Amazing Discoveries
Amazing Discoveries
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The Amber Room
The Amber Room was, until recently, the most significant lost treasure from the Second World War. It was originally given to Peter the Great in 1716 by the King of Prussia, but was later moved by Catherine the Great away from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to a summer residence outside of the city in 1770. By all accounts the room was absolutely stunning. It was entirely built from amber, gold, and precious stones, and when it was illuminated by its 565 candles, it was said to glow a fiery gold. When German troops invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, they dismantled the room and sent it back to Germany, but in transit it vanished without trace, and remained lost for more than 70 years. Many thought it was destroyed in subsequent battles, but in 2017 a group of investigators claimed that they have found it- although they were unable to retrieve it yet. They had been imaging a cave used by the Nazis that’s in the hills near Dresden, and they discovered evidence of the room, along with other treasures and stolen works of art. Beneath the cave system, they discovered a network of tunnels, and trees in the local area show signs of damage from where steel cables had been used to lift heavy objects into place. They plan on recovering the treasures that are hidden inside before looters do- the only thing stopping them is the complex network of explosive booby traps that are all over the tunnels.
ME 109 Messerschmitt Plane
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14-year-old Danish student, Daniel Rom Kristiansen, grew up with tales of the war from his grandfather, but there were so many that he had always taken them with a pinch of salt. Daniel had a school project about the Second World War so he and his father went out to search their farm for artifacts. It turns out that one of his grandfather’s stories was completely true. His grandfather had told him of the time a German plane had crashed in one of the fields in 1944. There was absolutely no evidence of this in 2017, but Daniel’s father got out his old metal detector and they got to work. To the surprise of them both, they found what they were looking for! With the help of an excavator they borrowed from a neighbour, they dug down to 20 feet where they found the remains of the plane- along with its pilot. Even though the Messerschmitt ME 109 was broken into thousands of pieces, they found the engine intact, a wallet full of money and, of course, live ammunition. Once bomb disposal experts had ensured it was safe, the remains were sent to the local museum, and Daniel’s school project turned out far better than he had hoped.
Weather Station Kurt
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The Second World War was fought on many fronts, but one of the most crucial things that each side needed for their efforts was information- in particular, meteorological data that could be used to chart movements across the Atlantic ocean. The Allies, of course, had this covered with a network of monitoring stations across North America, Greenland and Iceland. The Nazis, on the other hand, were way behind in this respect, and their method of using ships and submarines to provide the information was proving a risky strategy. Instead, they decided to install a number of automatic monitoring stations in strategic locations. They would use a submarine to covertly reach an area, install the equipment, and leave without anyone being the wiser. 26 of these outposts were manufactured by Siemens, and they were placed in Arctic and Sub-arctic regions. The final 2 were destined for North America. One of these was destroyed in transit, but the other was successfully installed and, until 1981 lay undiscovered. Known as weather station Kurt, it was installed in Martin Bay, Canada, and was even littered with packets of American cigarettes so people wouldn’t be suspicious if it was found. The most distant Nazi outpost was, ultimately, found by a geomorphologist, who notified authorities. I didn’t even know geomorphology was a thing, did you?? The weather station was moved, and to this day can be seen at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
HIJMS Musashi
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The Second World War saw some extremely powerful ships roaming the waves, but one of the largest and deadliest was the Japanese ship, the Musashi. It was such a beast that in 1944, when US warplanes swarmed around it during the battle of the Sibuyan sea, it took more than 4 hours, and 25 direct torpedo hits before the ship began to sink to the into the waters near the Philippines. It was an extraordinary mission to defeat it, and for 70 years it remained lost on the seafloor. In 2015, after an 8 year search, a team led by the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, finally found the remains! See these guys are doing more than just playing with computers!! At nearly 4,000 feet beneath the surface, images beamed back by submersibles revealed the unmistakable shape of the ship. The main gun was clearly visible, which was the most powerful naval cannon of the time. It weighed 270 tons, and its operators had to hide in a shelter before firing it. During its final battle, it fired once before they were able to take cover, which resulted in a number of personnel being thrown over the side of the ship. Also visible were trinkets and ornaments, and obvious signs of damage that the ship had taken during the attack. The bow was warped, and there were multiple hits around all of the main armaments. The remains are really a testament to the power, danger, and loss suffered by all sides during the war- and stands as a sad testament at the bottom of the sea.
