World War II

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Japan's signing of the Instrument of Surrender officially ended World War II, but its effects were felt years later.

From trees that survived the bombs to Sadako Sasaki's thousands of paper cranes, learn about the powerful symbols of hope and nuclear disarmament that emerged in the wake of Hiroshima.

The Beatle arrived on Earth as "White Christmas" was topping charts and World War II was in full swing.

Schiermonnikoog: the Dutch island that served as the Nazi’s last holdout in Europe.

Find out how the Invasion of Normandy in 1944 came to be known as D-Day, and what the "D" stands for.

A blend of personal trauma and real-world tragedy created the conditions for William Golding's famously pessimistic novel to emerge.

Among the most disturbing of the desperate measures taken during World War II was the recruitment of child soldiers. Here are five examples.

Doris Miller was stationed on the USS ‘West Virginia’ when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Despite being prohibited from gunnery training due to his race, he ended up saving an untold number of lives.

One atomic bomb was used in a test explosion. Two more bombs were deployed over Japan. That left a mysterious fourth bomb—code-named Thin Man—in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Savage battles, atomic bombs, and shark attacks were just some of the events leading up to the end of World War II in August 1945. Here's a look back on its 80th anniversary.

From a dollhouse with a nuclear bunker to an atomic energy lab with real uranium, some of these toys from the ‘50s and ‘60s have us scratching our heads.

Kokura was the original target, but avoiding the atomic bomb may have been more than just random chance.

After dropping the atomic bomb over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, almost all of the 12 men aboard the ‘Enola Gay’ had something to say about it.

Eighty years after the first—and only—deployment of atomic bombs, here’s a look back at one of history’s most devastating acts of war.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger–starring Netflix series takes its title from World War II military slang. Here’s what 'fubar' means.

The worst shark attack in history followed the bombing and sinking of the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the map to justify the United States entering World War II—but as one historian told Mental Floss, “was a fiction forged by the British intelligence service.”

These are the five deepest shipwrecks ever discovered, including the USS ‘Samuel B. Roberts,’ which went to the depths of the Philippine Trench during the Second World War.

These tributes to fallen soldiers may not be as instantly recognizable as the Vietnam Memorial and others, but their stories are no less fascinating—including one that doubles as a mausoleum right in Manhattan.