Weird War Two

These WWII mini-tales are interesting anecdotes about some of the stranger things that occurred during WWII, some of which I knew about but most of which were new to me. They will be interesting to people interested in WWII, although serious scholars will be disappointed that there are no footnotes included.

World War II has long held a morbid sort of fascination for me. And why I attempt to explain this fascination I come up with something like…it is the perfect microcosm of good and evil from the recent past. It’s a time that’s produced some of the most compelling dramatic works of historical fiction, but also giving credence to the maxim, when it comes to WWII the truth has always been stranger than fiction. This is a collection of such truths (strange, bizarre and credulity stretching as they are), presented and told with an anecdote like quality. The author deliberately threads lightly in some very dark territories, making this a relatively easy read despite the heavy subject matter. It’s prefaced by M.J. Trow’s succinct account of WWII summary to provide readers less familiar with the war a basic outline. I’ve read a lot on the subject and have watched tons of educational programs, so many of these stories were familiar, but there were still some interesting new things. The volume is slim and each story is only a few pages, it’s probably made for dipping in and out off, not plowing through the entire thing in two sittings, but it’s easy to get through either way and informational in an entertaining manner. The version from Netgalley had some typos, nothing too distracting, presumably this’ll be taken care off for the final publication. Fans of historical nonfiction angling toward brevity should enjoy this one. Thanks Netgalley.

The signing of the Treaty of Versailles signaled the end of World War 1. In part, it stipulated that Germany pay reparations of 3.5 billion dollars which would in today's economy be somewhere in the neighborhood of 46 billion dollars. It was never paid.

Some twenty years later, Germany reclaimed some of its land lost through the ravages of war. And if that's not enough, the warring country began to build armaments once again; it knew not peace. To the amazement of the world, the battle-prone country was beginning to flex its military muscles once again. Fool me twice...

Finally, In September, 1939, Germany boldly invaded Poland. The world was in shock. In retaliation, Britain and France declared war on the invader. Notice had been served. It marked the beginning of World War II.

By May, 1941, blanket bombing had been responsible for the senseless death of 40,000 British civilians. Over a million homes were in ruins. Six million people had been exterminated in death camps the likes of Auschwitz, Dachau and Treblinka. At the hands of the merciless Japanese, thousands of British POWs died while building the Burma Railway. To cap it all off, the first use of a nuclear weapon on a civilian population ended the lives of tens of thousands of Japanese bringing the war to a tumultuous end.

Those were all some of the worst, most memorable tragedies that will live on in our minds and hearts for eternity. Out from the rubble of this nightmare, however, arose some of the weirdest, yet, interesting events that never made it into the history books.

In a well-written narrative, Richard Denham brings to light an overflowing assortment of the strangest occurrences to address the war such as: anti-tank dogs, balloon bombs and pigeon missiles, just to name a few. The author revealed countless uncanny events that could best be described as bizarre. This flip side of the war proved to be entertaining.

Contained in this book are a multitude of episodes that just seem too unbelievable to be true, in many cases, absurd would better describe it. If you have an unspoken desire to learn about the uncanny and curious events that baffled the world during World War II, then this is the book for you.

I offer my gratitude to NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

A fascinating collection of World War II historical facts & fictions laced with examples of propaganda and outright lies. Students of the Second World War will recognise some of these brief stories but nonetheless there will be scores of others which are new to many.

There are tales of super weapons which, thankfully, were never made, the use of birds, bats, cats, dogs and other animals as weapons or mascots, strange plans which failed to get beyond the drawing board and spy stories mixed with some of the more disturbing events on World War II, such as the Japanese Army's use of "comfort women" from the female populations of Korea and China (a fact that the Japanese Government still denied in the 21st Century) and the horrific experiments carried out by German and Japanese military.

However, most of these very brief stories (most of them only a few paragraphs long) are very entertaining and some of them will even make the reader smile. This book also proves that "fake news" is nothing new and that “In war, truth is the first casualty.”

Weird war two is full of interesting and intriguing facts that even the most the most well researched historian may not know.
I like the way humour is worked into the book to take a edge off the darker stories. My favourite story is about a cat called Sam which survived three shipwrecks!

The formatting on kindle is good which is how I read this book. I also like the cover and just that the book is so interesting and entertaining.

I'm not sure why, but WW two has always held a certain odd fascination for me. I never had any grandpa's talk about it, nor any family members. Dan, "my other half" has always watched or read everything about this damn war. Truth is that Paul Harvey had a segment or two of strange stories and that may have been what done it. War is abominable. The war to end all wars, is a phrase that always rings in my mind. Soon after, it was the 2nd. So, quite honestly, "Im guessing" there just wasn't enough death and destruction to satisfy power hungry mother effers. Because Aryans? Hmm. Then conflicts, then.....Men and their mindless killing has been going on since the dawn of humankind. These stories were both amusing and terrible. Terrible because they shouldn't have happened at all. Still, somehow funny because in the midst of the horrible, sometimes funny happens. Maybe, just maybe that's what gets us through the bad.

