History Heartwarming / WorldWarII

* In early 1943, the SS and the Gestapo initiated "the Final Roundup," snatching all the remaining Jews in Berlin with the intention of putting them in the concentration camps. They did ''not'' however, collect non-Jewish spouses, and soon after the roundup began, a small group of German women visited the Jewish communiy's administration building at Rosenstrasse 2-4, wanting to see their Jewish husbands. They were rebuffed. This sparked a wave of protests at Rosenstrasse which so embarrassed (and frightened) the Nazis that they let the Jews with non-Jewish wives free. In May of that year, Himmler's deputy released all intermarried Jews from the camps.

* During World War 2 and the London bombings, Queen Elizabeth[[note]]Not the present Queen Elizabeth II, but her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Consort[[/note]] refused to leave Buckingham Palace, sharing the difficulties and dangers as the rest of her people, even when the Palace was being bombed. When asked why, she replied:

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown_and_Franz_Stigler_incident The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler Incident.]] A few days before Christmas, 1943, a formation of Anerican B-17 bombers hit a target in northern Germany. One of them was called ''Ye Olde Pub'' and had a brand-new crew on their first mission with a pilot named 2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown. ''Ye Olde Pub'' was shot to pieces by German fighters, but stayed (barely) in the air, with their tail gunner dead and two other men badly wounded. When they flew over a German airbase, a veteran ''Luftwaffe'' fighter pilot named 1st Lieutenant Franz Stigler took off to take them down. Stigler caught the B-17, but was surprised when they didn't shoot at him. He flew alongside the bomber, seeing wounded gunners being cared for by their terrified comrades, and realized they were completely defenseless. Stigler (a devout Catholic who'd never really bought into Nazi ideology) remembered the words of his first commander in North Africa, who had told him, "Honor is everything here. It's what keeps you human. If I ever hear that you shot a man in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself." Stigler couldn't pull the trigger. Then he realized that the B-17, flying low and slow on two engines, was heading straight for a coastal antiaircraft battery. If he couldn't shoot them down in good conscience, he certainly couldn't let that happen either. He formed up tight on the bomber's right wing in an escort position. Brown saw the Messerschmitt fighter alongside and tried not to panic, having no idea what the German was doing. Then he realized that the flak guns weren't firing as they crossed the coastline. With Brown's surviving crew safely on their way back to East Anglia, Stigler turned away and returned to his own base, never mentioning the encounter for obvious reasons. Brown's crew reported the incident in their debriefing, but were told to keep quiet about it, both to avoid generating sympathy for the enemy, and to prevent the Gestapo from going after this honorable German pilot, whoever he might be. It remained secret until Charlie Brown came out with it in the 1980s, hoping to find the man who had saved the lives of himself and his crew. Stigler, now living in British Columbia, came forward and met Brown for the second time in Seattle in 1988. The two men greeted eachother like long-lost brothers (Franz Stigler tearfully exclaimed, "I love you, Charlie!" when they told their story to a TV news crew) and remained best friends for the rest of their lives.

* The greater lot of students from the University of Oslo were rounded up and transported to Germany in the autumn of 1943. The plan was to "nazifice" the Norwegians, who promptly resisted by "rewinding" the nazi propaganda ''every night'' after intense sessions of brainwashing. One of them had heart enough for some starving Romani children who always stood on the other side of a barbed wire fence. He always shared his food with them, although it was pointed out to him that those children probably were toast anyway. But this student kept up the habit - [[TearJerker until the morning the children didn´t show...]].

* A HopeSpot that didn't go away: the 'the Reich's youngest Nazi' was actually a young Jewish boy who fled the destruction of his family. A kind Latvian soldier, whose unit was going to be absorbed into the S.S., dreamt up a {{Masquerade}} to keep the boy alive - [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6945847.stm as a Nazi mascot.]] The boy managed to emigrate to Australia after the war, but kept his experiences secret from his wife, family, and friends until 1997.

* During the Battle of the Philippine Sea, American Admiral Marc Mitscher took a gamble to strike at the Japanese fleet with a wave of planes launched late in the day. By the time the planes returned from their successful attack, the sun had set. Standard procedure would have had the fleet under blackout, and left the pilots struggling to find their carriers with rapidly-emptying fuel tanks. Aware of the risk of exposing their ships to enemy attack, the admiral nonetheless gave the order "Turn On The Lights" to causing the fleet to be illuminated with flares and lights so that the [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind the pilots would be able to make it back.]]

