What do you think?
Rate this book
Major Blunders of the Second World War: New Insights into Mistakes and their Consequences
Examines notable blunders and errors of judgment during the Second World War, revealing their often embarrassing and contentious repercussions.
A mistake is an error of judgement, a blunder is a mistake caused by carelessness or ignorance, implying incompetence. Blunders are not always the result of incompetence; a chess player may give a critical piece away being distracted by noise, but in war it results in death with serious repercussions. This book explores such errors during the Second World War, some hardly known, a few contentious, many embarrassing.
An American destroyer which fired a live torpedo at a battleship carrying Roosevelt, an American officer who unintentionally passed British information to Rommel, and a German plane crash-landing in neutral territory with plans for invasion are some little-known incidents. Overconfidence resulted in a Luftwaffe raid hitting exposed American gas shells killing Italian civilians, British and American military. Self-assurance led to an American general who lost men and tanks failing to rescue his son-in-law from a PoW camp. Inadequate planning brought disaster in the raid on Dieppe. Poor tactics deployed in the bombing of Monte Cassino was bad propaganda for the Allies but assisted the German defense.
There are some issues which remain disputed, as with the British sinking the French Fleet, but whether it was a blunder remains questionable. There is the issue of the abdicated King Edward often accused of being a traitor, which may not have stood a court case but possibly a Judas caused by immature naivety. Finally, Dönitz was condemned at Nuremberg, but his U-boat warfare was no different from the Allies and at times almost chivalrous.
A mistake is an error of judgement, a blunder is a mistake caused by carelessness or ignorance, implying incompetence. Blunders are not always the result of incompetence; a chess player may give a critical piece away being distracted by noise, but in war it results in death with serious repercussions. This book explores such errors during the Second World War, some hardly known, a few contentious, many embarrassing.
An American destroyer which fired a live torpedo at a battleship carrying Roosevelt, an American officer who unintentionally passed British information to Rommel, and a German plane crash-landing in neutral territory with plans for invasion are some little-known incidents. Overconfidence resulted in a Luftwaffe raid hitting exposed American gas shells killing Italian civilians, British and American military. Self-assurance led to an American general who lost men and tanks failing to rescue his son-in-law from a PoW camp. Inadequate planning brought disaster in the raid on Dieppe. Poor tactics deployed in the bombing of Monte Cassino was bad propaganda for the Allies but assisted the German defense.
There are some issues which remain disputed, as with the British sinking the French Fleet, but whether it was a blunder remains questionable. There is the issue of the abdicated King Edward often accused of being a traitor, which may not have stood a court case but possibly a Judas caused by immature naivety. Finally, Dönitz was condemned at Nuremberg, but his U-boat warfare was no different from the Allies and at times almost chivalrous.
236 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 30, 2024
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 30, 2025
The word in the title is Blunders.However in the conclusion it is misjudgements.Therein lies the problem with this book.The first chapter contains some genuine blunders and is very interesting.The rest is downhill.The second chapter deals with the raid on Dieppe.Nothing new in this.
The third chapter is about Edward VIII.Difficult to see how he fits in herr.
The final chapter is about Doenitz,the U boat war and his trial.Nowhere near the books premise.
So really disappointing and first chapter apart a waste of time.
The third chapter is about Edward VIII.Difficult to see how he fits in herr.
The final chapter is about Doenitz,the U boat war and his trial.Nowhere near the books premise.
So really disappointing and first chapter apart a waste of time.
September 1, 2025
The title of the book really enticed me to purchase. However, very early on what jumped out at me was the way this book was written. Repeatedly throughout the chapters, facts were constantly repeated. Quite often the facts presented got lost in the way they were presented making it a constant point of frustration to the reader where I often had to go back over the text to try and understand what I was reading.
The chapters on Edward Windsor and Donitz didn’t really fit the theme of the subject matter. Windsor’s chapter was way too long as well, making the book a tedious read.
The chapters on Edward Windsor and Donitz didn’t really fit the theme of the subject matter. Windsor’s chapter was way too long as well, making the book a tedious read.
August 13, 2025
A very informative and interesting account of several of the blunders and
mistakes of the Second World War .I had heard about a couple of them but not so
well documented as in this book .A great read for any war history buffs.
mistakes of the Second World War .I had heard about a couple of them but not so
well documented as in this book .A great read for any war history buffs.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews