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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

British surrender of Singapore, at the culmination of the Malay Campaign. History Net

25. British Commanders Excused Their Ineptness by Citing an Inherent Superiority of the Japanese as “Natural Jungle Fighters”

British commanders in far off headquarters, oblivious to actual conditions on the ground in Malaya, set up defensive lines that seemed formidable on their maps, with flanks secured by impenetrable “jungles”. In reality, the “jungles” on their maps were often plantations, and the Japanese easily outflanked the British positions, time after time, by simply strolling past them. Flabbergasted British commanders convinced themselves that an unnatural talent for jungle fighting lay behind the ease with which their foes outmaneuvered them, thus giving birth to the myth of the “Japanese jungle fighter”.

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.