18 Historical Myths About WWII That People Still Believe Decades Later

As a history buff, I always enjoy learning the little, unknown facts and common myths of history. So when I saw a post on the popular WWII subreddit from user Historical_Zone_6379 asking, “What are some common myths about WWII?” I had to see what people had to say. It was quite interesting and I learned a few things I didn’t know before! So here are some of the best answers:

1. “That the Battle of Britain was narrowly won.”

—u/LeftLiner

“Germany invading Britain is always the funniest to me. They could have blasted the RAF into oblivion and still not invaded. They basically didn’t have the boats to do a large-scale contested landing. They were going to try to use river barges to do it. Good luck with that.”

—u/Glader_Gaming

2. “In my country, the Philippines, some of my compatriots who lack knowledge about World War II like to spread common myths. One of them is that Imperial Japan invaded my country only because we were an American colony. Another is the myth that the Koreans conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army were more brutal than the Japanese themselves. In fact, they claim that the Koreans committed the atrocities, not the Japanese.”

“Some of my countrymen even suggest that it would have been better if we had been fully colonized by the Japanese, believing that it would have made the people more disciplined. Others still cling to the Japanese propaganda of the ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ or ‘Asia for Asians.’

—u/James_Deglado

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3. “The Myth That the Waffen-SS Was an ‘Elite’ Army Throughout WWII.”

—in/jenkers1

4. “It is a myth that Britain stood alone in 1940 and 1941.”

—u/TheMoonUnitExp

“The really interesting thing about this idea is that it has been around since the war. In the war, with people from political cartoons to Churchill himself in his most famous speech, he brought up the fact that we British were massively supported by the Empire.”

—u/pirateofmemes

5. “U-boats being the most successful submarine campaign of the war is a myth.”

—u/ga_vindiesel

“The U.S. U-boat campaign completely crippled, then outright suffocated, Japan, reducing its shipping tonnage to a mere fraction of what it once was by the end of the war, while U-boat crews were annihilated at a casualty rate of about 75 percent, atrocious and irreplaceable losses that resulted in the Kriegsmarine being a completely non-factorial war.”

—u/ga_vindiesel

6. — Clean Wehrmacht. This is the myth that regular German troops were not involved in WWII war crimes. “And the motorized Wehrmacht, while we’re at it.”

—u/marcvsHR

“The Germans invaded the USSR with more horses than trucks.”

—u/Negative_Fox_5305

7. “There is a myth that most Germans were unaware of the crimes in their state. There was plenty of evidence, and word of mouth spread quickly about what was happening to the Jewish people. Most simply turned a blind eye or bought into the propaganda completely.”

Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Bettmann/Getty Images

—u/Carl_The_Llama69

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8. “The British and their superior carrot vision. I’ve heard people still believe carrots help in seeing in the dark to this day.”

“For those who don’t know, the British claimed that carrots were one of the reasons German planes were shot down at night. It was, in reality, the invention and use of radar.”

—u/Big-Bit-3439

9. “The Sherman had the best crew survival rate of any tank. It was not a death trap!”

—u/Clone95

“The Sherman tank also had one of the highest crew survival rates at the time. For example, American tanks had spring hatches, whereas German tanks didn’t, meaning you had to open the hatch using brute force and sheer power, something you don’t want to do if you’re injured and trying to escape a burning tank.”

—u/ga_vindiesel

10. “In Czechoslovakia, there is a widespread myth that we were liberated by the USSR and the USA. In reality, the USSR side was composed of Soviet, Polish, Romanian and Czechoslovak armies fighting together with the Soviets.”

—u/spitfire-hague

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11. “The Myth That ‘America Won World War II.’

Photo 12 / Getty Images, Keystone / Getty Images

—u/StuTaylor

“I was going to add this one. But I will say that the Soviets were very dependent on American lend-lease from the beginning, and I’m not convinced they beat the Germans without that help.”

—u/Prestigious_Wall5866

“In principle, however, this is true. American aid is essentially what won the war. Britain would never have been defeated, but Britain would never have gone on any significant offensive without American aid and support. The USSR needed American aid to survive. the number of soldiers killed in combat.”

—u/Eddie666ak

—u/MrM1Garand25

13. “It is a myth that D-Day in Normandy was the largest and most difficult logistical landing of the war. The Leyte invasion involved more troops and a much larger body of water that had to be crossed.”

—u/Quibblicous

14. “‘Never invade Russia in winter’, while Germany did in June and was delayed from May 15.”

—u/unvobr

15. “It is a myth that the Allies did not commit war crimes.”

—u/LauMay27

Related: 10 of the Biggest Lies in History That Most People Still Believe Despite Being Proved VERY Wrong

16. Swedish “neutrality”.

—u/InThePast8080

17. “It’s a myth that all German equipment was the pinnacle of innovation and quality. Some of it was good and some really wasn’t. The flip side is the belief that Allied equipment was bad or a few years behind German designs. It wasn’t. Most Allied equipment was very good and reliable.”

—u/RainyDay000

—u/deleted

What do you think of these? Let me know your thoughts below. Or, if you have any facts or myths of your own that you’d like to share, feel free to do so either in the comments or via the anonymous form below. Who knows — your feat might be featured in a future BuzzFeed article!

Please note: Some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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