* During the Battle of Saipan, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gabaldon#The_Pied_Piper_of_Saipan Guy Gabaldon]] worked a small miracle that saved many Japanese and countless American lives. Guy was a Mexican-American from California and had been raised alongside a Japanese family during the Depression- he spoke and understood Japanese. During the Pacific campaign the Japanese government and officer corps told the front line troops that the Americans would torture and eat their prisoners, while the Americans rarely took prisoners- they were no fans of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and the banzai charges, and besides, the Japanese often had the nasty habit of pulling off a "ISurrenderSuckers" which did ''not'' make matters better. Guy used his knowledge of the Japanese language to leave his post one night and approach the enemy, urging them to give up and persuading them that the rumors of torture and cannibalism were false. He brought back several sentries as prisoners on July 6th and was reprimanded for abandoning his post. The next night he did it ''again'' and brought back 50 Japanese prisoners. Command got the hint and made it Guy's sole job to convince the Japanese and local population to surrender. The next night, Guy left with a bag full of food, chocolate, and a few grenades for self defense. He brought back [[UpToEleven 800 Japanese and civilians.]] On the Island of Tinian, he would capture 600 more Japanese and for his service was recommended to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. [[WhatTheHellHero He only received the Silver Star.]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe John Rabe]]: He was a Nazi member, yet [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar when the Japanese stormed into Nanking]], he, together with some other westerners who stayed in the city, set up the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Safety_Zone Nanking Safety Zone]] to save the inhabitants of Nanking from the atrocities of the Japanese army. He was damn successful, saving an estimate of 200,000 - 250,000 people. After the war, when famine hit Germany, he and his family were partly supported by money and food packages from sent by the Kuomintang - even when their own people were starving.

* During the Battle of Saipan, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gabaldon#The_Pied_Piper_of_Saipan Guy Gabaldon]] worked a small miracle that saved many Japanese and countless American lives. Guy was a Mexican-American from California and had been raised alongside a Japanese family during the Depression- he spoke and understood Japanese. During the Pacific campaign the Japanese government and officer corps told the front line troops that the Americans would torture and eat their prisoners, while the Americans rarely took prisoners- they were no fans of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and the bonsai charges, and besides, the Japanese often had the nasty habit of pulling off a "ISurrenderSuckers" which did ''not'' make matters better. Guy used his knowledge of the Japanese language to leave his post one night and approach the enemy, urging them to give up and persuading them that the rumors of torture and cannibalism were false. He brought back several sentries as prisoners on July 6th and was reprimanded for abandoning his post. The next night he did it ''again'' and brought back 50 Japanese prisoners. Command got the hint and made it Guy's sole job to convince the Japanese and local population to surrender. The next night, Guy left with a bag full of food, chocolate, and a few grenades for self defense. He brought back [[UpToEleven 800 Japanese and civilians.]] On the Island of Tinian, he would capture 600 more Japanese and for his service was recommended to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. [[WhatTheHellHero He only received the Silver Star.]]

* [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Bartali Gino Bartali]] was an extremely popular Italian cyclist and winner of many important competitions in the period right before WWII. Between 1943 and 1945, using as an excuse his workouts before the championships, he travelled hundreds of kilometres back and forth in Italy hiding fake passports and identity cards into his bike frame, which he later delivered to Jew families. He would operate alone and distract guards at military checkpoints, talking with them and dissuading them from checking his bike, saying adjusting it later would have been a lot of trouble. This way he saved hundreds and hundreds of Italian Jews and for this he was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations in 2013. While he was carrying out this secret commitment, he also got asked to hide in his basement a family of Jews, assignment he accepted, saving Giorgio Goldenberg and his family. Atop all, even after the war ended he did not talk to anyone about his role in the resistance, reason why his contribution was officially recognized only after his death.

* [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Bartali Gino Bartali]] was an extremely popular Italian cyclist and winner of many important competitions in the period right before WWII. Between 1943 and 1945, using as an excuse his workouts before the championships, he travelled hundreds of kilometres back and forth in Italy hiding fake passports and identity cards into his bike frame, which he later delivered to Jew families. He would operate alone and distract guards at military checkpoints, talking with them and dissuading them from checking his bike, saying adjusting later would have been a lot of trouble. This way he saved hundreds and hundreds of Italian Jews and for this he was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations in 2013. While he was carrying out this secret commitment, he also got asked to hide in his basement a family of Jews, assignment he accepted, saving Giorgio Goldenberg and his family. Atop all, even after the war ended he did not talk to anyone about his role in the resistance, reason why his contribution was officially recognized only after his death.

World War II was one of the darkest times in human history. But even through six years (1939 - 1945) of a devastating war, there were many people who still held out hope for a brighter future.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe St. Maximilian Kolbe]]: A Polish priest and monk who, during World War Two, sheltered 2,000 Jews in his monastery. He also operated an illegal underground radio station that vilified Nazism. Eventually he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. While there, the camp commander ordered 10 prisoners from Kolbe's cell block starved to death to deter escape attempts. One of the prisoners selected cried out that he had a family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place. Kolbe led the others in songs and prayer for three weeks, telling them they would soon be with the Virgin Mary in heaven. At the end, the guards came in to kill Kolbe. Kolbe held out his arm and prayed while he received a lethal injection. Kolbe was declared a saint in 1982. He is the patron of political prisoners.

* Brother Zenon 'Zeno' Zebrowski, a Franciscan monk who truly lived to his call helping Japanese people during and after war, especially orphans. He was send there by (mentioned above) Maximilian Kolbe who stayed in Asia on mission but decided to come back to Poland to help his country. He was caught afterwards and you know the rest of his story... But Zenon remained in Japan and greatly helped people there. Please, just read his story.

