Random Secret WWII Operations So Crazy They Might Have Been Genius (15 items)

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  (#12) Little Known Facts About 'Operation Valkyrie' 

  Most students of history have heard of Operation Valkyrie, Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg's briefcase-bomb-attempt to blow up Adolf Hitler at his East Prussia military headquarters then seize control of Germany via military coup. Less well known is the sequence of events that allowed Hitler to escape assassination.

  The location where von Stauffenberg's attempt took place was originally a subterranean concrete bunker. At the last minute, because of summer heat, the location was changed to an above ground wooden conference room. which diminished the power of the blast. Stauffenberg's wounds from fighting in North Africa left him with only one eye and one hand with three fingers. When repeated requests came from the general staff to hurry, his condition allowed him the time to prime only one of two explosive bricks. 

  Because of Stauffenberg's disability, an orderly offered to carry the briefcase for him and placed it inches away from Hitler. Unfortunately, after von Stauffenberg was summoned to receive a prearranged bogus phone call, Colonel Heinz Brandt moved the case behind a thick oak partition, because it was in his way. The ensuing explosion was strong enough to kill four people. Those shielded by the table leg, including Hitler, survived.
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  (#3) Heroic Czech Resistance Executed Operation Anthropoid

  In September 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi official and primary architect of the Holocaust, was named Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (formerly Czechoslovakia). He immediately declared martial law, began executing political prisoners and intelligentsia, and deported the sizable Czech Jewish community. The Czech government, exiled in London, decided to assassinate Heydrich.  

  On December 28, 1941, after extensive training by British intelligence, two Czech agents, Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik, as part of Operation Anthropoid, were successfully parachuted into Czechoslovakia. They spent several months perfecting a plan with local resistance fighters. On May 27, 1942, Kubis and Gabcik waited along Heydrich's usual morning route to the Nazi's Prague headquarters. The Reich Protector arrogantly rode in an open Mercedes convertible, thinking an attack by local citizens was inconceivable.

  As Heydrich's vehicle slowed at an L-shaped curve, Gabcik pointed a machine gun at Heydrich, but it misfired. Heydrich ordered his driver to stop so he could shoot Gabcik when Kubis tossed a grenade, which detonated near the car's right fender. Both agents escaped and Heydrich, initially thinking he was uninjured, passed on June 4.

  Kubis and Gabcik were betrayed by a resistance member and perished heroically, on June 18, after a gunfight with the Gestapo at a Prague church. The pair was played by Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy in the 2016 film Anthropoid. 
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  (#6) Operation Cherry Blossoms At Night And Japanese Biological Warfare

  The Imperial Japanese Military routinely experimented with and utilized biological warfare during WWII. Its infamous Unit 731, commanded by Major Shiro Ishii, conducted ghastly experiments involving hypothermia, induced heart attacks, and infectious diseases on Chinese civilians and American POWs. As a result, the Japanese developed biological weapons such as bombs that could spread plague, cholera, and anthrax. These weapons were used repeatedly against Chinese cities and killed thousands of non-combatants.

  Japan was hesitant to use biological weapons against the US, but as defeat loomed and the Japanese war effort became increasingly desperate, Ishii planned a massive biological attack on Southern California. Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night would direct five long distance submarines to the vicinity of San Diego. The subs would launch specially designed dive bombers carrying plague-infected fleas. The pilots of these planes would crash at the earliest opportunity, hoping to induce a plague pandemic.  

  Although the plan was approved in March 1945, logistics prevented it from being implemented before Japan's surrender. Ishii used his extensive knowledge of biological warfare to avoid war crimes prosecution, he passed in 1959.   
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  (#15) Operation Greif Led To A Great Deal Of Grief

  In December 1944, as part of the massive German counterattack that precipitated the Battle of the Bulge, a secret German Panzer brigade under the command of Otto Skorzeny prepared to spread chaos behind American lines. Operation Greif (Griffin, in German) successfully infiltrated a small number of English-speaking Germans in US uniforms behind American lines at the beginning of the offensive. These commandos switched road signs, misdirected regiments, and quickly made it back behind German lines.

  Confusion took hold when four Germans were captured and one of them claimed their true mission was to make it to Paris and assassinate General Eisenhower. From that point on, American troops challenged unfamiliar soldiers with questions about baseball, state capitals, and Frank Sinatra. The military immediately placed these four, and twelve other similarly uniformed captured Germans, on trial for espionage (wearing a foreign uniform in combat was forbidden by the Geneva Convention) and executing them. Skorzeny would be acquitted after WWII. 
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  (#7) Operation Oak, The Mission To Free Benito Mussolini

  In July 1943, after the successful Allied invasion of Sicily and facing the inevitable attack on the Italian mainland, Italian government officials deposed dictator Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was arrested and transported throughout Italy, eventually ending up at the Gran Sasso, an old hotel in the rugged Apennine mountains. Hitler believed the Italians planned to surrender to, then join, the Allies, which would jeopardize Germany's southern defenses. He personally ordered Otto Skorzeny, a skilled commando and paratrooper, to locate and rescue Mussolini.

  After tracking Mussolini around Italy - Italian authorities moved their prisoner regularly, to keep his location secret - Skorenzy intercepted a radio communication about Benito's movements. On September 12, 1943, Skorzeny directed German paratroopers to the mountaintop hotel where the Italian dictator was confined and captured him without firing a shot. Amid great German propaganda fanfare, Mussolini was reinstalled as the head of the Italian Social Republic, the area controlled by Germany. Skorzeny received a promotion, medals, and the acclaim that would lead Winston Churchill to dub him "the most dangerous man in Europe."
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  (#4) The Nazis, The World's Oldest Profession, And Operation Kitty

  Kitty Schmidt ran the most luxurious brothel in Berlin when Hitler came to power. Uncomfortable with the Nazi regime, Schmidt transported cash to British banks via Jewish refugees she helped escape Germany, with plans to leave herself. In June of 1939, she fled, but got no further than the Dutch border, where she was detained by the SD, the Nazi central security agency.  

  From there, Kitty was taken to Gestapo headquarters, where she was interrogated by Walter Schellenberg, chief of the SD. Schellenberg presented her with a choice: she could go to a concentration camp or keep her brothel open so the Gestapo could spy on its prestigious clientele. Kitty agreed to the latter. The brothel was quickly bugged and reopened. Nazi agents throughout Berlin sent unwitting foreign diplomats and military personnel to the salon and told them to use the code words "I come from Rothenburg."  

  Marks sent to Kitty by the Gestapo, identified by the above code words, were handed a book containing photos of 20 specially trained women, whose job it was to debrief the subject, in more ways than one. This scheme operated until 1943 when Allied bombings damaged the building housing the brothel beyond repair. Kitty survived WWII and lived with her secret until her passing in 1954. Schellenberg was tried as a war criminal but, because of his extensive knowledge and cooperation (and poor health), only spent two years in prison.

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