Under the cryptonym “Wikinger” stands the unsuccessful action of the German navy against British fishermen, during which 2 destroyers were lost and 590 sailors were killed without any contact with the enemy. The following story has really happened, and this is probably the most discrediting defeat of Kriegsmarine during World War II.
Throughout the history of combat, there are only a few examples of military formations that were as effective as the famous winged hussars. This elite of the Polish cavalry was ruling the battlefields from the 16th to the 18th century. It had remained unbeaten for 125 years, even against enemies with crushing numerical superiority.
The Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B “Königstiger”, known as the Tiger II, was the largest, heaviest, and arguably the most powerful tank used in combat during World War II.
The first months of Operation Barbarossa, i.e. the Third Reich’s invasion of the USSR, were a devastating defeat for the Russians. The Red Army retreated in panic, but in the chaos of war the need to evacuate factories to the east was not forgotten, in order to continue the production of everything the USSR armed forces needed to win the Second World War. Despite the lack of equipment, people and food, it is estimated that by the end of 1941 more than 1,500 factories with millions of workers and engineers had been relocated.
On October 1, 1943, one of the boldest and most glorious actions in the history of the Polish Underground State during World War II took place. Members of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) sabotage unit carried out a daring operation on the streets of Warsaw, killing Ernst Weffels, a Gestapo officer working at Pawiak prison, who was infamous for his almost animalistic cruelty towards the imprisoned inmates.
The American defeat inflicted by the Japanese fleet on Pearl Harbor is considered one of the biggest military catastrophes in the history of the USA. In fact, the losses of the Pacific Fleet were not as severe as usually thought, and Japan made a number of mistakes during the attack, which did not have the desired effect. Below there is an explanation of why the Pearl Harbor attack did not violate the foundations of the American war machine, but only became the beginning of the end for the Empire of Japan.
The Chancellor of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, was the target of at least 42 documented assassination attacks not only during the Second World War, but also earlier, in the 1930s, when he took over power in Germany.
He was attempted to be shot, blown up by detonation of explosives, simulated a fatal car accident, poisoned, and derailed in his armored train.
When a heavy bomber B-29 was distancing itself from the Japanese city of Hiroshima, on which the crew just dropped the first atomic bomb in history, the second pilot of the “flying fortress” – Robert A. Lewis, seeing the exodus of almost 80,000 people underneath them, screamed: “My God, what have we done?”
The American did not know that in addition to the complete destruction of a large city, his crew had contributed to the end of World War II in the Pacific and the start of the nuclear arms race between the world’s superpowers.
The Great War between Poland and the Teutonic Order will always be associated with the great victory of Poland at Grunwald. However, it is worth recalling the Koronowo battle, which took place three months later and became exceptional not only because it was another great Polish victory, but also because it was in fact a knights’ tournament, where warriors on both sides were fighting honorary duels with each other, and even two breaks during which they played songs about the courage of their opponents.
The German offensive code-named “Zitadelle” carried out in the area of Kursk on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union led to the largest armoured battle fought during World War II. Thousands of tanks, guns, planes and almost 3 million soldiers stood in front of each other. It was also the first test for new German medium tanks – PzKpfw V Panther and a demonstration of the strength of heavy tanks, PzKpfw VI Tiger.