is being sent to Burnley to Mr Ross’s sister, Irene Porter.

Video: LiveLeak – Via: BBC