After WWII, the US brought back with them a number of German-made V2 rockets, the most advanced of their kind, as well as some prominent German rocket scientists. They were brought to White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico where they were studied. In 1947, one rocket was launched as per routine but faltered mid-air.
The Safety Control Team, for some reason, didn’t cut off the rocket’s motors upon seeing this, so it continued to swerve off-course until it hit an unpopulated area in El Paso-Juarez. Thankfully, there were no injuries and the rocket contained no explosives, but residents say it shook every building for miles.
The Battle of the Eastern Front
The Eastern Front saw more fatalities than all other fighting fronts combined. Take Operation Barbarossa in 1941, where the Nazis invaded Russia with a bewildering army of 3 million men. In a matter of months, the Soviets had lost a staggering 2.5 million men. However, there was an unusually bitter winter that year, and eventually, the Soviets got the upper hand over the ill-equipped Germans.
80% of all German soldiers who died in WWII died on the Eastern Front, a total of 4 million out of the total 5 million German fatalities. The battles on the Eastern Front were the turning point of WWII, and it was too ambitious for Germany's resources.
The USS West Virginia
This was a battle-ax if there ever was one. Pictured here is the destruction of the USS West Virginia, but that's just a blip in the story of this vessel. The ship made routine Navy trips throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and on the 7th of December 1941, it was just minding its business at port. Those of you history buffs will recognize the date immediately, but here's another hint as to what happened — the port in question was Pearl Harbor.
The USS West Virginia was one of seven US battleships that bore the brunt of the Japanese attack. From 1943-1944 the ship was restored, and she was back in action shortly thereafter, leading US lines into numerous battles, and even shaking off a kamikaze attack with minimal damage.
Castro's Visit to Algeria
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro visited Alergia in 1973 but his diplomatic relationship with the African nation started many years before that. And, it turns out, the CIA was keeping tabs on his potential travels well in advance. The date on this declassified document is dated to 1963, a whole decade before the visit occurred.
These tabs, naturally, weren't limited to Castro. It was only with CIA intelligence that Bolivian troops were able to assassinate Che Guevara. Even though he was devastated, Castro publically stated that it was Geuvara's disregard for his own safety that led to his assassination. That's a big statement, but granted he survived countless assassination attempts and passed away at 90 of natural causes.
Scud Missiles
Just two bros hanging out by a missile. This friendly pic shows a Saudi soldier and an American soldier posing by a scud missile. Just that sentence should tip you off to the context — this was the Persian Gulf War, and scud missiles were all the rage. Scuds are tactical ballistic missiles developed by Soviet scientists during the Cold War, and they were primarily sold to second and third-world countries.
That's how Iraq got its hands on so many, and used them generously to attack Saudi Arabia and Israel during the war. Ultimately, as we know, Iraq lost the Gulf War and had to get out of Kuwait. We haven't seen the last of the scuds.