My dad loved books about WW II so I was reluctant to read another one. But I do love the strangeness of history and the 'shit happens' aspect of real life,

I found this book really fascinating: the summary of the war in the beginning is really succinct and puts some of the things I thought I understood in a whole new light.
The chapters of short and direct; the writing is clear and accessible.

I ended up really enjoyed this book, the history and the really strange things that happened during the war. It did change what I thought I knew about the war. I recommend it to anyone who thinks they knew what happened in the world from 1938 on.

This is a short book with a wide range of diverse facts/stories from WW2 and the many participants in the conflict, and whilst so much is tragic, the main thrust here is to try and concentrate on the strange, weird, and often comic aspects that occurred. Denham admits that not all facts in the war are certain, whilst some facts are not what actually happened but what was reported to be so. Any war, and WW2 is no different, is a scenario where rumours proliferate, and as such were often used as a strategic tool as part of the war effort. For readers that are not familiar with the key pre-war and during WW2 events, a concise summary is provided by the author as a guide.

The elements of the book that made the most impression on me were those involving the use of animals. Animal lovers will be appalled at the deployment of antitank dogs, something that was particularly popular with the Russians who continued with the practice long after the end of the war. There were crazy ideas put forward like that by an American dentist of bat bombs, that were thankfully discarded, as indeed were cat bombs, explosive rats and more. One of the most helpful illusions that many will already be aware of is the American use of Ghost Armies, techniques and tactics used to give the impression to the Germans that huge numbers were being deployed as in the preparation for D-Day. This is an interesting book likely to appeal to history buffs, those with a special interest in WW2 and or those just drawn to the odd and the strange features of the war. Many thanks to Thistle Publishing for an ARC.

Weird War 2 by Richard Denham
I thought I knew a lot about WW2. After reading this book, I now know a lot more. Despite being a serious subject, the author does a fantastic job of highlighting and re-telling of some of the weird, zany, and bizarre stories to come out of this war. With a deft touch, the author switched between reminding the reader of the true horrors of war and the ridiculous rumours, half-truths, and mysteries emanating from this war.

There are too many individual stories to mention but I think my favourites were the aircraft carrier made from ice, the unsinkable cat, and the German Field-Marshal who was so fond of decorating himself with honours and medals it resulted in a joke: he was disturbed in his bedroom by his wife who asked what he was doing. The response: “Don’t worry darling, I’m just promoting my underpants to over pants.”

I have been trying to remind myself where and when I have read a similar style of book. At times, it read like an old-fashioned ‘boy’s own’ comic, enjoyable and light-hearted despite the serious backdrop.

It also reminded me of the type of book found in some people’s loos. One you could pick up from where you last left off and still enjoy it [the book].

Thank you to NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for a digital ARC of this book. All views are my own and there was no mandatory requirement for me to review it.

Thank you NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for the eARC.
A fascinating, quick read with some astonishing facts and stories (perhaps true, or embellished?) of WWII.
My father was in a German camp for most of the war and when rescued only weighed, at 6 feet tall, 98 pounds. He told me many stories, some horrendous, but, to my surprise, many funny ones. He said he never laughed so much as during his imprisonment, because he and his fellow inmates got up to some hilarious stunts. He said it was the only way to stave off despondency. The other thing that was amazing to me was that most of the men, upon their rescue, first asked for cigarettes instead of food!
This book is funny as well as sad, and makes you wonder 'what the heck were they thinking?!' The stories of the use of animals gave me the creeps, but the poor guy who kept getting shot in the butt made me laugh (guiltily). One can only shake one's head at the thought processes of the supposedly same men who came up with these ridiculous ideas...it beggars belief!
Highly recommended for history buffs and anyone interested in WWII, or just anyone who loves a great read.

Weird War 2 by Richard Denham is a look at the odd and experimental plans to gain the upper hand in the war. Aside from the curious, there are also some myths that are straightened out. Denham is the co-author of the popular 'Britannia' series with M. J. Trow. These books follow a group of soldiers and their descendants through the madness of a chain of events which will eventually lead to the fall of Roman Britain and the descent into the Dark Ages.

World War II was a conflict that killed well over 50 million people directly and many millions indirectly through displacement and famine. It is not a war that is associated with humor, but in hindsight, several programs that were taken seriously are now seen as almost comical. From sheep and cat bombs to antitank dogs there were a number of weaponized animal programs that failed miserably. There are also stories of actual products and event of the war from Fanta to Marines (not soldiers) raising the flag on Iwo Jima that are separated from their mythical in their origins. Other stories reflect heroes like the Navajo Code Talkers whose talk could not be decoded by the enemy and the allies own code breaker who was later charged as a homosexual.

