10 Most Amazing Discoveries From WWII

hi it's katrina from lost fallen planes to bombs sitting off florida's coast for years here are 10 incredible finds of world war ii number 10. me109 messerschmitt plane when 14 year old danish student daniel rahm christensen was doing some research for a project he stumbled upon an amazing discovery he had to do an assignment on world war ii so his dad suggested they look for artifacts on the fields of their farm daniel had grown up with his grandfather's stories from world war ii but some were true and some weren't his grandfather had told him of the time a german plane had crashed in one of the fields in 1944 no evidence of this remained in 2017 but daniel and his father went out for fun with the metal detector they got a strong signal and borrowed a neighbor's excavator 20 feet below the surface they found the remains of an me109 messerschmitt plane broken up into thousands of pieces the engine was intact along with live ammunition they also found the remains of the pilot including his tattered clothes and personal items such as his wallet bomb disposal experts came and everything else was taken over by the proper authorities daniel's father was very surprised that such a large piece of history was hidden underground i think daniel wins the record for best school project and it turns out his grandfather was telling the truth after all number 9. hidden battlefields all over europe the remnants of long-ago battlefields lie in wait for archaeologists to uncover for years they've remained untouched but they're a treasure trove of information archaeologically speaking there are tons of spots for further research such as bombed areas and supply reserves researchers are hoping that investigating some of these long-lost battlefields in northwestern europe could help teach us more about german military strategies david passmore is a specialist in conflict archaeology at the university of toronto in mississauga and he is excited he says the archaeology of world war ii has only recently begun to be formally investigated even though we know a lot about its history that's why he and his team have been performing surveys of battlefields that were integral to the war from 1944 to 1945. these surveys will likely be integral to constructing an accurate picture of how army spot on the battlefield one key feature of these investigative trips has been the further knowledge uncovered about german logistical depots these provide insights into the manner by which german armies prepared for attack as well as how they fell to the allied powers in fact by cross-referencing data they've been able to uncover just how powerful the allied attacks were another major discovery was the lost battlefield of world war ii it was the site of the largest battle between australian and japanese forces but for many years no one even knew where it was after 68 years it was finally found located in the jungles of papua new guinea by former australian army captain brian freeman with help from the alola people native to the area villagers avoided the site of the battlefield claiming it was haunted by the spirits of those killed in battle metal detectors picked up rifles ammunition and helmets helping them to locate remains of fallen soldiers in the hopes that they can now be identified and returned to their families the fighting lasted four days and four nights with casualties on both sides the first priority is to repatriate the fallen soldiers and honor their memory by restoring the battlefield and the field hospital to the conditions they were in 68 years ago number eight hmas sydney when the hmas sydney one of the most powerful ships among the australian navy was sailing in the waters around western australia in 1941 it encountered the hms cormorant sadly the sydney was under the impression that the cormorant was a dutch freighter so it trusted its appearance but then once they got close the cormorant opened fire it was actually a german raider both ships were sunk in the ensuing battle but most aboard the cormorants survive the attack however the clearly superior sydney sank taking its 645 sailors with it survivors said the sydney was struck by a torpedo causing the ship to sink rapidly but the australian public had long since suspected more wrongdoing due to the shock of one of their greatest ships being sunk the remains of the hmas sydney weren't uncovered until 2008 when a group of explorers found both ships 14 miles apart from one another about 8 000 feet under their locations confirmed the german account of the story meaning that there were no war crimes to report marine archaeologist mac mccarthy said that it was very important for archaeology to help people learn about what happened and that it could bring some closure it's still a mystery as to why this sydney would approach an unknown vessel giving up its advantage and now for number seven but first be sure to subscribe if you are new here and hit the notification bell so you don't miss out on the latest videos number seven yp380 the story of the yp389 didn't end well but it is a reminder of the desperation and brutality that comes about during wartime in the beginning of 1942 most of the navy's ships were moved to the pacific front of the war but this left the atlantic coast wide open to attack from german