10 Brutal Facts about World War II

10 Brutal Facts about World War II

After World War I ended in 1918, the world had gone through some permanent changes. The social and geopolitical status of the world was completely different. 

Although World War I had been won by the Allies, the economy and infrastructure of Europe was damaged. The countries went back to resuscitate their economies.

The peace lasted for 21 years and World War II happened. In 1939 the war started again leading to one of the worst conflicts witnessed in the world’s history.

It ended in 1945 after 6 devastating years.

The war started after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, and shortly after Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Several other events led to the start of World War II. These events include the takeover of Germany by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, Japanese militarism against China, and Italian aggression against Ethiopia.

Several other wars happened while WWII was going on. Lives and property were lost and permanent damage and scarring happened to those that survived.

These 10 brutal facts about World War II are listed below.

1. Millions of people died in World War II

Photo by Apoloniusz Zawilski – Wikimedia

Millions of people died during World War I, but millions more died during World War II.

It is estimated that more than 25 million people died and there were 5 million prisoners of War. Several other people were lost and therefore the numbers could be more.

Europe lost 54% of the men they sent to fight in the war. The war is regarded as the bloodiest experience in the world.

Unlike Word War I, World War II involved all nations of the world. Other wars happened during WW II leading to more loss of life.

The holocaust and bombing of Britain also happened during this war.

2. Bombs were used to kill civilians during World War II

Photo by H.Mason – Wikimedia

It was during World War II that bombs were used. These were new technologies that were not there during World War I.

The advent of using bombs in wars was during the Spanish Civil War fought between 1936 and 1939.

Germany tested their bombing technology while siding with the Nationalist rebels in Spain. They then used their full force during World War II.

Civilians were part of the casualty that lost their lives. The horror of the bombing was captured in a painting by Pablo Picasso.

This was one of the most brutal effects of the war. It resulted in the death of more than 2 million innocent civilians. The ones that suffered the most were Japan, Russia and China.

3. The Holocaust was part of World War II

Photo by RIA Novosti archive – Wikimedia

During World War II, European Jews were also targeted in one of the most horrific events in world history.

This happened between 1941 and 1945. Nazi Germany and its Allies murdered 6 million Jews across German-occupied Europe. It is estimated to be two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population.

Hitler gave orders to isolate Jews from civil society and also boycotted Jewish businesses.

In 1938, after Germany had captured Austria, they looted Jewish business premises and torched them. This event is known as the Night of Broken Glass.

Later, Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. This triggered the start of World War II leading to the setup of ghettos to segregate Jews.

It was followed by thousands of detention camps across German-occupied Europe.

The genocide against the Jews continued until the end of World War II in May 1945.

4. Hiroshima atomic bomb was the deadliest weapon used in World War II

Photo retouched by: Mmxx – Wikimedia

New technologies were used in World War II making it more deadly than any war fought before that.

An estimate of 73 million people died during World War II. There was war in almost every continent except South America and Antarctica. Africans were used to fighting for their colony masters.

The nations used aircraft to throw bombs and used torpedoes from submarines. One of the worst bombings happened in Japan when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The bombings happened on 6 and 9 August 1945. About 220,000 people lost their lives

Other bombings that happened in Japan destroyed more than 67 cities. This led to Japan’s surrender to the Allies.

5. Nazi Germany forced prisoners to kill their people during World War II

Photo by Bundesarchiv – Wikimedia

Another brutal fact about World War II is that Germany forced their prisoners to murder other prisoners.

These prisoners were Jewish in the prison camps. They were specifically chosen because they were youthful and healthy.

The men were forced to lead new prisoners to the gas chambers and load them in. They were also tasked with removing the corpses and cleaning the chambers after.

There are more than 1,000 of these men known as Sonderkommandos. These men were eventually killed by random officers.

6. German soldiers were turned into drug addicts during World War II

To get their soldiers fearless during the war, Germany got their men to use hard drugs. They distributed methamphetamine to their soldiers.

These drugs were first tested on college students to understand their effects. The drugs made the soldiers work for longer periods without resting.

They also tested them on prisoners who in turn displayed ‘superpower’ strength. It was seen as the best remedy for soldiers going to war. 

To get the military men to take the drugs, they covered them in chocolate. Several of the soldiers became addicted to meth and used alcohol to fight the negative effects of the drugs.

Unfortunately, this made them even worse because they became addicted to alcohol too. 

7. More than 1 million Jewish children died during World War II

Photo by H.Mason – Wikimedia

The German Nazis ordered the death of Jewish children at birth. Such an order was given to a Polish midwife Stanislawa Leszczyńska.

She delivered over 3,000 babies at Auschwitz but defied the orders. Regrettably, several of the babies were executed only hours later.

They used brutal methods to kill them such as drowning and inhumane experimentation. It is estimated that more than 1.6 million Jews children died during the Holocaust.

The Nazis regarded the children as unwanted and dangerous. A very small number of children were saved while some others survived in the ghetto.

Several programs attempted to save the children such as Kindertransport and the One Thousand Children.

8. The Jewish were used as guinea pigs by the Germans during World War II

The most disturbing and cruel things happened during World War II. One of them was the treatment of Jews in the prison camps.

Nazi Germany performed atrocious experiments on the Jews in the prison camps. These experiments were in different categories.

The first category was placing the prisoner’s in low-pressure chambers to see how high a parachute trooper could fall from and remain alive before altitude affected them.

They also froze them alive to discover the treatment for hypothermia. The Jewish prisoners were also intentionally infected with infectious diseases and then have drugs tested on them.

9. The Soviet Union had more fatalities during the World War II

Photo Sourced from Wikimedia

It is estimated that more than 27 million people from the Soviet Union died during World War II. This amounted to about 15% of the total population.

This number is inclusive of people that died from the effects of the war.  

About 2 million people are still reported missing, 9.5 million people were buried in mass graves while 6 million were not identified.

A most recent report showed that 17.4 million civilians died during the war.    

10. Operation Barbarossa was the largest invasion during World War II

This was the largest invasion in the history of warfare launched in 1941 when Germany and its Allies attacked the Soviet Union.

They had 3 million men, 4000 aircraft and 4300 tanks and armoured vehicles. On the other hand, the Soviet Union had only 2.7 million me on the frontline.

The Soviet Union lost 5 million men while Germany and its Allies lost 800,000 during the war.