Denham leads the reader through an improbable collection of stories and facts from World War II. Each item is only a page or two but provides enough information to explain the event or project. Are the stories true? There does seem to be enough supporting evidence although none of the stories are cited as the author claims there is still some disagreement among historians. Several of the stories I have had heard of before in my reading and history classes. Some, however, are very new to me. A fun look at out of the box thinking that accompanied WWII and the desire for a technological edge.

I ate this short collection of usually no more than two page forays into the bloodiest and yet weirdest wars on record. The Nazis were formidable but completely crazy and this short piece will reinforce that fact.

This book is for fun not research as there are not a lot of footnotes to fact check but it is very interesting!!!

The name (Weird War Two) is certainly appropriate for this book. Reading about the oddities that happened in World War II, is something that is likely to interest a WWII buff. There are some many oddities that are being reported, it reads a bit like “fake news” as some of the happenings are so extreme. Obviously the author has spent a lot of time researching and compiling the information. As a reader who generally likes to know more, the lack of any reference material is off-putting. It is understandable that this is not cited like a research paper but at the end of each short essay, it would have been very nice or even in an appendix. The length of the “chapters” is all very short – generally a page or two. If you are interested in reading about some of the oddities of the second world war, then this is the volume for you. The writing is conversational in nature and flows easily making reading a breeze. I would recommend the book for the war buff looking for some conversational anecdotes to share.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author's writing style and found the book easy to read. Denham covers some very unusual events and some quirky military inventions. He managed to find dark humour in the most unlikely places. However, from a military historians perspective, the book does not give detailed enough descriptions of the more bizarre facts of WW2. This did not detract from the read, and gave me a lot of ideas on areas to research in the future.

To be honest, I did not know that the war rumour machine was quite so powerful!

The introduction by MJ Trow, succinctly covered the timeline of virtually all the major events of the entire war. (Just one little niggle about the Battle of Britain, German Stukas were bombers not fighters!).

Looking forward to reading Weird War Two Part Two!

One of those books filled with zany facts and weird stories around the build up to and duration of World War II.
A wonderful introduction set it all in context so that the light humorous tales don’t diminish the horrors of this time of conflict and unimaginable deaths.
Some interesting subjects are covered and wider reading prior to this and items seen on TV are familiar. Most are crazy and incredible but demonstrate that sometimes only with the distance of time can they be understood.
I liked the speculation about why the public were allowed to or led to believe misleading information. At a time when much could be controlled the control of facts are fiction was vital for the war effort.
There is something for everyone here from the last Japanese soldier to surrender to the use of animals to gain an advantage.
Each subject has a brief summary and explanation under a title. Each title is presented in alphabetical order.
In passing it speaks clearly about Fascism being a strong factor in anti-Communist alliances and the reality of such views in Great Britain at the time of Hitler’s rise to power. It also has themes of appeasement and that America coming to our aid not a given.
I was also angered that our war debt to America was not repaid until long after the war ended.
Perhaps not a book to be read in one sitting but coffee table book to dip into; certainly an alternative to nothing on the box. The subjects here could raise some interesting conversations like Henry Ford was a fan of Mr Hitler - discuss!
Plenty here to relax you and get your brain going. From the role of secret weapons to spies.
A good addition to the stranger facts around this period, in comic tones but never belittling the sacrifice, loss or terrible events at this time.

Arc provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!


This is not an academic study; there is no bibliography or footnotes. The author himself states that there will be no reference to historical sources. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it. World War Two is such a heavy topic, we have a war that took nearly 50 million lives (civilian and military), cause so much heartache, destruction and really showed the worst of humanity.

With so many millions involved, the rumour machine went into overdrive, tall stories built on fear of the unknown. It’s full of strange anecdotes and facts that keep you reading onto the next one. Parachuting Sheep? Pilot Pigeons? Rifles that fire round corners? Men who never were? You will find them all here, the weird, wonderful and barely believable of World War Two.

I really enjoyed it and I think any history buff would find this a thrilling read as I did!

3.5 stars

Great book of strange facts and stories of WW 11. I have read other books about this, but I think think this is one of the best because there are facts included with the weird. I loved it. My husband who is a huge history buff had not heard about of most of these stories. So basically I read some of this book out loud so he could hear it. He plans to buy it so he can read the rest of it. There are many stories about Hitler and the Nazi's. They were sad and terrible. Balloon bombs and blow up dolls made me snicker a little. This book has so !much in it that you never knew but wish you had. Yes, I would totally buy it. I received this book from Net Galley and Thistle Publishing for a honest review and no compensation otherwise.

Thank you Thistle publishing for offering me this advanced copy of Weird War Two for review. Many books have been written about World War II and this book is not another book regurgitating the same material from different author's perspective. Needless to say WWII was gruesome with uncountable lives lost and psychological trauma suffered for years by those who survived. The echoes of this war was felt in all aspects be it economical, social, cultural, personal, political, psychological, and on and on the list goes. During those times of hardship and unbelievable tragedy there were some anecdotes and events that momentarily made you forget the suffering and made you laugh out loud. This book is a collection of such anecdotes and events that were too trivial to gain attention and were sidelined by past authors and scholars. Some are plain weird, some made you question the sanity of those leading this war and some are outright ridiculous. It is a quick read with each anecdote not more than a page and half in length. If you are a WWII historian or simple looking to get a better understanding of the mindset of those who lived during those times, pick up this book and have a good laugh and learn a thing or two along the way. You may need to do fact checking for yourself but hey, like I said this book is collection of ridiculous and borderline unbelievable anecdotes and events so who cares. about facts. Read anyways.

