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TIL: The US developed the chemical compound Cyanogen Chloride for use in WW2 against Japan. It is a highly toxic blood agent that could penetrate gas masks. Truman decided against using it and opted for the atom bomb. It is now listed in the Chemical Weapons Convention and has never been deployed.

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69N5l TIL that the first time the U.S. flag was raised in victory on foreign soil was during the First Barbary War, when a group of Marines and mercenaries captured the Tripolitan city of Derna. The action is memorialized in a line of the Marines' Hymn: "the shores of Tripoli".
GBYN TIL Germany has ‘Tauchgondeln’ [diving gondolas]. They’re tourist attractions where a pressurized room on a pole gets lowered down into the sea. They’re unique to Germany and there are only four of them.
4k4g5 TIL In the Battle of Port-en-Bessin, after D Day, British commandos (outnumbered 4 to 1 by the Germans) fought their way up through concrete, entrenchments, mines & barbed wire defences to take German positions one-by-one
GYrwQ TIL that when Rolls-Royce was privatised in 1987, a marketing survey showed that it was the second most widely known brand in the world (after only Coca-Cola)
4XWXX TIL The capital city of Bhutan, Thimphu, is one of only two capital cities in the world where there are no traffic lights. In 1995, authorities installed traffic lights at busy downtown intersections, but drivers ignored it. They were subsequently taken down and replaced by traffic cops.