* During the unveiling of the World War 2 memorial in the US, two aging veterans found themselves meeting two busloads of children on a field trip. The children, without hesitation, stood up as one and applauded.
* During World War 2 and the London bombings, Queen Elizabeth[[note]]Not the present Queen Elizabeth II, but her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Consort[[/note]] refused to leave Buckingham Palace, sharing the difficulties and dangers as the rest of her people, even when the Palace was being bombed. When asked why, she replied:
--> The children won't go without me. I won't leave the King. And the King will never leave.
** And when Buckingham Palace was damaged by bombing, she said:
---> I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel like I can look the East End in the face.
* The evacuation of the Jews in Denmark during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_the_Danish_Jews The wiki article]], [[http://www.auschwitz.dk/denmark.htm another good article...]] [[{{Tearjerker}} If you're ready for tears.]]
** After moving heaven and earth, risking death and worse by the skin of their teeth, every member of the Danish Resistance who helped in this evacuation was entitled to be named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_Among_the_Nations Righteous Among The Nations]]...most famously, by the planting of one tree for each of them in the grove at Yad Vashem. They refused any and all individual honors. After everything they did, all the lives they saved...and no one in the Danish Resistance would let the Jewish people give them so much as ''a single tree'' in return. Only one tree grows in Yad Vashem, representing the Danish Resistance in its entirety.
** The Danes get a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for saving Danish Jews and resisting Nazi oppression (mostly nonviolently) for four years, but they earned another Heartwarming Moment after the war. General Dr. Werner Best and General Hermann von Hanneken, the two highest Nazi officials in Denmark during the war, went on trial for ordering brutal acts of counter-sabotage against the Danes and for deporting Danish Jews. Both were found guilty, with von Hanneken receiving a sentence of eight years imprisonment and Best getting the death penalty. Both appealed. I'll let ''A Force More Powerful'' explain the rest: "Best's sentence was reduced to five years and General von Hanneken was set free. Resistance had not made the Danes incapable of leniency."
*** Check the Other Wiki's article linked above, "He [Werner Best] was aware of the efforts by Duckwitz to have the roundup cancelled and obviously also knew about the potential escape of the Jews to Sweden, but he essentially looked the other way..." So the Danish did not pursue vengeance against a man who did not persecute them, even if he was the face of Nazi authority and the most obvious scapegoat.
*** Very much a case of {{Realpolitik}}, however, as Best had originally been sentenced to death in the County court. On appeal, the high court reduced the sentence to 5 years, which generated outrage in the Danish population, as Best was percieved to have been responsible for counter-terror. The Supreme court finally settled on a sentence of 12 years, at which point UsefulNotes/WestGermany intervened to have his sentence commuted and Best expelled from Denmark.

* The North African campaign between the German Africa Korps and the British 8th Army during World War 2 was often called "The Gentleman's War", for the unbelievable gallantry displayed by both sides. To demonstrate, a British soldier was critically wounded during the Battle of El Alamein. He was brought to a British field hospital, and found himself lying beside a German prisoner who had also been critically wounded. He reached out and squeezed the German soldier's hand. The German soldier squeezed back. He lost consciousness and woke up the next morning, and found that his German companion was gone. When he asked what happened to the man beside him, the doctor simply replied "He died during the night. You were still holding hands."
* When the Nazis invaded the Greek island of Zakynthos, they went to the mayor and the bishop, who were both Eastern Orthodox Christians and told them "Write down the names of all the Jews on this island and give them to us." A few days later, the mayor and bishop come back and hand over a paper with only two names written on it- their own. The bishop then says [[GoThroughMe "If you want to take them, you have to take us, too."]] The rest of the community on the island hid the Jews for the duration of the Nazi occupation. [[EverybodyLives Every last one of the 275 Jews survived the war.]] In 1953, a series of earthquakes collapsed all but a few buildings on the island. The first relief ship was from Israel, along with the message: "The Jews of Zakynthos have never forgotten their Mayor and their beloved Bishop and what they did for us."
* The Dutch village of Nieuwlande, where the people agreed that every household would hide at least one Jew.
* Denmark's role in World War II. That's one of the biggest Crowning Moments of Heartwarming in history. A small country, not very powerful, shares its only land border with Germany, headquarters of the Nazi party and anti-Jewish movement. Denmark was not neutral - it was occupied, and complied peacefully with Germany to the point that Hitler declared Denmark the model that all occupied countries should aspire to. But when the police came to round up Danish Jews, the people of Denmark, including political officials and the king, banded together and made sure that ''99%'' of Danish Jews survived the Holocaust. The ones that were sent to camps were sent almost entirely to a camp in Czechoslovakia, where the Danish Red Cross was stationed to monitor the health and conditions for not just the Danish Jews, but for ''every person in the camp.'' Full. Bloody. Stop.
** The Israeli government was going to list several members of the Danish resistance as Righteous Among the Nations. The individuals requested that the honor instead be granted to the resistance as a whole. The request was granted to them, and the Danish resistance is one of only two organizations so named, the other being the Norwegian Underground.
* Shortly after midnight on November 13, 1942 (Friday the 13th, in fact), a force of US Navy cruisers and destroyers met a Japanese battleship task force in pitch-dark conditions in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal. The American ships were tracking their opponents on radar, but did not exploit this advantage because the US commander, Rear Admiral Dan Callahan, didn't trust the new technology. The two fleets literally got within spitting distance of each other before a searchlight illuminated the cruiser USS ''Atlanta'', which promptly tore apart the destroyer shining the light. The resulting battle was [[BlastOut a brutal, confusing engagement of heavy naval guns and torpedoes at hand-grenade range]] with friendly fire and horrific losses on both sides. By morning, all ships of both battered fleets had withdrawn from Ironbottom Sound except for the cruiser USS ''Portland'', stuck steaming in a slow circle due to a jammed rudder, USS ''Atlanta'', dead in the water and barely afloat, and the destroyer HIMS ''Yudachi'', which was also crippled and would be sunk by ''Portland'' an hour later. As ''Atlanta'''s surviving crew tried to save their ship and pull wounded men out of the oil-slicked, shark-infested sea, a motor launch came alongside, packed with American and Japanese sailors, many of them badly hurt. It took a few minutes for anyone to notice that the boat's coxswain was a Japanese petty officer (they guessed that he was a Bosun's Mate, because "the rate insignia is the same in pretty much every navy"). His ship had sunk, but his boat still floated and had fuel, and he refused to discriminate when it came to rescuing men in the water, so the men aboard ''Atlanta'' accepted his help in the rescue operation. The Japanese Bosun's Mate got as many men onto ''Atlanta'' as he could throughout the day, then assisted in evacuating them to shore when the cruiser had to be scuttled that evening, saving over a hundred lives.

