› added 7 years ago

187

TIL Trevor Noah is a polygot, speaking English, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Afrikaans and some German and Spanish.

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7rxOr TIL during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the German 4th Panzer Division cut off 10,000 Soviet troops. They took 2,000 prisoners... and just let the others go. They simply couldn't afford to take them all prisoner.
x6Nvk TIL that because all US banknotes are the same size, making telling them apart hard-to-impossible for the blind, the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing provides an electronic device (the iBill Currency Identifier) that can identify the value of the bills free of charge.
l70EN TIL during WW2 the US and Canada invaded a Japanese-held Alaskan island with more than 35,000 men. After more than 300 casualties and the near sinking of the destroyer USS Abner Read from traps, mines, and friendly fire; they realised there were no Japanese on the island.
e0ob6 TIL the scientist who insisted doctors should wash their hands before medical procedures was despised, ridiculed, and removed from society for being anti-science.
WX89 TIL an American Huey pilot stopped the My Lai massacre and risked his own life to save Vietnamese villagers. Landing his Huey between fleeing villagers and approaching U.S. soldiers, he ordered his door gunners to open fire if the troops tried to stop him or opened fire on them.