Top 10 Little-Known Events in World War II

10 Aleutian Islands Campaign
On June 3rd, 1942, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Attu and Kiska, two islands which were part of the state of Alaska. However, these islands had little value, very bad conditions and proved little of a threat to the United States. Many resulting casualties were not caused by gunfire, but booby traps, the weather and friendly fire.
9 Japanese Holdouts
Japanese holdouts were Japanese soldiers stationed on islands throughout the Pacific who refused to surrender, or did not know that Japan had surrendered. These soldiers remained isolated on these islands, often times by themselves, for several years, or decades. One famous case is Hiroo Onada, who finally surrendered in 1974, 29 years after Japan surrendered!
8 South American Involvement
Although it is called “World War II”, many people do not include any South American countries on the list of combatants. The country of Brazil, “During the eight months of the Italian campaign, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force managed to take 20,573 Axis prisoners, including two generals, 892 officers and 19,679 other ranks. During the War, Brazil lost 948 of its own men killed in action across all three services.” Many other South American countries contributed in raw supplies and, in some cases, soldiers joined the Free French Forces.
7 Vichy France vs. the Allies
After the French surrender in 1940, Germany created a puppet government in Vichy. This government did not have any real power or control. However, after the French defeat, there were still French forces in places such as Northern Africa, Pacific colonies and navy ships. During Operation Torch, Vichy forces were forced to fight against invading allies. “The stiff Vichy resistance cost the Americans 556 killed and 837 wounded. Three hundred British troops and 700 French soldiers were also killed.”
6 Operation Drumbeat
Typically, people think of U-boats attacking ships in the Atlantic, around Greenland or closer to Europe, rather than off the coast of the United States. However, Operation Drumbeat involved 40 U-Boats attacking shipping very close to the coastline of various states. An even scarier fact is that German U-Boats even landed saboteurs on American soil! At Long Island, New York, and Ponte Vedra, Florida, 8 English-speaking Germans snuck into America (the 4 at Long Island were captured after several weeks).
5 Other Europeans in Nazi Forces
Many people believe that only Germans were serving in Nazi forces, but this is not the case. German recruitment programs were started in various occupied countries, and were aimed at enlisting citizens and former soldiers into Nazi forces, including the Waffen SS. The 373rd infantry battalion of Wehrmach was a German battalion comprised of Belgians. Frikorps Danmark was created in Denmark to recruit Danish Nazi’s. Similar forces were created in Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Norway, and even a British force (British Free Corps) was created with 27 soldiers (from various parts of the Empire including New Zealanders, Canadians, and Australians).
4 Japanese Fire Balloons
From the Fall of 1944, until early 1945, the Japanese began launching over 9000 “Fire Balloons” from the island of Honshu. These balloons were made of Japanese paper (washi), filled with hydrogen and explosives. They were meant to go with the Jet Stream and fly to North America where they would detonate. The plan was very ineffective and only about 1000 made it the North America. However, 6 Americans were killed in 1945 in a single explosion.
3 Stalag Luft III
This is likely to be the best known item on the list. Stalag Luft III was a Nazi POW camp, mostly for allied airmen who’d been shot down and taken captive. However, these airmen were very crafty and over 600 had helped to organize an escape committee, which secretly began to dig tunnels and make plans. On March 24th, 1944, the plan was executed, but from the start, everything went wrong. Only 77 men managed to get into the escape tunnels, and were soon discovered. Of the 77, only 3 managed to get to safety. 50 escapees were executed by the orders of Hitler. This escape attempt was made into a 1963 film, “The Great Escape”.
2 The Ni’ihau Incident
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Many Japanese pilots were able to return to aircraft carriers, but a few had been shot down, or had crashed on the island of Oahu. Japanese pilots were told that if they were to crash land, they should do so on the island of Ni’ihau, which they thought was uninhabited. Shigenori Nishikaichi was a pilot whose plane had been damaged. He crash landed on Ni’ihau, which he soon found out was inhabited. He was treated as a guest, but soon they found out about the attack on Pearl Harbor. 3 Japanese on the island tried to help Nishikaichi to escape, but eventually they were stopped, and Nishikaichi as well as one of the Japanese who tried to aid him were killed. This became known as the Ni’ihau incident.
1 The Death Match
The Death Match was a football (soccer for Americans) match between a POW Soviet team, “FC Start”, and a team comprised of Luftwaffe members, “Flakelf”. The match was played on August 9th, 1942, and was refereed by a Waffen SS soldier. The ref was very biased, and allowed fouls against the Soviet side, and even allowed a German to kick the Soviet goalkeeper in the head. Eventually, the Soviet team pulled off a 5-3 win. This win had huge consequences for the winners. “A number of the FC Start players were arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, allegedly for being NKVD members (as Dynamo was a police-funded club). One of the arrested players, Mykola Korotkykh, died under torture. The rest were sent to the Syrets labour camp, where Ivan Kuzmenko, Oleksey Klimenko, and the goalkeeper Mykola Trusevich were later killed, in February 1943.”