I liked this book. It was interesting and it didn't shy away from harrowing stories, even if this was written for more of a younger audience. The fact there were no sources is kind of odd to me, even if the author did explain why in the introduction, but I don't know. I'm one of those people that likes sources. As entertainment though, this was a good one. I learned some things I didn't know before and I did catch myself saying I'd 'read one more before I go to bed,' and end up reading about ten more facts. Overall a good book and I would recommend it. 3,5 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to Author/publisher for giving me an ARC.

True to each word in the title, after reading the book one cannot help but wonder how many weird things went during the war.

There is a good introduction so anyone who knows nothing about world war 2 will be able to read this and understand the context.

Fun quick read.

Weird War 2 is a collection of totally disparate facts from World War II that range from horrific to humorous, and from recognisable to strange. Most are aimed at being at least slightly weird, and it does reinforce the saying that “truth is stranger than fiction”. The stories cover all regions of conflict including the Western front, the Eastern front, North Africa and the Pacific.

It is remarkable how creative and innovative we become during times of war and how technology advances made during WWI and WWII haven’t happened at the same pace since. The slant of this book is that not all creative solutions were grounded in common sense. For example, tank dogs left with a payload of explosives to run under an enemy tank and explode but most returned to their owners killing more of them than the enemy. There are also plans to use cats, bats, rats and pigeons, and of course, there are always those myths around the Nazi gold, the supernatural, the occult and Sci-Fi advances.

One of the most touching stories is when a young British soldier Norman Turgel who was one of the first to enter the Bergen Belsen concentration camp and when he came across a young woman Gena, starving and in rags, he proclaimed that “This is the girl I’m going to marry”. They did marry and had a happy life with 3 children and she became known as the Bride of Belsen.

All the facts are coded with exclamation marks ranging from ! to !!!, which is an indication of how weird the fact is. !!! being the weirdest. What I found was that it is a useful book to read for a bit of fun but only for short spells. Reading it in a continuous flow, with such diverse information, made it distracting for me. It’s like a lot of encyclopaedic reference books, they are great and interesting to delve into for short periods but not as a read through.

If you love titbits of information you’ll love this book. My son loves to challenge me with little snippets of information. I have my revenge .

Many thanks to Thistle Publishing Limited and NetGalley for an ARC version of the book in return for an honest review.

Fascinatingly fun and informative. I felt like I learnt more from this than I have ever learnt. From the beginning saying how we have rose tinted glasses to those days and then the introduction I was hooked. It’s a subject that is relevant, recent and should be a reminder. This book gives a whole new view to the World War Two

If you are a WWII buff and love your history with a touch of humour and quirkiness, then this is for you. The number of madcap schemes, larger than life characters and tales that are fantastical are too numerous to mention. The stories are short and concise, inviting you to seek out more - and possibly, maybe, provide some with the inspiration for a fictional tome set in the period. This certainly validates that phrase that fact is much better than fiction!

There are many books about the World War II but Weird War 2 attempts something different. It’s a collection of weird facts, myths ; some known & some unknown, some amusing and disturbing, all from the World War II. It also has some interesting yet forgotten stories. At the very outset, the writer is honest to admit that not all the stories may be real and many don’t have any reference or source to back them. Having said that, it still is a very entertaining read.


This book can be broadly divided into different parts viz;
. Weird Facts: The Battle of LA (did the Japanese raid LA?), Allies & Germans fighting together, Hitler almost dying in WWI,Ghost Armies and various high profile disappearances & conspiracies.

• Nazi & Allied Super-weapons, Myths & Rumors: From V1 & V2 rockets to Ice ships, From anti tank Dog (which incidentally killed more dog trainers than enemies), Bat Bombs & Bat Soldiers, Search for Atlantis & weird Nazi experiments

But the highlight of the book for me were the stories about the bravery, sacrifice and kindness of some individuals, amidst the destruction of the war. Some of them like, A Japanese navy pilot who regretted bombing a US town, the story of The Stalingrad Symphony: holding of a musical performance in Stalingrad at the height of the Nazi siege, the Bride of Belsen, The Kindertransport project, the German priest who saved thousands of Jewish lives or the Russian female sniper were truly memorable. These are the stories that restore your faith in humanity and will stay with you long after you have read the book.

Each topic has a brief summary and the stories are short but well detailed . Overall this book is a superb collection of interesting facts & myths and if you are history buff you will find this entertaining & exciting to read.

