The truth is stranger than fiction: WW2 facts that you would call BS if seen on a movie...

pbehn said:

The story of Winkle Brown would make a completely unbelievable movie with a "whats that stuff about him speaking to Goering" comment.

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A bio-flick is long overdue on Captain Brown.

There are a lot of really interesting escapes. Douglas Bader escaped twice (and was recaptured) twice; after the second, the Germans sent him to escape-proof Colditz (if I recall) took his legs*. Bob Hoover stole an FW190 in his escape. The Danish people rescued just about their entire Jewish population in what has to be the largest successful conspiracy in human history.


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* This wasn't as bad as it sounds; he had lost both legs in the early 1930s.

A cylindrical rotating bomb that bounces on water so it can jump over torpedo nets in order to destroy a dam... anime stuff.

swampyankee said:

There are a lot of really interesting escapes. Douglas Bader escaped twice (and was recaptured) twice; after the second, the Germans sent him to escape-proof Colditz (if I recall) took his legs*. Bob Hoover stole an FW190 in his escape. The Danish people rescued just about their entire Jewish population in what has to be the largest successful conspiracy in human history.


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* This wasn't as bad as it sounds; he had lost both legs in the early 1930s.

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British fighter ace with wooden legs would have sufficed for me actually... my reaction would have been: "What? No eye patch? At least they didnt have his parrot flying as his wingman..."

Cant capture a harbour on the French coast, float one over and build one in a week.

Recruit a British safe breaker thief, who has been recruited by the Germans as a spy / saboteur, and send him back to Germany so that he can be sent back to Britain to 'spy' again - and end but being awarded the Iron Cross !
Already been a film made (loosely based on his 'exploits', given the files were still Classified at the time, late 1960's), but would love to see a more accurate re-make.

JAG88 said:

British fighter ace with wooden legs would have sufficed for me actually... my reaction would have been: "What? No eye patch? At least they didnt have his parrot flying as his wingman..."

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No eye patch

Bader was credited with 22 kills during the Battle of Britain.

Deputy-Fuhrer?! Rudolf Hess flying to Britain to negotiate with Great Britain.

swampyankee said:

There are a lot of really interesting escapes. Douglas Bader escaped twice (and was recaptured) twice; after the second, the Germans sent him to escape-proof Colditz (if I recall) took his legs*. Bob Hoover stole an FW190 in his escape. The Danish people rescued just about their entire Jewish population in what has to be the largest successful conspiracy in human history.


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* This wasn't as bad as it sounds; he had lost both legs in the early 1930s.

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There was another British legless fighter pilot - Colin "Hoppy" Hodgkinson. He joined the Fleet Air Arm at the start of the war but lost both his legs and was very badly burnt in an accident while training (mid-air collision between a Tiger moth and a Harvard). When he was fit he transferred to the RAF and flew Spitfires on fighter sweeps over France. He was obviously afraid that if he had to bail out over the sea that his "tin-legs" would drag him down, so on his first operational flight he filled them with ping pong balls! - Climbing up over the channel he was alarmed by loud explosions in the cockpit. - They were the ping-pong balls exploding with the reduced outside air pressure! He had two victories to his credit - A FW190 near Folkestone and a Bf109 over France. The second victory was when he snuck up on a swarm of four Bf109s unobserved, he bought down one, but two of the others collided when they broke formation in opposite directions. He was only allowed to claim these as "damaged". He crashed in France in March 1944 after his oxygen supply failed in flight. What the Germans thought when a second legless fighter pilot was captured were expressed by a high-ranking Luftwaffe officer who yanked back his blanket and gazed at his stumps with a puzzled frown. "You must hate us very much to want to fight us in that condition." - Like Bader, he had a set of legs parachuted in to enable him to walk. Hodgkinson was repatriated via Sweden by the Red Cross through a prisoner exchange scheme that required him not to fly on operations again. After the war, he was an active pilot in the Auxiliary Air Force, flying Vampire jets. Youtube video of the launch of his autobiography here. At this Link.

