I used to read a lot about World War 2 when I was younger, but today a lot of people just forget that it was not just the soldiers fighting. It was also a chase for money. Hitler wanted money to run his war machine, so attempted to steal all the national banks in Europe.
The one story that I keep in my head is that of Poland. In 1939 when the bombs began to fall on Warsaw they lacked armored cars. And that was, they used: 12 old city buses to take 80 tons of gold. It sounds like something would happen in a movie, but it did. They had even a famous Olympic athlete, Halina Konopacka, drive a bus into thick smoke and fire. They came to Romania and then transported the gold to North America. That money kept their hope alive during the time that the country was occupied.
Norway was brave. Their bank staff ran out the back door with 50 tons of gold as the German soldiers marched in the front of the city. They buried the gold in trains and trucks, driving the gold through the snow with planes in pursuit. They saved all of it.
Sadly for Belgium, it lost its gold, because it had allowed France to guard the gold, which the Nazis took anyway. The Dutch did better, they sent most of their money to the US early; but they still lost a lot. There is a need for us to not forget these stories. They depict how common people were brave in those days.