› added 5 years ago

111

TIL that when practicing for the D-Day landings in "Exercise Tiger" at least 749 Americans were killed by friendly fire and a "wolf pack" of 6 German E-boats who stumbled on the LST ships in the dark. D-Day was nearly called off because 10 officers who knew the exact plans went missing.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

xGo1 TIL that Chinese archeologists discovered a 2400-year-old bronze sword, untouched by corrosion, beautifully decorated and still sharp enough to cut with a touch.
69DBw TIL there's an Animals In War Memorial at Brook Gate, Park Lane (London, UK). It's a tribute to all the animals that served, suffered and died in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century. One of the inscription simply reads: “They had no choice.”.
vPN54 TIL the Ancient Greek Religion continued to be practiced until the late 9th Century AD. The Maniot people were not fully Christianized until the reign of Basil I (867-886). By this time Islam had already been in existence for two centuries and Christianity had begun to split into multiple doctrines.
R7Dp8 TIL: Couples that cuddle can become addicted to one another. Symptoms of withdraw can occur when apart as a result of the hormone oxytocin, "the cuddling drug."
gr9y4 TIL about George de Hebesy who dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of German physicists in aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from taking them. After the war, he found the solution undisturbed and reconstituted the gold. The Nobel Foundation then recast the medals and presented them back to the winners.