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.

"Weird War 2" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Richard Denham. Mr. Denham has published seven books. 

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains some scenes of Violence. The book is a collection of short (one to two page) non-fiction stories about World War II. 

I spent an interesting 5 hours reading this 176-page book of strange non-fiction tales. I was hoping for more of the unusual. Unfortunately, I had heard most of the stories collected in this book before. This might be a good book for someone just getting interested in that period, particularly for a young adult because of the short story structure. The cover art is a good choice for this book. I give this book a 3.4 (rounded down to a 3) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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.)

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.

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.

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

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

Overall quite disappointing. Despite the book having potentially interesting, unknown facts, the writing style let it down. An imaginative, descriptive approach would have been more engaging. The author should refer to the Horrible Histories series of books.

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.

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.

Many thanks go to Richard Denham, Thistle, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. This was certainly a unique twist to a fact based WWII account. All major movers have tales to tell-Axis and Ally. Many of them seem way too kooky to really be true; some are awe inspiring. How he dug up these little tidbits I’ll never understand; that would have been nice to know. I think I would have liked it if they would have been organized somehow too. But this was a quick read and good for that rare trivia fact to pull out at a party.

A set of anecdotes, some very brief, about the Second World War. Not original and you'll have heard most of them already. The sort of thing you might read in a magazine at the barbers!!

This was an interesting book of many of the strange things tried in World War II. Some were successful and some not. Weird things one side or the other thought would work but did not always go anywhere. He covers all sides of the war and what was tried. Short articles so you can read at your own pace.

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.

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.

Ok with my son and husband so interested in WWII, this book seem to be the perfect fit to enjoy the topic with them. And this book is chock full of interesting tidbits of the war. As it is, it cannot be read in one sitting. Some are far-fetched and seem like rumors or myths that one stumbles upon during times of strife.

It's a fun read even though I can't believe the other stuff I read in there. I guess if the author wasn't trying to be...I don't know... cool or something or flippant...then I would take the book a bit more seriously.

Thank you NetGalley and Thistle publishing for a copy of the book.

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.

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.

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.