Thank you NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for the ARC.

Very interesting read. These are amusing and informative stories. This is a very good historical read. My only problem with it is lack of references. I am a keen reader of historical books and I like to know that a lot of research has gone into them and that they are as accurate as possible.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Weird War 2 is a fascinating compendium of weird and wonderful stories from,amazingly enough,World War 2 by Richard Denham and M.J.Trow,whose contribution is a concise and thorough overview of the war and it's causes.
Not for the purist,there are no sources given and the author admits somewhat bizarrely that "Some of the facts are aren't necessarily what actually happened", it is however very interesting and often amusing..
I read it from cover to cover in a few hours but it's ideal as a book to "dip into." with it's brief chapters.
Thankfully amongst the more humorous, though not for the members of the animal kingdom concerned,things like Bat Bombs and anti-tank Dogs the book also tells of atrocities,bombings and some of the less savoury characters to remind readers that war might throw up amusing oddities but it's a truly awful thing that often brings out the worst in people.
An easy read that is also quite disturbing in places with M.J.Trow's brief history lesson at the beginning as good a WW" primer as you'll find anywhere.

I read WW2 fiction and non on a regular basis so I had heard of some of these 'facts'. I thought that the book was written well, and I particularly liked the very short snippets, nothing long and arduous.
I found some ridiculous, some eye brow raising, some incredibly sad, and some humbling. Some just didn't hold my attention, but due to the way the book is presented, you could just skip a page.
All in all a great read.
Thanks to Netgalley, Richard Dehham & M. J. Trow and Thistle publishing for the opportunity to read and review.

Weird War Two is a collection of amusing anecdotes and short stories from World War 2. There are tales that are too good to be true, then a few that are so hilarious that you want to laugh out loud, and then there are some which make your skin tingle with creepiness.

I love to read stories about the World Wars. I have watched almost every documentary on World Wars. The spike in production of military equipment, research to find the deadliest weapons and controlling not just people, but their breeding too, WW2 was the bloodiest war on record.

Concentration camps, Genocide, labor camps, and other war crimes; the Blitz attacks to Pearl Harbour to the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - it was evil at its best, or, should I say evil at its worst?

There are a lot of interesting myths and true stories mentioned in Weird War 2. I will list out a few that caught my interest.

Anti-Tank Dogs: Training Dogs to activate a bomb under a tank. Four dogs managed to activate the bomb tied to their neck below enemy tanks. While six dogs ran back to their trainers after activating the bomb tied to their neck!

Then came Bat Bombs and Bat Men. DC comics, anyone? Oh, wait, how can I not mention balloon bombs! World War also saw a steady rise in espionage - from hiding code words in newspaper advertisements (The Deadly Double Game) to pigeon carrier services.

Children's board games weren't spared either. Juden Raus, meaning Jews Out, and Bomber Over England were two such board games introduced in Germany. Then there was this German version of Captain America!

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of USSR in the midst of a cold and deadly Russian Winter. Blood Flag - the story behind the holy relic of The Third Reich was an interesting tidbit. The creepiest of them all was The Bitch of Buchenwald. Ilse Koch was married to an SS colonel, Karl Otto Koch. She is described as "a nymphomaniac with marked sadistic tendencies." She was obsessed with tattooed skin and had the skin of camp inmates removed from corpses and made into lampshades, gloves, and wallets. She was arrested after the fall of The Third Reich and it was said that the lampshades and gloves were made of animal skin.

Then there is Hitler the Carpet Chewer - Hitler was known for his temperament and Hitler the Carpet chewer was a hilarious account of Hitler's tantrums. There is also an interesting fact about The Bellamy Salute, also known as the Nazi Salute. Did you know that The Bellamy Salute was first introduced with the Pledge of Allegiance after the American Civil War?

There is also a heartfelt story about The Bride of Belsen - Gene Turgel was a survivor of the famous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. She's even shared a barracks with Anne Frank in Auschwitz. After the Liberation in April 1945, Americans and British soldiers freed people from concentration camps. A young British Soldier, Norman Turgel saw Gene and fell in love with her. Later on, they were happily married. Now, isn't that a happy ending to a gory war?

Yes, The Nazi Gold Train is also mentioned in the book. And so is the reason behind Coca-Cola starting another drink called Fanta. There are many more of such interesting and mind-blowing facts and stories in this book. Loaded with facts and stories, this is the best book that I have ever read in the genre of History.

Weird War 2 is an informative, fascinating, hilarious and brilliant book on World War 2. The author, Richard Denham's research and hard work is definitely praiseworthy. Thank you, David and Thistle Publishing for the recommendation. I ABSOLUTELY enjoyed reading this book.

