He heard the shocking news of a German breakthrough in Belgium and Luxembourg. His 10th Armored Division of tanks, support troops, and self-propelled artillery turned north on December 17, 1944. The troops covered 75 miles in one day and arrived in Bastogne. It was among the greatest marches in modern warfare’s history.

An encounter with chaos

The 10th Armored Division also called the ‘Tiger Division’, was the first to arrive in Bastogne. It was a key crossroads town. Once they reached there, what all the members of the division found was utter chaos. Streaming backwards through the city were the demoralized American infantry units. 

The German artillery was destroying the place and the key crossroad was about to be overrun. The division lowered the barrels of its howitzers and started firing directly into the forest. They halted the German advance with all the firing.

Ready for duty

Rufus Lewis was a sophomore in November 1942 at Clemson. Those were the days before college deferments. Every man, aged 21 or older, had the eligibility to be drafted. The probability of him getting drafted the following March was quite high. So, Lewis took the permission of his parents and joined the army. 

He decided to volunteer as he was not a very good student. Lewis signed up at Fort Jackson and was trained at Georgia’s Fort Benning. He joined the 10th Armored Division as a fire controller for the 420th Armored Field Artillery. He was in charge of directing the fire of a battery of self-propelled 105 mm M-7 ‘Priest’ howitzer. Each of the five-gun batteries had a man calculating the angle of fire. 

Lewis was also in charge of those. The Tiger Division was activated on the 15th of July 1942. It entered north-western France on the 23rd of September 1944 through the port of Cherbourg. It was a part of the Third Army of Gen. George Patton. It was one of the first units to enter France through the port that was newly liberated.

In the heart of Germany

The Army found itself in gruesome daily combat from the time that it had entered the country. It continued until it punched through the last line of Hitler’s defence called the Siegfried Line. It stormed into Germany on the 19th of November. The advance was halted when Hitler struck back in the Ardennes forest, 75 miles to the north. 

Lewis was in the basement of a freezing farmhouse on the 18th of December 1944. He was calculating the flight paths of the 105 mm artillery shells into the German lines. Then, the 101st Airborne Division known as the ‘Band of Brothers’ came rolling into the Battle of Bulge. Upon their arrival, they claimed their glory.

The veterans today

The veterans of World War II are now in their 80s and 90s. Today, they are dying at a rate of 850 to 1,000 per day. The two million that are still alive are the remnants of those who served in the war. In many people’s eyes, they are the ones who saved the world. 

Not only did they win the war, but they also forged the country during peacetime. They were the ones who produced the baby boom after returning to their home country. The veterans were the ones who generated the greatest prosperity in the planet’s history.

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Through history books, art, films, and other mediums, the war has been analyzed and explored from different angles. Such a complex and endlessly intriguing event packs a lot of stories that are overlooked or under-appreciated. This event also has some facts and characters that would be quite interesting if explored. So, here we present some of the astonishing facts about the Second World War:

1. The Nazis came close to developing plutonium

The Nazis were dangerously close to developing plutonium, which is an important element of nuclear weapons. When Norway was invaded by the Germans, they took over a factory in Telemark. It produced heavy water, which was used for creating plutonium. 

Before they were able to produce anything, about 11 Norwegian commandos destroyed the plant. Without suffering even a single casualty on their side, they successfully set off explosives in the base.

2. Japan was working on a ‘Death Ray’

A sum of 1 million yen was paid to a team of scientists by Japan to create a ‘death ray’. They had promised to develop this ray, which would use electric power to kill humans standing miles away. They drew on the innovations of Nikola Tesla. The Japanese were able to create a prototype that could kill from as far as half a mile. Their only problem was that the target had to be still for 10 minutes for it to work. 

3. More Russian soldiers died in one battle

The bloody battle of Stalingrad was the Second World War’s largest confrontation. It lasted from July 1942 to February 1943. This battle began with the attempt made by German forces to capture the industrial city. 

The Germans indulged in air attacks and house-to-house fights. Tens of thousands were killed with reinforcements streaming into Stalingrad from both sides. The Axis powers suffered casualties between 650,000 and 868,000, but the Soviet Union lost over 1 million people.

4. The US Navy Command was once known as CINCUS

An acronym for Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, it was pronounced ‘sink us’. This proved awkward after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. It was immediately changed to COMINCH in December of the same year and its jurisdiction was expanded. It was given the command of the Atlantic, Asiatic, and Pacific fleets.

5. The tallest surrendered to the shortest

A rather short British Corporal called Bob Roberts had to face a weird situation. He was charged with taking the surrender of one of the tallest German soldiers. Jakob Nacken stood tall at 7’6″ and towered over Roberts who was 5’3″. 

Roberts later mentioned that he didn’t take a lot of notice of the soldier at the time. He just passed the prisoners on after searching them, one after the other. The mates who were watching the rest of the men saw this giant of a guy approached Robert. Both sides had a good laugh on this.

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The Allies finally emerged victorious in this destructive war. Towards the end of the war, the Nazis collapsed and the Japanese and Italian empires fell. The Second World War will also be remembered for the deadliest of weapons that were used in the battles. Here’s the list of the most destructive weapons that were used in this war:

1. Atom bomb

How can one forget this ultimate weapon of mass destruction used in the war? It was for the first time in history that such a weapon was used. The effects of the atom bomb even lasted several decades after the war ended. The first atom bomb codenamed ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. 

The explosion caused by this bomb released 15 kilotons of TNT, which caused vast damage to the Japanese city. Only three days later, a second atom bomb codenamed ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on Nagasaki. It was even more powerful than the first one. The bomb released 21 kilotons of TNT. Over 100,000 individuals died due to these two bombs.

2. Hawker Hurricane

A single-seat fighter plane, the Hawker Hurricane was built by Hawker Aircraft for the RAF. It was among the greatest fighter planes of World War II. The Hawker Hurricane could reach a maximum speed of 340 miles per hour. It had a range of 468 miles with a ceiling of 35,000 feet. Armaments included in this aircraft included eight 0.303 machine guns. 

More than 14,500 Hawker Hurricane planes were built during the war. They included a later version called the Sea Hurricane. This aircraft is remembered for the Battle of Britain. During this battle fought in 1940, the RAF defended Great Britain against the German Air Force. The entire campaign was fought in the air.

3. Katyusha rocket launcher

The Katyusha rocket launcher was built by the Soviet Union during the war. It was a type of rocket artillery, which had multiple rocket launchers attached to the back of a vehicle. This provided mobility to the launchers. They were famous for the powerful punch that they delivered. Katyusha rocket launchers could bring down enemy troops in a matter of seconds and were cheaper than the artillery gun. 

The sound of these launchers also caused psychological terror. No wonder they were named Stalin’s organ. A Katyusha rocket launcher had a 5 kilogram-high explosive warhead and was attached on the vehicle called BM-13. The rockets possessed a range of 8.5 kilometres. The explosive fragmentation radius was more than 10 meters upon impact.

4. The MG 42

It was a 7.92×57 mm Mauser general-purpose machine gun. The Maschinengewehr 42 or MG 42 was a streamlined version of an earlier machine gun called MG 34. The most notable feature of this weapon was its high rate of firing, which was exceptionally high. It was about 1,200 to 1,500 rounds a minute. This was two times the firing rate of Vickers and Browning machine guns. 

The MG 42 also had a 1,000-meter range and could fire 50 rounds. It was called “Hitler’s buzz saw” by the American GIs. The Soviet Red Army called it “the linoleum ripper”. These names were given owing to its unique tearing sound caused due to its high rate of firing.

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