u-boats since all of their good ships were stationed elsewhere the navy tried to make do with what they had thus they constructed among others the yp389 which was pretty much a fishing vessel with a gun attached however this wasn't enough to stop the germans in june of 1942 the yp389 was patrolling off the coast of north carolina and it was pretty much a sitting duck a u-boat approached and when the sailors aboard the yp389 spotted it they returned fire however it wasn't strong enough to face up to a u-boat and it was shelled into oblivion six of the 24 sailors aboard were killed and it sank down to the bottom of the sea however in 2009 a group of researchers from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration discovered the location of its demise the sunken vessel is around 300 feet underwater in the so-called graveyard of the atlantic which is the final resting place of a great many allied ships who fell to german naval power in the battle of the atlantic hopefully these remains will help researchers and archaeologists retell the story of this pivotal battle number 6. desert training center did you know that the largest training ground in the history of warfare was in the united states located in the mojave desert the desert training center or dtc also known as the california arizona maneuver area was the training spot for some one million soldiers in between 1942 and 1943 preparing soldiers for world war ii it was also gigantic it was about 28 000 square miles and its severe desert weather made general george patton think that it would be a perfect place to prepare soldiers for battles in north africa if they could fight in this terrain he thought they'd be able to fight anywhere in the world nowadays since solar power is becoming a big deal many archaeological surveys are being conducted before anything gets lost what they're finding is astonishing they've already found large defense buildings and remains of campgrounds that were intended to house around 15 000 people archaeologists have also found terrain maps and the hill patton used to observe tank maneuvers called the king's throne this site demonstrates how the american military developed tactics and fortitude and now the challenge is to sort through all the information number 5. plutonium in 2004 crews responsible for cleaning up nuclear waste and hanford washington uncovered the remains of a rusty safe lodged in a trench when they opened it up they found that there was a gallon-sized bottle which contained the remnants of weapons-grade plutonium even though it's only a small amount it could do serious damage as it happens this plutonium is probably the second oldest specimen of non-natural plutonium that humanity has ever created the first oldest going to a lab at uc berkeley during world war ii there were four nuclear reactors that were powerful enough to create weapons-grade plutonium and three of them were housed in hanford in fact hanford was used as a nuclear repository throughout the entirety of the cold war as well which meant that the town was absolutely chock-full of nuclear waste because of this people have been trying to clean up the place for many years with varying degrees of success but how did researchers know that this sample of plutonium was probably the second oldest in the world science tells us that as time passes plutonium decays back into uranium researchers were able to investigate the ratio of plutonium to uranium inside of the nuclear slurry this ratio told them that they were dealing with a sample that was around 62 years old which places it pretty early in nuclear history in fact through investigative work they also found that it was probably used as a test of the hanford site's capabilities number 4. world war ii bombs despite having come to an end more than 70 years ago the consequences of the second world war can still be seen around the world there are countless artifacts such as planes ships tanks and all kinds of things left hidden and forgotten underground or in the sea more recently some of the many bombs that were unaccounted for have been washing ashore they can come in all different shapes and sizes and are often mistaken for other things by people walking along the beach the frightening thing is that these are still active and able to explode no one knows for sure how many there are out there waiting to be washed up but to give you an idea there are an estimated 1.6 million metric tons of conventional and chemical ammunitions lying on the seabed just in german waters alone this is made up of over 1 million items including grenades detonators giant aerial bombs 15 kilo shells and many more this is just a fraction of what can be found all over the world with the way ocean currents carry objects around there is the potential for these items to show up virtually anywhere it is not uncommon for objects like these to wash up on european beaches there are many examples of bombs showing up on french and british coastlines but in 2015 there was even one that washed up further on pasa grill beach florida it was about four feet long covered in barnacles with a cylindrical body and cone shape on one side the beach was evacuated and since it was too risky to move it it was detonated on site in 2019 a group of kids in boca raton were digging around and found a very