Carrier Pigeons
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During the war, it was essential to be able to send information across Europe without risk of it falling into the hands of the enemy. Radio transmissions were possible, but prone to interception, so the Allies used a different method – carrier pigeons. In all, about 250,000 pigeons were uses. They could fly a mile a minute, and would carry messages from behind enemy lines, and even accompany squadrons of bomber crews. In 2012, a family in Surrey, England, were renovating their chimney when they found a sad discovery. Parts of a pigeon started falling out, along with a red capsule- the type that was used in the war by the Special Operations Executive, who were responsible for sabotage missions. The message inside the capsule was in code, but was sent by a sergeant to bomber command, possibly requesting a bombing raid- assistance that would never have arrived due to the fate of the trusted carrier pigeon.
50 German Fighter Planes
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Turkey tried to stay neutral at the outbreak of war, despite their pilots taking training lessons in Britain at the same time as accepting a large consignment of aircraft from the Nazis. In return for the planes, they provided the German war effort with raw materials like iron ore and chromium. By the time the war ended, Turkey had aligned itself with the Allies, and the American authorities insisted that they get rid of the Nazi aircraft. 21 of them were dismantled and sold as scrap, but 50 went missing. Now, it’s thought that those 50 were buried beneath a military base, and a historian claims to have found them in the city of Kayseri. The FW-190’s were fast and agile, and were likely stored just in case they Turkey might need them in the future. The advent of far more sophisticated technologies, though, made them obsolete and they were largely forgotten about. I mean what are you supposed to do know with planes from the 40s?? Efforts are now underway to excavate the find, as it’s a trove of significant historical value.
Japanese Mega Submarine
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The Japanese built huge vessels during the war, one of which was the Sen-Toku class submarine. At 400-feet long, this was a mega submarine- it even had a hangar in it with room for three bombers. This hangar was the defining feature of the I-400, and it was the biggest pre-nuclear submarine ever built. The planes could be catapulted into the air within minutes of the sub surfacing, and were a major threat to the US mainland. Ultimately, this ability was never used, though, and the US navy managed to capture the I-400. They took it to Pearl Harbour towards the end of the war for inspection, and following the end of hostilities it was deliberately sunk at sea to prevent the Soviets from learning from it. Records of its whereabouts were lost, but it was found again, by chance, in 2013 2,300 feet underwater off the coast of Oa-hu, Hawaii. Images that have been retrieved showed, for the first time, the large hangar, and even the ship’s bell that was torn from the vessel in the explosion that sunk it. It now lies on the seabed on its side.
Lost Battleground in Papua New Guinea
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In 2010, researchers discovered the site of the largest battle between Australian and Japanese forces, which took place in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. It was known as the lost battleground, because no records existed of where it really took place. It turned out that it was on a plateau, about half a mile west of the village of Eora Creek in the Owen Stanley mountain range. Interestingly, it was difficult for the researchers to get to, because it lies in the middle of the hunting grounds of the local Alola tribe. The tribe avoided the 600 square metre area because they thought it was cursed land- thinking the spirits of the 79 Australians and 69 Japanese that were killed there still protect it. The whole region saw continual battles between the two sides, with some estimates suggesting as many as 6,500 Japanese soldiers lost their lives in the mountains. The discovery of the Lost Battleground answered one of the biggest mysteries of the war there, and those who died can finally be repatriated.
The Yamashita Treasure
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The Yamashita treasure was, for a long while, thought to be a myth. Named after the Japanese General Yamashita, it supposedly was made up of all the gold, gemstones and valuable items, worth many billions of dollars, that the Japanese troops plundered from areas in southeast Asia. It was believed that they had hidden it all somewhere in the Philippines. Numerous hunters have tried to claim discovery of the treasure in recent years, but it’s most likely that it was really found in 1988. That year, a Filipino treasure hunter, Rogelio Roxas, filed a lawsuit against the country’s President for theft and human rights violations. He claimed that he and his partners had found the treasure, but the President had taken it and had him beaten. The President denied this, but in 1992 his wife admitted that their vast fortune had come from gold that her husband had found following WWII, and that the majority of it had come from the Yamashita trove.
USS Lexington
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This final find was, again, discovered with the assistance of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Pretty cool huh? In February of 2018, after scouring the Coral sea, which is about 500 miles off Australia’s east coast, investigators finally found the remains of the USS Lexington. It was lost while fighting the Japanese navy in the battle of the Coral Sea that took place between the 4th and 8th of May, 1942. 216 sailors died during the attack, but 2,000 were rescued before it was scuttled by US forces to prevent its secrets falling in the hands of the enemy after they had incapacitated it. Those who took part in the battle over the 5 days had a major impact in the direction of the war, and it was a defining moment in halting Japanese progression cross the Pacific. The wreck was found to be quite well preserved, with 11 of its aircraft still on board, and it’s discovery was praised by the head of the US Pacific Command because of its historical significance. No attempts will be made to retrieve it, though, because the military considers it a war grave, so it will remain there as a mark of respect.