* A HopeSpot that didn't go away: the 'the Reich's youngest Nazi' was actually a young Jewish boy who fled the destruction of his family. A kind Latvian soldier, whose unit was going to be absorbed into the S.S., dreamt up a {{Masquerade}} to keep the boy alive - [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6945847.stm as a Nazi mascot.]] The boy managed to emigrate to Australia after the war, but kept his experiences secret from his wife, family, and friends until 1997.

* What Canada did for Netherlands during World War 2:
** First, the Dutch Royal family took refuge in Ottawa from the German occupation of Netherlands and Princess Margriet was born there while in exile. The maternity ward of the Ottawa Civic Hospital, where she was, was temporarily declared extraterritorial, so Margriet could gain her citizenship from her mother only, making her Dutch.
** Second, the First Canadian Army was responsible for liberating Netherlands in 1945. Afterwards, they would send thousands of tulips (the Dutch national flower) to Ottawa in gratitude. And the following year and every year after that, the Dutch Royal family did the same thing. These donations of flowers would later become a tradition of the Canadian Tulip Festival, one of the largest tulip festivals in the world and held annually in Ottawa, which soon became famous for these tulips.
*** Also, the statue ''The Man With Two Hats'' in Commissioners Park, Ottawa. Engraved on the statue is this:
---->''During the Second World War, Canadian soldiers played a crucial role in the liberation of the Netherlands. With the donation of this monument - an expression of joy and a celebration of freedom - the Netherlands pays lasting tribute to Canada.''\\
''A statue identical to this one stands in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. The twin monuments symbolically link Canada and the Netherlands; though separated by an ocean, the two countries will forever be close friends.''\\
''Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveiled the monument in Ottawa on May 11, 2002, and the other in Apeldoorn on May 2, 2000.''
** The Netherlands would have an opportunity to show their gratitude in the early 2000s, when the bodies of three Canadian soldiers killed in action were discovered. They were given well-attended funerals with full military honours.
* The evacuation of Dunkirk in WWII, when what could have been the Allies' greatest defeat turned into a story of triumph that firmed Britain's will to fight even when they were the only unoccupied European country[[note]](obviously, we're not counting neutral nations like Portugal)[[/note]] left in the battle against the Axis. The Allies had expected to only be able to save a few thousand men, but thanks to the efforts of 700 private boats and yachts - many of which the owners insisted to steer themselves - hundreds of thousands managed to escape and live to fight another day. This would lead to Churchill's famous speech. "We shall fight on the beaches [...] we shall never surrender".
** Even more heartwarming than the British evacuation; the British promise of evacuation to the French, then the French forces staying behind to cover the English retreat. When the last of the BEF had evacuated, Churchill insisted on coming back to save the French forces bravely resisting the German attacks. On 4th June, the Royal Navy came to rescue as many French soldiers as they could. Although 30,000-40,000 were tragically left behind and became German prisoners, 26,000 Frenchmen reached safety.
* During the march of the allies across Germany a US squad was patrolling through a village just recently taken. One of the soldiers while looking around takes off running from the rest of the squad while shouting in German. When the rest of the squad finds him, he is standing in front of a house hugging an older German woman and little boy. The soldier was a German immigrant, who had just realized he was in his hometown; the woman was his mother, and the kid was his little brother.
* There's a story in my town in Germany that goes like this: In the spring of 1945, when the German army was crumbling, and the Americans invaded, they had orders to capture this town and the important railroad going through it. There weren't a whole lot of defenders, but there was a few overzealous SS officers that were going to fight to the death. The boss of the largest company in town convinced them not to fight by giving them his own car and fuel (a real treasure in those days) so they could flee. The SS men still killed the driver, maybe because of shame of their "cowardice".
* A rather unlikely case - a documentary in a Religious Studies lesson on Hiroshima. Most of the second half was (as you would expect) a heartrending mixture of {{Tearjerker}} and horror, but there was one story told by a man who'd been a little boy at the time. He was rescued from the rubble by a young soldier, who then carried him through the remains of the city, past more and more scenes of hopelessness... only to have his father run over, saying 'that's my son!'. The two were reunited, and the sequence was the one ray of hope in the whole film. For once, happy tears.
* This moment was a delayed one which happened after [=George McGovern=] accidentally had a bomb on his plane release while over a civilian farm in Austria and it caused great damage. Decades later while making a public appearance there, [=McGovern=] mentioned the incident in the media and how he was kicking himself for years for the accident. As it happened, the owner of that farm heard that and made a public statement to tell [=McGovern=] that no one was hurt and he felt it was worth the trouble if it helped enable the defeat of Nazi Germany in some small way.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_%28soldier_bear%29 The story of "Private" Wojtek]]. BearsAreBadNews? ''Nie''.
* The nurses. These strong, brave, ''badass'' women volunteered and spent their time caring for horribly wounded soldiers, often with no breaks, respite, or help, often in the face of danger. In some cases, they were slaughtered. But they did their job, and they did it well, and they saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Thank you so much.