interesting looking device which turned out to be a world war ii mk 43 practice bomb most likely from the army airfield thousands of practice bombs left over from world war ii are also found across the world every year so if you are ever at the beach and see something suspicious be sure to contact local police number three plane crash students from winchester university in england recently found the remains of a hawker hurricane fighter plane in the middle of a field even though the hawker hurricane was eventually overtaken by the submarine spitfire in the public eye the hawkers were actually responsible for about 60 percent of the damage inflicted on the germans air airfleet the luftwaff these planes fought everywhere throughout the battles of world war ii students all undergraduates found the site of the crash in wickham and they determined that the plane probably crashed sometime around november 1940. they found a ton of interesting stuff there in the wreckage they uncovered instruments that could have been used in the cockpits buttons used to fire ammunition it was on the setting set to fire and an identification plate that said it was flown by a hugh desmond clark they also found the harness release the last thing that its pilot would have touched before parachuting away the excavation took around three days and it has to be an illuminating experience for students of archaeology given that it was just one aircraft the site tells a very particular historical story apparently this plane was flown by clark while he was in the process of attacking enemy planes on november 1st 1940. he survived this battle and only retired officially from the royal air force in 1960 where he'd earned the title of wing commander now these students are hoping to find his relatives and learn more number 2. ghost fleet of truck lagoon located in micronesia truck lagoon also known as chuuk lagoon is home to one of the world's largest ship graveyards from world war ii in an attack known as operation hailstone the allies launched a surprise attack on one of japan's largest naval bases for three days over 60 japanese ships were sunk along with 275 airplanes and many of the wrecks are perfectly intact thousands of japanese sailors lost their lives and still remain in their watery graves it was later rediscovered in 1980 by diver klaus lindemann for the most part people left the wrecks untouched as they were said to be haunted also because there are thousands of sunken bombs the ships were full of cargo including aircraft weapons tanks bulldozers railway cars torpedoes and all kinds of other artifacts it is now a protected area and a tropical paradise full of ocean life this legally protected underwater museum is open to divers and you can swim around the sunken submarines but be careful not to wake the dead among the wreckage you can see a perfectly upright tank as well as two oddly placed gas masks its popularity has grown and it is now considered one of the top wreck diving destinations in the world you can go on a seven day charter one trip and ninety five dollars number one air raid shelters before world war ii began british officials took steps to install air raid shelters underneath the ground they were pretty afraid of the air raid tactics that the germans and italians had utilized in the spanish civil war and clearly the british were thinking ahead between 1940 and 1941 the germans were relentless with their air bombing tactics the germans called it the blitzkrieg and it's now become synonymous with absolute incessant form of attack but whatever became of those air raid shelters most of the hatches that lead down into the shelters are now covered with gardens garages you name it forgotten remnants of the war but archaeologists want more in 2005 workers at a london elementary school discovered that there was a giant air raid shelter right underneath a sports field on school property in fact some documents suggest that there are 12 more there as well and when archaeologists came from university college london they were amazed everything inside of the airaid shelter is a remnant of the 1940s it's pretty big too apparently the shelter was constructed to hold about 50 people total and when you think about how many of these shelters must have been around it's clear that london was pretty well protected there were also math problems written on a wall inside of the shelter indicating that students were continuing their studies underground thanks for watching which discovery did you think was the most interesting let me know in the comments below and remember to subscribe and give this video a thumbs up if you want to see more like this see you later bye

Channel: Origins Explained

Views: 254,637

Rating: 4.5882678 out of 5

Keywords: origins explained, amazing discoveries from wwII, wwII discoveries, amazing discoveries, mysterious discoveries, strange discoveries, unexplained discoveries, bizarre discoveries, unsolved mysteries, incredible discoveries, archaeological discoveries, recent discoveries, amazing recent discoveries, amazing wwII discoveries, ancient planes, plane discoveries, hidden bunkers, incredible finds, wwII bunkers, discoveries from ww2, german fighter plane, fighter jets

Id: PzKj_j2ltgc

Length: 14min 49sec (889 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 26 2020