From a bear on the frontline to POWs knitting CLIVE PEARSON explores WWII's bizarre tales

Before war broke out, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact. Stalin could have sided with the Allies then, rather than much later, if only Neville Chamberlain had not been so suspicious of communism.

As part of the Anglo-French negotiating team, instead of a seasoned diplomat Chamberlain sent Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, whose main claim to fame was a handbook on solar heating.

Hitler meanwhile sent his foreign minister and Stalin duly signed the Nazi-Soviet pact. 

After the Battle of the River Plate in 1939 Captain Hans Langdorff took his battleship Admiral Graf Spee into dock in Uruguay for repairs.

The ship was more than a match for the nearby British ships but he heard on the BBC that Britain was sending an aircraft carrier and a battlecruiser to the area.

Fearing he would be unable to break the strengthened blockade around the port he scuttled the Admiral Graf Spee as thousands lined the banks to watch.

In reality the British ships were 3,000 miles away – it had been a simple bluff that won the British their first major naval success of the war.

Early in the war Germany had great success with Blitzkrieg tactics but this was inspired by a Briton.

In his book The British Way In Warfare, Captain BH Liddell Hart wrote about how the heavy casualties of First World War trench warfare could be mitigated by using tanks to break through or get behind enemy positions rather than deploying the traditional frontal attacks by infantry.

The famous Maginot Line, the supposedly impenetrable defences built by the French, was 12 to 16 miles deep.

It was composed of machine gun outposts, blockhouses and bunkers as well as tank obstacles.

It also had air conditioning and an underground railway ran along its entire length.

One British submarine brought back a reindeer from Russia. While docked for repairs in the port of Polyarny near Murmansk, the crew of HMS Trident were thrown a banquet by their Russian hosts.

During the event Commander Geoffrey Sladen confided to his Soviet counterpart that his wife struggled to push her pram through the snow.

He was given a reindeer to solve the problem and rather than offend their hosts the submariners took it with them.

Christened Pollyanna the reindeer survived the journey back to England (and an unexpected six-week spell spent fighting after the submarine was diverted) and ended up in Regent’s Park Zoo.

In 1941 double amputee fighter pilot Douglas Bader was shot down over occupied France.

He baled out of his aircraft but in the process was forced to leave behind one of his false legs. He was captured and imprisoned but one German pilot, Adolf Galland, was sympathetic to his problem and contacted the British to tell them about Bader’s missing leg.

On the express orders of Hermann Goering it was arranged for a single British plane to be allowed through the defences.

It duly arrived and dropped a canister containing a spare leg, some chocolate and tobacco. With the help of his new leg Bader became so prolific in his escape attempts that the Germans later threatened to confiscate both of his prosthetics.

In North Africa one of the best things the Tommies managed to salvage from the retreating Germans was their “Jerry” cans.

The can was robust, user-friendly and much better designed than the British version which were nicknamed “flimsies”.

There’s a reason the Jerry-can design is still used by many armies today.

Rationing was a necessity in Britain but for many people it led to a much healthier diet.

Sugars and fats were reduced, vitamins were added to flour and margarine and children were given extra milk, fruit juice and cod liver oil.

People also ate far more fresh vegetables, many of which they had grown themselves.

The Burma campaign marked the longest retreat in British military history. After being caught by surprise in Rangoon, the capital on the country’s southern coast, the British Army narrowly extricated itself after being overwhelmed by the Japanese.

Somehow staying just ahead of the enemy they were chased through the jungle all the way to India, a march of 1,000 miles.

Marshal Zhukov saved the Soviet Union.

The son of a shoemaker, he fell out of favour with Stalin early in the war for disagreeing with the dictator’s tactics.

By the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, a turning point in the war, he was back in favour though and convinced Stalin to accept his plan for the battle.

It was the Soviet Union’s first significant victory at a time when defeat could have allowed Hitler to take over the whole country.

The Nazi Albert Speer, best known for his architecture, was also tasked with addressing the fact that German armament production was far below what the Allies achieved.

Speer arranged for the factories to make single products and to be overseen by experts.

His efforts were so successful that even under heavy Allied bombardment factory production kept rising. Hitler was so impressed he once greeted him with a “Heil Speer”.

After he was deposed following the Allied invasion of Italy, Mussolini was kept prisoner in a hotel in a mountain retreat called Gran Sasso.

The Germans found out and mounted a daring escape attempt using gliders carrying 108 paratroopers. The Germans took along an Italian general who persuaded the guards to lay down their arms and Mussolini was freed.

POWs captured by the Germans in Europe were separated into officers and men.

The men were usually sent to Stalags and expected to work but the officers went to Oflags where they lived a life of enforced leisure.

They often spent their time making model aircraft, painting, drawing or reading improving books.

One surprising but popular pastime was knitting. Estimates suggest that only about five per cent of prisoners were serial escapees.

A six-foot bear is not something you expect to see on a battlefield, still less supplying ammunition to an artillery company.

Incredibly this actually happened.

In 1942 some Polish soldiers were released from Soviet captivity and ended up in Iran. There they adopted an orphaned Syrian bear that they fed initially on condensed milk and then on fruit, marmalade and honey.

The men soon got him smoking and beer quickly became his favourite drink. When animals were banned from camp, he was made a private and given a paybook and serial number.

He was also taught to carry Howitzer ammunition which he did even under gunfire which did not seem to scare him. At the end of the war he was promoted to corporal and sent to Edinburgh zoo.

To order Second World War In 100 Facts, by Clive Pearson (£8.99, Amberley), with free UK delivery call the Express Bookshop on 01872 562310. Alternatively send a cheque or postal order payable to The Express Bookshop to Facts Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ or visit expressbookshop.com