* When a historian told a group of veteran survivors of the disastrous Dieppe Raid the ''true'' purpose of their mission that he had discovered in his research: to mask a commando attempt, possibly commanded by Creator/IanFleming himself, to capture an Enigma encryption machine so the Allies could break the Nazi codes for once and for all. To a man, the soldiers then felt immensely better for that knowledge that they were not sent on a useless sacrifice, but were actually part of a vital strategic operation.
* During the Battle of Stalingrad, a troupe of Soviet musicians and entertainers arrived on New Years Eve to entertain the troops. The Ukrainian-Jewish violinist Mikhail Goldstein decided to go straight to the front lines and entertain the troops currently standing duty, playing over loudspeakers. Although it was banned in the USSR, Mikhail was so horrified by the destruction around him that he started playing German music. The shooting from the German side stopped as the music flowed, and after the music stopped there was a short period of complete silence from both sides. Then a voice came out over loudspeaker from the German lines in halting Russian saying "Play some more Bach. We won't shoot". Goldstein obliged them.
* In 1941, the Luftwaffe hit Belfast, in Northern Ireland, hard. When word got south that Belfast had been bombed and needed help, the entire fire departments of Dublin and several other Irish towns volunteered ''en masse'' to go North and help out. The then Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, had made his career opposing Britain and believed that Northern Ireland had no business being separated from Ireland, but he protested to the Germans: "They are our people, too!"
* At the end of the war the main members of the Axis Powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan, were utterly defeated. Instead of bombing the countries into oblivion, the Allies actually helped monitor and fix their economy so future conflicts could be prevented. The result: [[DefeatMeansFriendship all three of the defeated Axis Powers are now fast allies of the Allied ones]].

* In April, 1945, about 140 British Prisoners of War were being held by the SS and feared that they, like many other [=POWs=], would be executed, so they sent a delegation to contact members of the Wehrmacht and made their fears known. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichard_von_Alvensleben Wichard von Alvensleben]] immediately mobilized his troops to move in and protect the [=POWs=], and managed to use his superior numbers to intimidate the SS into retreating. They then released the allied [=POWs=], including several high profile prisoners.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_of_Paris The Grand Mosque of Paris.]] While France was occupied by the Nazis, they provided Jewish citizens with fake Muslim birth certificates in order to protect them from being sent to the camps.
* It may not be as important as the saving the lives of innocents described above, but there was the fact that the American Army had the Monuments Men: experts of art assigned to spare as much as the great works of art and architecture as possible from the destruction of war. Furthermore, rather than to steal it like the German and Russian armies did, the Monuments Men's purpose was to preserve this art for the proper owners. While this was an underfunded and often heartbreaking task, it did have its good moments. Namely, when they found a cache of art plundered from Florence, Italy, they returned it to the city, and they were met with a grand reception with cheering crowds and even a line of trumpeters in Renaissance dress celebrating a small triumph of the survival of beauty and creativity after so many years of fear and ugly destruction.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Wenck Walther Wenck]], youngest German Army General, commander of the 12th Army. Ordered to assault and retake Berlin from the Soviets with remnants of the 9th Army to link up, he instead chose to disobey orders. Located between the Americans and Berlin, he ordered his men to protect and escort civilians from Soviet grasp to American lines. Then he told his men to surrender to the Americans. Not to mention, his army sheltered refugees long before the Soviets entered Berlin. In the end? Quarter of a million refugees (including 25,000 German soldiers) escaped Soviet detention. Within a week, mind you. Not to mention part of his speech - "It's not about Berlin any more, it's not about the Reich any more."
** Wenck summed the whole thing up with these words: ''"Nicht eine Schlacht, eine Rettungsaktion"'' -- "This is not a battle, it's a rescue mission."
** Also Wenck's radio message to the besieged 9th Army as his relief force reached its furthest point of advance. "Hurry up, [[IGotYouCovered we are waiting for you.]]"
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Hartmann Erich Hartmann]], considered the greatest [[AcePilot fighter ace]] in history, with 352 enemy aircraft shot down, was more proud of the fact he never lost a wingman than he was his number of victories.

