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40 Fascinating But Lesser Known Facts About WWII

Khalid Elhassan January 5, 2019 25 min

World War II - European theatre of World War II — Raising the Red Banner over the Reichstag. Anarkismo

Japanese unit riding commandeered bicycles during the Malay Campaign. Warfare History Network

28. The Western Allies Convinced Themselves That the Japanese Were Natural Jungle Fighters

After Japan joined WWII in December of 1941, early Japanese successes in jungle terrain created a perception that the Japanese were gifted ”jungle fighters”. The British in particular convinced themselves that their foes were “natural” jungle fighters during the Malay Campaign, when the Japanese invaded the Malay Peninsula from the north. The Japanese brushed aside or sidestepped all opposition, and capped it off by capturing the fortress city of Singapore at the peninsula’s southern tip, despite being outnumbered by the British.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.