This is the kind of history book that gets people interested in history. I found a lot of the information fascinating (i.e. the hydrogen balloons the Japanese used to bomb the West coast of the US, killing several - I’d never heard of that before!). I do wish that the information had been organized a bit better - for example, there were a decent amount of animal related facts that could have been put one after the other instead of interspersed throughout the book. There were a couple of typos (“for ever” should be “forever,” “Leutnant” should have been “Lieutenant,” etc.). I think reorganizing the book into proper sections could make an already good book greater. I would have liked more information about Japan, but understand that you have to be selective about what you do or don’t put in a book. I looked up a couple of the facts to see if they were accurate and it seems like the author did a good job of putting in accurate information while acknowledging that some may be myths. I really like the title of the book - I found it to be quite clever. There were many weird things mentioned in this book, but in a good way. If more of this kind of information was sprinkled in during history classes I think we’d have a better educated population due to increased interest.

Were you aware of the important role of animals during World War II? Most of us know the incredible story of the War Horses that were used – but how many of you knew that elephants were employed by the Allies to move rubble from the fields? Churchill sent apes to Gibraltar and dogs were airlifted in to search for the missing. These are just a few of the interesting and bizarre facts you will find in the latest publication by the Imperial War Museum in Great Britain.

Until recently, WWII was the longest running war in western civilization and with a war that long, there had to be interesting tales of ingenuity. Who knew so many of them would be this weird!? In a book filled with incredibly photographs taken from the files of the IWM’s artifact collection, Taylor gives us a glimpse into the more interesting, okay whacky, aspects of an otherwise horrific war.

These are just a few, very few, of the great, weird and fun facts included in this book. If you like history even a little bit or even terrific photo books, then you will love this book. I received an e-copy for review but, my gosh, I had to have my own copy to share with others. It’s just too marvelous. Besides, you will need to read it to find out why on earth Churchill sent apes to Gibraltar! Seriously.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #DavidHaviland at #ThistlePublishingCoUK for my copy of this fabulous book!

In Weird War 2, Richard Denham has collected in a single volume tidbits of strange, bizarre, and sometimes fictional facts from World War II. He labels the tidbits with exclamation marks (! for weird up to !!! for weirdest). After an informative introduction to the war by M. J. Trow, Denham opens the book with the Ahnenpass (ancestor passport) and wanders through the weird underbelly of the war to end up with XX Committee with stops for Sun Gun, the Leningrad Symphony, the iceberg aircraft carrier, and Edelweiss pirates. This is an easy book to dip into, skim through and enjoy in small bites. If you like weird facts, you are likely to find something to spark your interest inside.

It seems that there is no end to the publishing cottage industry that is books on World War Two. There are tomes and tomes brought out every year and one wonders whether one day we’ll reach saturation point - that there’ll be nothing left to say or the reading public will just get bored. I doubt we’re there yet as this title, Weird War Two is testament.

A collection of weird facts and stories from the second world, some more definitely concrete, some more myth, this is a very readable book that’s easy to dip into. To be sure nothing here is new as such, the author hasn’t trawled through recently released archives to discover some surprising and long buried revelation; nor has he interviewed elderly survivors of a previously unknown massacre (I don’t think he has at any rate). But he doesn’t claim to. Instead he has collected little known factoids, some amusing, some strange, some sinister, but all what might be described as a little weird (hence the title).

Despite the fact that I doubt any of it is new as such (and Googling a few examples that I didn’t know of, I wasn’t surprised to find they were indeed already known), it’s unlikely readers won’t learn something here. For an explanatory subtitle could well read: “little known and surprising facts of World War Two.” I doubt many know for example that the Russian strapped explosives to dogs trained to run under German tanks or that the Japanese tied bombs to balloons and then sent them on their way to the US west coast. Other ideas for bomb delivery included bats and cats (both of which in the end were never utilised).

It’s not just bombs that the author writes about. The Nazi’s obsession with the occult has been debated for decades – and has led to numerous appearances in mass entertainment, from Indiana Jones to Marvel’s Captain America – but whereas Hollywood might exaggerate the Nazi’s interest, what is known and revealed here is that Heydrich Himmler sponsored an exhibition to find the descendants of Atlantis. There are more sinister section two, aspects of the holocaust and the Nazi’s vicious anti-Semitism are dealt with, as is Unit 731, the Japanese military germ warfare department which murdered thousands of allied POWs in experiments. While the title and concept of this book might seem relatively light-hearted, I must credit the author with treating these aspects with the seriousness and sensitivity that they deserve and at no point does he treat the atrocities committed with flippancy.

As mentioned, Weird War Two is a compendium and each chapter are self-contained factoids. This makes it a perfect book for dipping in and out of. There are many deeper and more weighty tomes on the war but for a quick and easy read, and one that will teach even the most knowledgeable a thing or two, this is highly recommended.

History books generally give an overview of World War Two. Books specifically about the war go more in depth, but there are some strange events and battle plans that get left of all those books. Weird War 2 covers a selection of topics that prove fast can be stranger than fiction.

The book starts with a quick introduction to the war and the things that led up to it. Then, the weirdness is brought out of the annals of mostly untold history. All parties involved tried some odd tactics. From guns that fired around corners to dead rats stuffed with explosives, there were a lot of crazy ideas.