ERRATA 26/5/2020- I got all the information above from an article about Hodgkinson in the "RAF Flying Review" - Intrigued, I have since got a copy of his autobiography "Best Foot Forward" and found that many of the details in the book clash with those in the magazine article. - To list them: 1) The "ping pong" ball incident did not happen on his first combat flight. He did a series lower-level escort missions before that (His squadron at the time had Spitfire Vs, so they would do low cover while the Spitfire IX Squadrons would provide high cover), it was on the first mission that took him to 25,000 feet that the ping-pong ball incident occurred. 2) The incident of the two Bf109s colliding is not as describe, quite the reverse in fact. He was part of a force escorting bombers to attack Schiphol airport. Following a 109 in a dive, he pulled up and blacked out. When he came around he was inverted flying over the middle of the airfield. Four Bf109s were converging on him. The two outside 109s pulled up and collided. The remaining two rolled away. 3) his first "kill" was a FW190 that had just done a "tip-and-run" raid on Brighton. it came down 100 yards off the end of Brighton pier (not Folkestone). His second confirmed kill was on 16th Aug 1943 when flying as wingman to Wg Cmdr "Laddie" Lucas, escorting a Marauder strike on Bernay airfield, He got another FW190. 4) When he was captured his tin legs were damaged, but still usable. The RAF did parachute him a replacement, but they only sent one leg and it was completely useless - So he had to make do with his damaged ones. 5) His face had been badly injured in the crash when he was captured. It was for this, rather than his legs, that he was repatriated. 6) The terms of his repartiation did not preclude him flying in combat again. - But he had to spend a long time in hospital, getting his face repaired and a long time recuperating. When he returned to flying the RAF put him on ferry duties, but he asked to be put back on ops. In fact he made a journey to Germany a few weeks before the War ended in Europe to ask "Johnie" Johnson to take him back in his Squadron. While there Hodgkinson had another narrow escape when a Spitfire crashed on take off, killing two two men in the crash-tender next to which he had been standing.7) Lastly, the accident when he lost his legs was between two Tiger Moths (no Harvard involved). Both the Tiger Moths were doing blind-flying practice with the hoods pulled up over the student pilots.

Now that's a cool story!

Other good ones:
the mass escape from Sobibor. ()

There are five listed here: 5 Stories Of Real Life Escape Attempts By Allied Prisoners Of War

One horrible fact to which I wish I could call BS: Axis PoWs (at least those from Europe) in the US were better treated by local governments than the African-American soldiers guarding them, at least in the South.

michael rauls said:

The Polish army charging tanks on horseback. I've read this for years but also a few that claim it never really happened. If it did you've got to admire that kind of courage if nothing else.

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The Polish Cavalry did not charge the German tanks, they charged between the tanks to route the supporting panzergrenadiers in order to break out of an imminent encirclement.

In regards to oddities, the Battle of Castle Itter ranks up there at the top.

Mr. Spielberg & Mr. Hanks - please make a series about Duško Popov (too bad he was not seen as interesting person in ex-Yu and on, here). He is almost unknown today.
Also - the US and German soldiers, together with French high-ups, defending the Castle Itter.

Under the Geneva Convention POWs had the same level of rations as their capturing soldiers. In WW2 this meant that Axis POWs in Britain got better rations than British civilians.

JAG88 said:

British fighter ace with wooden legs would have sufficed for me actually... my reaction would have been: "What? No eye patch? At least they didnt have his parrot flying as his wingman..."

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This line should be uttered by the German officer inspecting the captive.

Six Italian frogmen that put out of service two British battleships, Valiant and Queen Elizabeth...

yulzari said:

Under the Geneva Convention POWs had the same level of rations as their capturing soldiers. In WW2 this meant that Axis POWs in Britain got better rations than British civilians.

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My Mother told me about the German POWs that worked on her Uncles farm. The Germans used to get Eggs, Meat and Full fat milk Mum got powdered Egg, Soya Sausages and Skimmed milk

FLYBOYJ said:

How about a 21 year old fighter pilot who loop-the-loop the Golden Gate bridge and who also had a flight instructor who became a US Senator and presidential candidate.

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AS I RECALL, the Bong story about the G Gate Bridge came from Geo. Kenney who was um marginal as a factual reference. A few of the 49th/475th guys I knew thought that Bong had buzzed Market Street rather than looping the bridge although I doubt if any of them were there. I was somewhat acquainted with BG, and he had been a Luke Field gunnery rather than flight instructor.

GrauGeist said:

The Polish Cavalry did not charge the German tanks, they charged between the tanks to route the supporting panzergrenadiers in order to break out of an imminent encirclement.

In regards to oddities, the Battle of Castle Itter ranks up there at the top.

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The US Army still favored the horse over the tank even after the invasion of Poland. The last Cavalry regiments were disbanded early in 1942.

Reluctant Poster said:

The US Army still favored the horse over the tank even after the invasion of Poland. The last Cavalry regiments were disbanded early in 1942.

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One of my high school teachers was in the horsed cavalry under Patton.