* Captain Laus-Dei Saxell, Finnish Air Force, whose dive bomber flight was ordered to bomb three large Russian Orthodox churches at island of Kizhi, Lake Onega, Karelia. Finns suspected the Soviets were using the churches as artillery fire control towers. When he saw the beauty of the churches from air and the intact snow around, he flatly refused to destroy "those magnificent pieces of art, faith and architecture", realized there was no Soviet troops at the island and ordered his flight to turn away. They instead found a Soviet steamer at the lake and bombed it instead. Turned out the steamer which they had sunk had been a floating radio propaganda station. The Finns later captured the island and the churches intact. When they retreated 1944, they left the churches intact. Today the island and the churches belong in the Unesco World Heritage. Even better, Saxell himself visited the churches 1999 and saw them firsthand.
* The greater lot of students from the University of Oslo were rounded up and transported to Germany in the autumn of 1943. The plan was to "nazifice" the Norwegians, who promptly resisted by "rewinding" the nazi propaganda ''every night'' after intense sessions of brainwashing. One of them had heart enough for some starving Romani children who always stood on the other side of a barbed wire fence. He always shared his food with them, although it was pointed out to him that those children probably were toast anyway. But this student kept up the habit - [[TearJerker until the morning the children didn´t show...]].
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter The Battle for Castle Itter]], considered one of the most unusual battles of world war two. Occurring after Hitler's suicide but prior to Germany's surrender, a group of extremely overzealous SS attempted to storm a prison to, in an act of spite, execute those that had been held there, ranging from high profile French figures (including two former Prime Ministers) to resistance members. Defending the prison was a combined force of soldiers from the US and Germany armies ''[[EnemyMine side by side]]'' along with the former prisoners. Outmatched, their tank knocked out and running low on ammunition, the defenders were relieved when reinforcements arrived. It was the only time in the entire war that American and German soldiers fought together as allies. Sadly, the commander of the German troops, Major Josef Gangl, was killed by a sniper's bullet while protecting former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud during the battle. He was named a national hero in Austria. Prior to joining with Captain Lee's American forces to protect the castle, Gangl had been organizing his troops to try and protect local towns from reprisals by the SS.
** Along with the US Army and the Werhmacht troops was a single S.S. officer, Captain Kurt-Siegfried Schrader. Schrader had returned to his hometown of Itter after his battle group had been disbanded, disillusioned with Nazism and the war, and permanently crippled from a war wound, and intended to live the rest of his life as far away from any fighting as possible. When two of the prisoners of Castle Itter came into the village looking for help, Schrader went to the castle to organize the prisoners into something resembling a defense for when the S.S. came. Fortunately, Major Gangl and Captain Lee arrived with proper soldiers to reinforce the castle.
* [[http://www.allday.com/heartwarming-moments-during-the-bloodiest-wars-2180797176.html Heartwarming Moments During the Bloodiest Wars]] has some of the sweetest [=WW2=] photos that really show that there can be kind moments in war.
* The entirety of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbe_Day Elbe Day]], where the American and Russian armies met for the first time. Even before the Cold War began and both sides went back to being suspicious of each other, it's truly sweet that just for one day, the soldiers just hung out together for a few hours, forgetting the war and ideological differences. If any more proof is needed, here's some of the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170329003600/http://peashooter85.tumblr.com/post/117349618997/today-in-history-april-25th-1945-elbe-day photos]] taken on that day. The moment was a remember that the war had done what arguably nothing else could have: it united two rivals so opposed to each other to fight against a greater evil. If there was a time when America and Russia, [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar two countries much more known for being the biggest of rivals and being downright]] ''nasty'' [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar to each other at times]], were true friends, it was World War II.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown_and_Franz_Stigler_incident The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler Incident.]] A few days before Christmas, 1943, a formation of Anerican B-17 bombers hit a target in northern Germany. One of them was called ''Ye Olde Pub'' and had a brand-new crew on their first mission with a pilot named 2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown. ''Ye Olde Pub'' was shot to pieces by German fighters, but stayed (barely) in the air, with their tail gunner dead and two other men badly wounded. When they flew over a German airbase, a veteran ''Luftwaffe'' fighter pilot named 1st Lieutenant Franz Stigler took off to take them down. Stigler caught the B-17, but was surprised when they didn't shoot at him. He flew alongside the bomber, seeing wounded gunners being cared for by their terrified comrades, and realized they were completely defenseless. Stigler (a devout Catholic who'd never really bought into Nazi ideology) remembered the words of his first commander in North Africa, who had told him, "Honor is everything here. It's what keeps you human. If I ever hear that you shot a man in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself." Stigler couldn't pull the trigger. Then he realized that the B-17, flying low and slow on two engines, was heading straight for a coastal antiaircraft battery. If he couldn't shoot them down in good conscience, he certainly couldn't let that happen either. He formed up tight on the bomber's right wing in an escort position. Brown saw the Messerschmitt fighter alongside and tried not to panic, having no idea what the German was doing. Then he realized that the flak guns weren't firing as they crossed the coastline. With Brown's surviving crew safely on their way back to East Anglia, Stigler turned away and returned to his own base, never mentioning the encounter for obvious reasons. Brown's crew reported the incident in their debriefing, but were told to keep quiet about it, both to avoid generating sympathy for the enemy, and to prevent the Gestapo from going after this honorable German pilot, whoever he might be. It remained secret until Charlie Brown came out with it in the 1980s, hoping to find the man who had saved the lives of himself and his crew. Stigler, now living in British Columbia, came forward and met Brown for the second time in Seattle in 1988. The two men greeted eachother like long-lost brothers (Franz Stigler tearfully exclaimed, "I love you, Charlie!" when they told their story to a TV news crew) and remained best friends for the rest of their lives.
** Franz Stigler started receiving massive amounts of hate mail when the story broke in Germany, being called a traitor, a coward, and everything else imaginable. One day, he got a phone call from his longtime friend, war buddy, and wartime commander General Adolf Galland, perhaps the most legendary German fighter ace of the war. When Stigler admitted it was true, Galland paused for a moment, then said, "Well, it ''would'' be you, pal." Galland said that what Franz had done was treason, [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight but it was also the right thing to do]], and Galland (no huge fan of the Nazi party himself) [[SoProudOfYou was proud of him]] for doing it.
*** Galland was a MilitaryMaverick, very young for his rank, [[AFatherToHisMen who was very close to his pilots and ground crews]] (every man under his command addressed him as "Dolfo") who clashed constantly with Göring (whom Galland openly called "FatBastard," for obvious reasons), until Göring charged him with treason in 1944. Since Galland was too high-profile a hero for the Gestapo to touch him, they instead opted for the UriahGambit, having him lead a special unit of new (and dangerously unreliable) jet fighters on high-risk missions. This unit, ''Jagdverband''-44, was to be made up entirely of men hand-picked by Galland, "to keep all the traitors in one place," according to Göring. This meant that JV-44 not only had a dream team of German aces, but also nothing but men Galland trusted. Stigler was one of the men selected to fly jets in JV-44, according to Galland, because "I always knew you would do the right thing, regardless of the consequences."
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02g4-XT_VU This was so awesome and heartwarming that Sabaton wrote a song about it.]] There's also a book about it called A Higher Call and a movie adaptation of it in the works.