Richard Denham did a good job of keeping the book open to most people. It can be read by a wide range of ages, and it's easy to find interesting information no matter how much you know about WW2.

Millions lost their lives, and many more fought in the war. That's not something to laugh about, but there are things that happen in war that can be funny. Sometimes, humor can help those who are hurting get through the pain.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Quick and easy read about World War 2. Includes the myths, rumors and truth during that crazy time. This is an overview of the war. It does not get into the details of events. A great place to start looking at World War 2.

A fun little smorgasbord of vignettes telling tales of weird and wonderful coincidences and oddities that appeared during the Second World War. Easy to read, but with no real point other than diversion.

Weird War Two Strange Facts and Tales from the World's Weirdest Conflict is an interesting read. I give it four stars.

The war, though we dislike it quite a bit, is sometimes laughable, you must admit – A.P.Herbert Badogliovski.

I like to thank Thistle publishing for sending me a copy of Weird War 2 for reading and review. The book is around 166 pages and can be read in one day but reading a chapter a day is best method to remember most of the known and unknown events presented in the book.

The author Richard Denham in the start has provided a concise summary of pre war and World War 2 events which will familiarize the reader.

As I said earlier there are many events which will escape from our memory. Below are some from my memory.

The author mentions about the superweapons used by Nazi’s V1 (cruise missile) and V2 (worlds first long range guided ballistic missile)

The Weird War 2 book does not have only the gory and humorous side of war but also a heart touching story, chapter on Bride of Belsen, a British soldier during the end of the war entered the concentration camp in Bergen Belsen and he came across a skeletal woman named Gena, he told to himself that this is the girl he is going to marry. Later that soldier married her and they lived happily with three children. Gena is known as the Bride of Belsen.

A soldier who had the opportunity to kill Hitler in World War I and he did not pull the trigger as he felt pity on seeing the condition of injured Hitler. Later he regretted.

The humorous side of the book, Russians plan of using dogs to destroy the German tanks. The dogs fitted with explosives were sent to blow up, instead most of the dogs returned to the owner thereby killing the soldiers. An US invention of Bat bombs which did not go well according to the plan. Ghost armies, creating an illusion of assembling of armies with mock tanks and other arsenals to deceive Germany.

A weird fact that Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only person acknowledged by the Japanese government to have survived the nightmare of the atomic blasts of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And a Japanese soldier who did not know that the war has ended still fought the US for a decade and surrendered.

Another unknown event is after Germany surrender, the allies and the Germans fought together to capture one castle.

A good book for world war II buffs, to gain more info it is advisable to re-read the book.

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is the type of book that would be excellent when you want to read a couple of short snippets and then put it aside, It is filled with stories from all sides. As a student of the era, there were a few times when I may have disagreed with some of the facts but it is an easy read with lots of information.
Some of the stories do meet the “weird” factor but some just seem a bit odd. Perhaps part of my problem is many of the things discussed were things I knew already. So if you are looking for a weighty tome, this is not it.
If you are looking for a quick read that is entertaining, check it out. I give two paws up and four purrs.

Weird War Two by Richard Denham was received direct from the publisher. This book is a reprint as well, some people like to be certain of that. Weird war stories are subjective in that what is weird to one may be commonplace to another. While I was not in WW2, I have been part of most skirmishes since the-mid 1980’s, and have seen or heard of some weird stuff. This author has decided to write things as told, or as he believes them to be, leaving it up to the reader to believe the stories. The stories come fast and furious and I was quite surprised at the number of them. Some I had even heard of before. If you or someone you buy gifts for likes weird stories based on true events or is a World War Two fanatic, this may be a book to read.

4 Stars

This is a well-written bite-sized presentation of many unknown and bizarre ideas and events from the days of WW 2. It would be a valuable resource to stimulate jaded students interest in that otherwise grim period in world history. It at no point makes light of the war, but instead highlights the extremes people went to then. Some of these one-two page stories are even inspiring as the case of the Austrian officer who towards the war's end rescued allies from desperate Nazis' last ditch attempts to kill and imprison. A fun read all round. (N.B. There were some typos in the version I read, but these could be remedied with upcoming revisions.)

Having been raised with more first hand accounts from many sides of WW2, I have always found it interesting to hear a new side's account of the war. This one is the British view and as sad, entertaining, and strange as the rest. Any one interested in WW2 will enjoy this book. Loads of tales, none are verified as factual, but all are insightful and fascinating. Might make great gift for a WW2 vet! Wonderful collection! Gives another view of the war.

Facts and figures combine for a learned read that clearly demonstrates an author who takes his time and does his homework. Readable and informative, engaging and well-organized.

As someone who will be studying the Second World War in the next few months, I can tell you there are so many books on the subject, I will never get around to reading at least ten per cent of what is available. [book:Weird War Two: Strange Facts and Tales from the World's Weirdest Conflict|39709834] offers a different type of book for those readers who love strange little facts and anecdotes. At the beginning of the novel, the author makes it clear that all facts may not correct but I loved reading the book, I could not put it down.

