Myths about WWII that YOU might still believe

Have you heard these WWII myths? Let me know in the comments!

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[WorldWarWisdom]

I misspoke and said “won” instead of lost about Germany at one point… but we all know they took that L.

[bryant]

All the fancy tech like Tiger tanks don't matter if you don't even have fuel. Germany learned that the hard way.

[dschnauzer]

My father, a ww2 vet, always loved the ping of the M1 alerted the Germans that the GI was out of ammo. With 30-06 rounds, grenades and artillery going off you can't hear anything.

[enscroggs]

As for Germany and its "Wunderwaffen", people tend to extrapolate alternative histories from limited or incomplete information, which results in theories like Germany would have won the war if only X (Fill in X with your favorite aircraft, tank, rifle) but these theories generally ignore or gloss over economic realities. As real history shows, Germany did quite well and lasted considerably longer than her economic limitations would suggest.

[mikewinston]

Regrettably people rely on Hollywood in the stead of actually bothering to read and study history.

[clevlandblock]

The "cricket" scene referenced here I think was a little embellished in the screenplay and possibly turned into legend by hobbyists over the decades. But this movie was serious as hell true to Cornelius Ryan's book. He put that book together after years of interviews and investigation. I believe the cricket incident was in the book and based on some vet's story. However, 98ks getting cycled sure don't sound like toys.

[AtheAetheling]

Ya know, if the Allies had the Centurion in 1939 or the Atom bomb or the Flying Fortress or the Mustang or the Spitfire mk IX, they would have won the war even sooner!

I've always found the 'if Germany had X' statements extremely weird for that reason. It goes both ways.

[patrickmordorski]

Keep in mind the 82nd airborne where NOT issued crickets. Crickets where given to the 101st airborne only on D-day.

[nealkonneker]

The scholar Victor Davis Hanson pointed out that the populations and gdps of the allies was several times larger than that of the axis. The end result was pretty much a given.

[PSDuck]

On the Me 163: I met an Austrian gentleman who, as a conscripted Hitler Youth member, had to learn to fly one. The cadets received very little training. What scared the tar out of them was the 163 had a pernicious habit of exploding when landed. The binary fuel was fine in unmixed state, but extremely volatile when mixed. If there was only a bit of unused mixed fuel upon landing, there would only be enough of the pilot left to fill a shoebox.
In case they decided not to land and just bail out of their undamaged aircraft, a Gestapo agent warned the cadets that they’d be shot and their family sent to a concentration camp.
Well, this gentleman, as a sixteen year old boy, got airborne, and at a too far distance, shot off all his ammo. Somehow he did take return fire and his aircraft was damaged, but “possibly” not that badly. Still, he said a prayer, radioed in his damage (overstated) and damage to two two American bombers (also overstated). Then bailed out, breaking his arm.
He was informed by the Gestapo whilst he was in hospital that he was under house arrest, a mere formality until they checked his story of battle damage.
The war ended before a verdict could be reached and he became a wounded POW of the Americans.
At the time I met him and his wife, they were ski instructors and managers of ski chalets.
Cheers!

[StevenCodeBlack]

I believe that last one about the M1 Garand too George S Patton himself even dubbed it "The greatest battle implement ever devised"

[bigandlittlefirearms]

I own a Mauser and the sound of the action sounds nothing like that

[warman]

I haven't read Ryan's book, but I completely believe that that one scene in "The Longest Day" (the film, which I've seen) is believable. Having fired bolt action rifles myself (and therefore knowing what they sound like), I think it is completely plausible that at least one American might have fallen for the "trick" shown in the film. That said, I have never in my live heard about Germans deliberately "tricking" Americans with the sound. When I saw the film (as well as the 5-15 subsequent times I watched it), I interpreted it as a stranded American desperately hoping that the guy on the other side of the wall was his comrade, not that the German had deliberately tricked him.

[kinocorner]

Tiger tanks made great targets for pissed off P-47 pilots.
Especially when that tiger was carrying a fuel cart.

I love all these German wonder weapon. The Americans always had a good practical counter to it. Like artillery and explosives 🤣

[huntclanhunt]

"In reality Germany won the war for a bunch of reasons"

Bruh

[cheesyfromindonesia]

Combat stress could be the reason why the U.S partrooper thought that the Kar 98K bolt cycle sounds like their cricket clickers in The Longest Day

[gravygraves]

Yeah, the only way Germany was going to win that one was by not going to war with the Soviets and just focusing on grinding down the UK.

[formacionG]

I wasn't ready for that last part... 😂🤣😂🤣

[dylanvinitamusic]

M1 Garand clip ejection giving away to the enemy that you're out of ammunition.

Myth.

[ssechres]

I like „the longest day“. I never even thought the cocking thing was done on purpose. I thought it was just a coincidence. A „1 off“ if you will.

Also, i have long believed that Germany would have been better off to have put its resources into building large numbers of weapons that worked well enough instead of looking for small numbers of wonder weapons. Some of wich never worked like ME163 and others that were never produced in great enough numbers to really make a difference.