* During the Battle of Saipan, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gabaldon#The_Pied_Piper_of_Saipan Guy Gabaldon]] worked a small miracle that saved many Japanese and countless American lives. Guy was a Mexican-American from California and had been raised alongside a Japanese family during the Depression- he spoke and understood Japanese. During the Pacific campaign the Japanese government and officer corps told the front line troops that the Americans would torture and eat their prisoners, while the Americans rarely took prisoners- they were no fans of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and the bonsai charges. Guy used his knowledge of the Japanese language to leave his post one night and approach the enemy, urging them to give up and persuading them that the rumors of torture and cannibalism were false. He brought back several sentries as prisoners on July 6th and was reprimanded for abandoning his post. The next night he did it ''again'' and brought back 50 Japanese prisoners. Command got the hint and made it Guy's sole job to convince the Japanese and local population to surrender. The next night, Guy left with a bag full of food, chocolate, and a few grenades for self defense. He brought back [[UpToEleven 800 Japanese and civilians.]] On the Island of Tinian, he would capture 600 more Japanese and for his service was recommended to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. [[WhatTheHellHero He only received the Silver Star.]]

* The entirety of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbe_Day Elbe Day]], where the American and Russian armies met for the first time. Even before the Cold War began and both sides went back to being suspicious of each other, it's truly sweet that just for one day, the soldiers just hung out together for a few hours, forgetting the war and ideological differences. If any more proof is needed, here's some of the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170329003600/http://peashooter85.tumblr.com/post/117349618997/today-in-history-april-25th-1945-elbe-day photos]] taken on that day. If there was one time when America and Russia, [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar two countries known for being the biggest of rivals and for consistently being downright]] ''nasty'' [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar to each other at the worst of times]], were true friends, it was World War II, and this moment showed it for all it was worth.

World War II was one of the darkest moments in human history. But even through six years (1939 - 1945) of a devastating war, there were many people who still held out hope for a brighter future.

** It gets better. They slowly fell in love and got married within a few months, never leaving each other.

World War II was one of the darkest moments in human history. But this page shows that even through six years (1939 - 1945) of devastating war, there was still hope for a brighter future.

** Franz Stigler started receiving massive amounts of hate mail when the story broke in Germany, being called a traitor, a coward, and everything else imaginable. One day, he got a phone call from his longtime friend, war buddy, and wartime commander General Adolf Galland, perhaps the most legendary German fighter ace of the war. When Stigler admitted it was true, Galland paused for a moment, then said, "Well, it ''would'' be you, pal." Galland said that what Franz had done was treason, [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight but it was also the right thing to do]], and Galland (no huge fan of the Nazi party himself) was proud of him for doing it.

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_O%27Flaherty Hugh O'Flaherty,]] nicknamed 'The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican', was an Irish Catholic priest who, in the later years of the war, helped to conceal thousands of Allied escapees and Jews, coordinating with numerous people to hide refugees in their homes. The SS eventually learned what he was doing and failed to assassinate him, and couldn't arrest him while he was inside the Vatican. When the Allies arrived in Rome, Flaherty demanded that German [=POWs=] be treated with respect, and in later years visited the imprisoned Herr Kappler -- the former SS Chief in Rome, who had threatened to ''kill'' Flaherty if he ever exited the Vatican -- every month, as his only visitor.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe John Rabe]]: He was a Nazi member, yet [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar when the Japanese stormed into Nanking]], he, together with some other westerners who stayed in the city, set up the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Safety_Zone Nanking Safety Zone]] to safe the inhabitants of Nanking from the atrocities of the Japanese army. He was damn successful, saving an estimate of 200,000 - 250,000 people. After the war, when famine hit Germany, he and his family were partly supported by money and food packages from sent by the Kuomintang - even when their own people were starving.