10 阿留申群岛战役

1942年6月3日，日本军队侵占了隶属于阿拉斯加州的阿图岛和吉斯卡岛。然而，这些岛屿其实价值不大，且条件恶劣，对美国本土也几乎不构成威胁。许多伤亡不是由战斗炮火引起，而是更多是因诱杀装置、恶劣天气和友军炮火的误射。

9 负隅顽抗的日本人

   负隅顽抗的日本人是指那些驻守太平洋岛屿的拒绝投降的日本兵，可能他们根本就不知道日本已经投降的事实。这些士兵滞留隔绝孤岛之上，他们靠自己的推算了解日期，有的可能长达数年或数十年。一个著名的例子是Hiroo Onada,，他直到1974年才投降，比日本宣布投降晚了29年！

8 南美国家卷入战争

   即使被称作“第二次世界大战”，很多人并不知道南美诸国也曾参战。例如巴西，“历经八个月的意大利战役，巴西远征军成功俘获纳粹战俘20,573名，其中有两名将军，892名军官和其他军衔人员19,679名。在大战中，巴西共有948名三军人员在军事行动中牺牲。”许多其他南美国家还贡献了物资原料，还有不少战士参加了自由法国军事力量。

7 法国维希傀儡政权大战盟军

   1940年法国投降以后，德国在维希建立了傀儡政府。这个政府并没有真正的实权或军事力量。然而，在法国战败后，在北非、太平洋地区还有一些法国殖民军和舰船力量。在火炬行动中，维希法军被迫与盟军作战。“维希法军的顽抗造成了美军556人阵亡、837人负伤。还有300名英军和700名法军牺牲。”

6 击鼓行动

   通常，人们认为德军U型潜艇的攻击仅限于大西洋，格陵兰岛周边和欧洲近海，而不可能包括美国沿海。然而，在击鼓行动中，40艘U型潜艇对美国各州近海岸运输舰船进行了攻击。更为可怕的是，德军U型潜艇还运送了一批破坏分子登陆美国本土！在长岛、纽约和庞特韦德拉、佛罗里达，有八名会说英语的德国人潜入美国（潜伏长岛的4名破坏分子在几周后被捕）。

  5 纳粹军中的非德籍欧洲人

   很多人认为只有德国人为纳粹军队服务，事实并非如此。德军在被占领的各国进行招兵活动，包括纳粹党卫队在内，他们旨在招募市民和退役士兵加入德军。德军第373步兵营就是由比利时人组成的。而丹麦志愿军则是由招募的丹麦纳粹分子组成。相似的情况还有爱沙尼亚、法国、希腊、匈牙利、波兰、挪威甚至英国（大不列颠自由军团），一支由27名英国及其属国士兵组成的队伍（包括大英帝国下的新西兰人、加拿大人和澳大利亚人）。

4 日本的气球炸弹

   自1944年秋至1945年初，日本人从本州岛向外施放了9000多个“气球炸弹”。这些气球用日本纸（和纸）制造，里面充填了氢气和爆炸物。日方希望这些气球能跟随气流到达北美地区然后爆炸。但这个计划效果并不理想，只有大约1000个气球飞到北美。然而，只有1945年一起爆炸造成6名美国人死亡。

3 三号战俘营

   这也许是10个鲜为人知故事中最著名的一个了。三号战俘营是一所纳粹建立的战俘营，其中关押的大部分人员是被击落盟军飞机的飞行员。然而，这些飞行员非常机智，他们组成了一个超过600人的越狱团队，秘密挖洞并制定逃跑计划。1944年3月24日，外逃计划实施。但是从一开始，事情就不顺利。只有77人成功从地下道逃出去，不过很快就暴露了。77人中仅有3人安全脱险。50名外逃者被希特勒下令处决。此次越狱努力在1963年被搬上银幕，名为“大逃亡”。

2 尼豪岛事件

   1941年12月7日，日军轰炸珍珠港。很多日本飞行员是能够返回航母的，但是一些被击落，一些在瓦胡岛坠落。日本飞行员被告知，假如被迫坠岛，他们应选择尼豪岛。日本人认为这个岛无人居住。飞行员Shigenori Nishikaichi的飞机受创，他在尼豪岛坠机。但不久他发现这个岛上其实有人居住。他还受到了客人般的接待，但是不久岛民得知了珍珠港袭击事件。岛上的3名日本人试图帮助Nishikaichi 逃跑，但最终遭到阻止。Nishikaichi 和一名协助他逃跑的日本人被处决。这就是尼豪岛事件。

1 死亡之赛

   死亡之赛是一场足球赛（美国人称作英式足球），双方分别是苏联战俘队和由纳粹德国空军组成的Flakelf队。比赛日期为1942年8月9日，裁判是纳粹党卫队的军人。裁判非常偏向，默许针对苏方的犯规，甚至对一名德方队员脚踢苏方守门员头部置之不理。最终，苏联战俘队以5比3取胜。而结局对获胜一方是残酷的。“据俄内务人民委员会成员申述，许多俄罗斯足球俱乐部队员（如发电机俱乐部是一家由警方资助的俱乐部）遭到逮捕并被盖世太保拷打。一名叫Mykola Korotkykh被捕队员遭拷打致死。其余人员也被送往Syrets劳动营，Ivan Kuzmenko、 Oleksey Klimenko、和守门员Mykola Trusevich于1943年在劳动营遭杀害。”

下面是我原创的文章或观点文章与各类专业资料请朋友批评指正!

维文的博客
https://www.sinovision.net/blog/psychology/
http://blog.huanqiu.com/index.php?uid-296365
欢迎您加入文明，礼貌，温馨的【海内外华人知识交友群 】QQ群号码71975650 恳请朋友：传承华夏文明，在线时与现实生活中，都互相礼貌问好！