25 Bizarre Historical Facts They Don’t Teach in School

25 Bizarre Historical Facts They Don’t Teach in School

Natasha sheldon - January 28, 2019

25 Bizarre Historical Facts They Don’t Teach in School
The entrance of Berlin zoo c. 1900. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain

4. The First Bomb dropped on Berlin during WW2 claimed no human casualties. But it did kill an elephant.

As the capital of Germany, Berlin was a prime target for allied bombers during World War II. On August 26, 1940, British planes dropped the first bomb of the war upon the city. They destroyed a suburban woodshed, and two German civilians sustained minor injuries. However, the only casualty in the city was one of the nine elephants in the Berlin Zoo. The elephants remained curiously safe until an allied raid in 1944 wiped out another seven. Only one elephant in the zoo survived the war: Siam, an Indian bull elephant who was left alone in what remained of the enclosure.

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