re: Need obscure WW II trivia

Have him name all of the countries that declared their neutrality by the beginning of the war, then the countries that remained neutral throughout the war, and finally the neutral countries that were never occupied during the war.

Steven Ambrose wrote about Koreans being captured in German uniforms on D Day.
—-oddly enough, the book is called “D-Day”

Eva liked bananas
Adolf went bananas

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On 30 July 1942, a United States Coast Guard J4F-1 Widgeon amphibious aircraft spotted a U-boat around 100 mi (160 km) off the coast of Houma, Louisiana. The aircraft attacked and it appeared that the U-boat was hit in the attack. U-166 was reported missing in action on 30 July 1942, which coincided with the American aircraft's attack on "a U-Boat", leading to the aircraft being credited with the sinking of U-166, with the loss of all 52 crew members. Both aircraft crewmen were decorated for the action.

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The U-166 was not sunk by the Coast Guard’s plane, from the U-166’s Wikipedia (Link) page:

“Initial credit for the sinking of U-166 had been given to a Grumman G-44 Widgeon, but the position of the wreck made it clear that this should have gone to the submarine chaser PC-566. On 16 December 2014, the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus posthumously awarded the captain of PC-566, then-LCDR Herbert G. Claudius, USNR (later CAPT USN), the Legion of Merit with a Combat "V" device for heroism in battle and credited him with the sinking of the U-boat. "Seventy years later, we now know that [Claudius's] report after the action was absolutely correct," he said. "[Claudius's ship] did sink that U-boat, and it's never too late to set the record straight."

Ask him about amphetamine usage on both sides.

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My 11 year old knows more about WW II than anyone I have met. It's to the point I can't stump him on anything. He knows all the players, all the stats like casualty counts, can even tell you what kind of rifle or tank or airplane was used by which militaries

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Take him fishing.

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If your kid has memorized casualty counts for battles at 11 years old I'd be sure to keep all your guns and knives locked up. That doesn't seem like a healthy obsession to me.

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That was me 40 years ago and I turned out fine.

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That was me 40 years ago and I turned out fine

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The story of Hedy Lamarr essentially inventing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth during WWII.

LINK

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Tell him about the entire dummy army that was set up in Britain in order to fool the Germans regarding the date & landing zone for D-Day.

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It was more than an Army, it was an entire Army Group, 1st Army Group to be precise. It consisted of three field armies, one British and two American. The lengths allies went to make the Germans fall for the ruse were impressive. There were vehicle depots with inflatable tanks, phantom radio stations to send seemingly normal military communications between units, and even division, corps, army, and army group patches for the fictitious units were created. They even put Gen. G.S. Patton in command of the fake 1st Army Group because he was the field commander the Germans viewed as the best in the Allied camp, and thus the natural choice to lead the invasion.

The reason for all this was to convince the Germans this “1st Army Group” was the spearhead of the Allied invasion of France and would land at Pas de Calais. The rise worked so well that even after the real 21st Army Group under Montgomery landed in Normandy, the Germans held back the 15th Army around Pas de Calais, thinking the 21st Army Group’s landing was itself a ruse to cover the landing for the fictional 1st Army Group. It took the Germans weeks to figure out what was actually happening. Which of course by then it was too late because the 21st Army Group had broke out from the beaches and were advancing deep into France.