* During the Battle of Saipan, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gabaldon#The_Pied_Piper_of_Saipan Guy Gabaldon]] worked a small miracle that saved many Japanese and countless American lives. Guy was a Mexican-American from California and had been raised alongside a Japanese family during the Depression- he spoke and understood Japanese. During the Pacific campaign the Japanese government and officer corps told the front line troops that the Americans would torture and eat their prisoners, while the Americans rarely took prisoners- they were no fans of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and the bonsai charges. Guy used his knowledge of the Japanese language to leave his post one night and approach the enemy, urging them to give up and persuading them that the rumors of torture and cannibalism were false. He brought back several sentries as prisoners on July 6th and was reprimanded for abandoning his post. The next night he did it ''again'' and brought back 50 Japanese prisoners. Command got the hint and made it Guy's sole job to convince the Japanese and local population to surrender. The next night, Guy left with a bag full of food, chocolate, and a few grenades for self defense. He brought back [[UpToEleven 800 Japanese and civilians.]] On the Island of Tinian, he will capture 600 more Japanese and for his service was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor. He only received the Silver Star.

* During the Battle of Saipain, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gabaldon#The_Pied_Piper_of_Saipan Guy Gabaldon]] worked a small miracle that saved many Japanese and countless American lives. Guy was a Mexican-American from California, raised alongside a Japanese family during the Depression- he spoke and understood Japanese. During the Pacific campaign the Japanese government and officer corps told tales of how the Americans would torture and eat their prisoners, while the Americans rarely took prisoners- they were no fans of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and the bonsai charges. Guy used his knowledge of the Japanese language and customs to leave his post and approach the enemy at night, urging them to give up and persuading them that the rumors of torture and cannibalism were false. He brought back several sentries as prisoners on July 6th and was reprimanded for abandoning his post. The next night he did it again and brought back 50 Japanese prisoners. Command gets the hint and makes it Guy's job to convince the Japanese and local population to surrender. The next night, Guy brought back 800 Japanese. On the Island of Tinian, he will capture 600 more Japanese and was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor. He only received the Silver Star.

* On April 8th 1940, during the German invasion of Norway, British Royal Navy destroyer ''HMS Glowworm'', under the command of Lieutenant Commander Gerard Roope, found itself engaged in a hopeless match against the much larger heavy cruiser ''Admiral Hipper''. Despite a [[DavidVersusGoliath heroic battle]], Glowworm was sunk. ''Hipper's'' Captain Hellmuth Heye wrote to the British authorities via the Red Cross, lauding the [[WorthyOpponent bravery of Roope and his crew]] in the face odds piled against them, and in doing so contributed to Roope being the first Victoria Cross recipient of the war.

** Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens whose story is as heartwarming as it is funny. During the Nazi occupation of Greece, the Archbishop of Athens was seen as the spiritual and cultural leader of the Orthodox Greeks. While the [[TheQuisling puppet government]] worked with the Nazis and the SS to round up and deport Greek Jews, Damaskinos put his name on an open letter to the SS and the Greek public, protesting the roundups in a vocal way while simultaneously ordering the Greek Orthodox churches to secretly distribute baptismal certificates to Greek Jews, and if a certificate would not save a Jew, the priests were ordered to personally shelter them as, citing the words of St. Paul in Galatians 3:28: "'There is neither Jew nor Greek... for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.'" When the SS responded to the public letter that Damaskinos could be shot by firing squad for his actions, Damaskinos' reply was as biting as it was funny.
--> "According to the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are ''hanged'', not shot. Please respect our traditions!" [[note]]The commandant, realizing the Nazis were only in Greece because they had to bail out the Italians when the Greeks mauled Mussolini's invasion, opted ''not'' to provoke a general uprising by further antagonizing the head of their church.[[/note]]

** Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens whose story is as heartwarming as it is funny. During the Nazi occupation of Greece, the Archbishop of Athens was seen as the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Greeks. While the [[TheQuisling puppet government]] worked with the Nazis and the SS to round up and deport Greek Jews, Damaskinos put his name on an open letter to the SS and the Greek public, protesting the roundups in a vocal and public way while simultaneously ordering the Greek Orthodox churches to secretly distribute baptismal certificates to Greek Jews, and if a certificate would not save a Jew, the priests were ordered to personally shelter them. When the SS responded to the public letter that Damaskinos could be shot by firing squad for his actions, Damaskinos' reply was as biting as it was funny.
--> "According to the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are ''hanged'', not shot. Please respect our traditions!"

** Speaking of Schindler, aside from his astonishing story in WWII, what happened after is worth noting - his entire fortune had been spent on bribes and supplies to protect his workers, leaving him bankrupt. However, not only did Jewish relief organisations pay him a pension, with the ''Schindlerjuden'' he saved also supporting him. And when he died in 1973, he and his wife were both buried on Mount Zion. He is the only Nazi party member to have been so.