A brilliant book- full of facts (dubious on some!) and weird stories from the war- from the Nazi party and the war they brought about. Fast paced I whizzed through it.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Thistle Publishing, and the authors, Richard Denham and M J Trow for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Weird War Two in exchange for and honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought the authors have written an intriguing and highly entertaining book pertaining to the second World War. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. If you are a history buff, I think you will too.

Weird War Two is a fascinating collection of mini stories about World War 2. Find out all about how the war started, what Hitler was attempting to do, the minds of some his Officers, which animals took part, spies, secret projects; combined with some funny stories in the mix. For example Britain had invented radar during the war but they did not want to tell the Germans as they could take them by surprise. Instead we told them that we ate lots of carrots, which helped us see in the dark and you know what? They bought it!

Hitler wanted to create an 'Aryan' race, where everyone was blonde hair and blue eyed. He hated Jews and planned to get rid of them all, by creating concentration camps, cities were bombed both sides, as well as strange ideas. Although the war was tragic, Richard brings to life the strangeness of World War 2, at time they had some really weird ideas that they thought would work, for example dogs and animals were used as suicide bombers. Of course they tried to train them to run back after they had set the bomb off but it was a hard thing to do.

The novel is not in any kind of order and  the chapters are short but sweet, however that is ok as it flows very well with the book.  It also means that if you want to take a break you can and it doesn't matter where you are as you can dip in and out easily. The book itself is very well written and it is obvious that the author Richard has done a lot of extensive research. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Weird World 2, as I have a fascination about the war and it was all very interesting.

If you love history or you are just interested in the second world war, then consider reading this book. Richard has bought this book to life with his intriguing stories and some may surprise you of course like this one  - Hitler actually saved a Jew and one soldier could have stopped the war by killing Hitler, however he didn't know it was Hitler at the time.

When I saw this title I just knew I had to pick it up, I already knew of some weird facts about WWII (a couple of which were in this book), but I was perfectly happy to add to my mental collection of odd facts. There were so many odd, and frankly unbelievable, rumours that spread around during this time, along with some very weird tactics used by both sides!

It's a very short book, and I don't want to spoil the oddities within, so there's not much that I can talk about here. However, I will say that it is an interesting and easy read. There are weird facts from multiple different countries from within both the Allies and Axis, some are sad, some are silly and some are just interesting. If you at all care about WWII or want to widen your knowledge about it then this would be a good one to pick up.

I gave this book 3/5 stars, thank you to NetGalley for an ecopy of this book in return for an unbiased and honest review.

As a reader for Netgalley, I was able to get a complimentary copy. However, I wish to provide an unbiased review of Richard Denham’s strange, unusual, but entertaining book on the 2nd World War.

As the title suggests this is a weird set of tales, exploring some of the myths and humorous tales from the war. Whilst we know “Johnny hates Jazz”, we now know that “Adolf hate’s Jazz as well!”, with over three hundred Swing Kids throughout Germany being arrested in 1941 for the privilege. Their punishments ranging from having their hair cropped to being sent to concentration camps!

So Richard’s book is certain to provide titbit’s of information that you will probably know nothing about, and some you will find hard to believe. The humour provided in this book would make it an ideal stocking filler or birthday present for a friend….Well recommended.

<i>Weird War Two</i> is a collection of anecdotes about the Second World War. They are sorted in alphabetical order and above each story you can find a representation of the weirdness factor, from one to three exclamation points.
Personally, I would have sorted the stories by this weirdness factor; ending the book with the most bizarre story the writer could find, but this was a pleasant way to read them and it will be easy to find a specific story when you want or need to.

History is a subject that I have always enjoyed, so this was right up my alley. Most of the stories were new to me and they all highlighted how we, as people living in a peaceful time, have no clue what living during a war and surviving during a war entails.
I especially liked the stories about deception. Trying to deceive your enemies seems like a difficult task, but some people clearly succeeded and had some spectacular stories to tell afterwards.

This makes for a very interesting read. There's a concise summary of the main events of the Second World War to set the scene, and then the author shares his discoveries about the oddities and weirdnesses that emerged during that time - inventions that didn't quite work, ideas that misfired, peculiar personalities. By poking a bit of fun here and there the author isn't denigrating this cataclysmic event that took so many millions of lives and destroyed families, homes and entire nations. It gives a glimpse of the human side, the indomitable spirit, the inventiveness and originality that are always there.
As the author himself says when discussing the Blitz, 'humour of course came to the rescue'. Looking at the lighter side of a world at war makes the whole conflict approachable. Too often we shy away from reading about horrific things that we know we should educate ourselves about but are reluctant to do so because of the upset it will cause. By focussing on the quirky and bizarre, the author encourages us to find out more about this epoch-changing event.
It's fascinating and very entertaining.