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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.