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Weirder War Two: More Strange Facts, Unsolved Mysteries and Tall Tales from the Second World War
Did a Warner Bros. cartoon prophesize the use of the atom bomb? Did the Allies really plan to use stink bombs on the enemy? Why did the Nazis make their own version of Titanic and why were polar bear photographs appearing throughout Europe? The Second World War was the bloodiest of all wars. Mass armies of men trudged, flew or rode from battlefields as far away as North Africa to central Europe, from India to Burma, from the Philippines to the borders of Japan. It saw the first aircraft carrier sea battle, and the indiscriminate use of terror against civilian populations in ways not seen since the Thirty Years War. Nuclear and incendiary bombs erased entire cities. V weapons brought new horror from the the V1 with their hideous grumbling engines, the V2 with sudden, unexpected death. People were systematically in Britain food had to be rationed because of the stranglehold of U-Boats, while in Holland the German blockage of food and fuel saw 30,000 die of starvation in the winter of 1944/5. It was a catastrophe for millions. At a time of such enormous crisis, scientists sought ever more inventive weapons, or devices to help halt the war. Civilians were involved as never before, with women taking up new trades, proving themselves as capable as their male predecessors whether in the factories or the fields. The stories in this book are of courage, of ingenuity, of hilarity in some cases, or of great sadness, but they are all thought-provoking - and rather weird. So whether you are interested in the last Polish cavalry charge, the Blackout Ripper, Dada, or Ghandi’s attempt to stop the bloodshed, welcome to the Weirder War Two!
296 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2019
23 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Richard Denham
36 books103 followersRichard 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. His other works include 'Arthur: Shadow of a God', exploring the obscure Celtic origins of King Arthur.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 16, 2019
Curiouser
Weirder War Two: More Strange Facts, Unsolved Mysteries and Tall Tales from the Second World War is a continuation from the first book with 101 new facts and tales. ‘Weirder’ is a useful term for the follow-on book, but the truth is, the stories are less weird, but still very interesting. The snippets are more informational as they feed into what we already know of many of the situations. The same coding with exclamation marks ranging from ! to !!!, is used, which is an indication of how weird the fact is - !!! being the weirdest.
One of the most iconic events of Nazi Germany prior to the outbreak of WWII was the Berlin Olympics. The games were a political football, especially between the US and Germany. It’s a Games that is famous for Jesse Owens winning 4 gold medals. The apparent slight from Hitler didn’t happen and in fact, the German people applauded Owens’ achievements and Hitler was noted for waving at him in applause. The Owens family compared the accolades the German people bestowed on Jesse to the discrimination back in the US where President Roosevelt received the white athletes from the games but did not invite Jesse to the White House. Owens also had to enter his own celebration through the hotel back door as blacks weren’t allowed to enter from the front.
Hitler believed he was guided by divine providence and many events reinforced that belief including the 30+ attempts on his life. In the end, it was only by his own hand that he died – allegedly. Maybe he’s still alive, living with Elvis.
Animals, particularly dogs, have always played an important place alongside their human companions in times of need. Their loyalty in war is monumental and many stories exist as to their bravery and selflessness. Several exist in this book. Judy and Chips both dogs and G.I. Joe the pigeon, all received the Dickin Medal for courage and endurance. They saved thousands of lives.
In the heat of battle, we see heroism, gallantry and valour that shines like a beacon reminding mankind that humanity hasn’t disappeared. One of my favourite stories is when a German Luftwaffe pilot, Franz Stigler came across a badly damaged B-17 Bomber after a bombing raid on Dresden, with no navigation and flown by pilot Charlie Brown, Stigler escorted it back towards England. Neither crew spoke about it again for fear of it becoming known by the respective authorities. By chance, they came across each other 40 years later and remained great friends until they both died in 2008.
I would recommend reading this collection of stories as it gives us insights into some of the weird, mysterious and intriguing moments during a world at war, especially if you enjoy compelling titbits of rare insights. There are some fascinating tales of unbelievable and almost impossible things.
Weirder War Two: More Strange Facts, Unsolved Mysteries and Tall Tales from the Second World War is a continuation from the first book with 101 new facts and tales. ‘Weirder’ is a useful term for the follow-on book, but the truth is, the stories are less weird, but still very interesting. The snippets are more informational as they feed into what we already know of many of the situations. The same coding with exclamation marks ranging from ! to !!!, is used, which is an indication of how weird the fact is - !!! being the weirdest.
One of the most iconic events of Nazi Germany prior to the outbreak of WWII was the Berlin Olympics. The games were a political football, especially between the US and Germany. It’s a Games that is famous for Jesse Owens winning 4 gold medals. The apparent slight from Hitler didn’t happen and in fact, the German people applauded Owens’ achievements and Hitler was noted for waving at him in applause. The Owens family compared the accolades the German people bestowed on Jesse to the discrimination back in the US where President Roosevelt received the white athletes from the games but did not invite Jesse to the White House. Owens also had to enter his own celebration through the hotel back door as blacks weren’t allowed to enter from the front.
Hitler believed he was guided by divine providence and many events reinforced that belief including the 30+ attempts on his life. In the end, it was only by his own hand that he died – allegedly. Maybe he’s still alive, living with Elvis.
Animals, particularly dogs, have always played an important place alongside their human companions in times of need. Their loyalty in war is monumental and many stories exist as to their bravery and selflessness. Several exist in this book. Judy and Chips both dogs and G.I. Joe the pigeon, all received the Dickin Medal for courage and endurance. They saved thousands of lives.
In the heat of battle, we see heroism, gallantry and valour that shines like a beacon reminding mankind that humanity hasn’t disappeared. One of my favourite stories is when a German Luftwaffe pilot, Franz Stigler came across a badly damaged B-17 Bomber after a bombing raid on Dresden, with no navigation and flown by pilot Charlie Brown, Stigler escorted it back towards England. Neither crew spoke about it again for fear of it becoming known by the respective authorities. By chance, they came across each other 40 years later and remained great friends until they both died in 2008.
I would recommend reading this collection of stories as it gives us insights into some of the weird, mysterious and intriguing moments during a world at war, especially if you enjoy compelling titbits of rare insights. There are some fascinating tales of unbelievable and almost impossible things.
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” - Lewis Carroll
June 17, 2019
Another very interesting book in this series about odd things happening involving people and places in World War II. There's a Jewish group that plans a mass killing, some dogs who went to war, and the Berlin Olympics with Jesse Owens and what really happened between him and Hitler.
FDR is shown to be a racist; there's the 'Blitz Spirit,' the 'Blackout Ripper,' and the Reich's bride schools. Not enough odd things yet? Try the British Pet Massacre, death rays and an exorcism attempt on Hitler and Stalin.
Who was the original G.I. Joe? A B-17 that lands itself. Stench liquid. A fighting duck. The origin of the swastika.
One of the most interesting things to me were the the section about Flight 19 (either a case of lack of training leading to a disaster or a Bermuda Triangle mystery).
However, there is something to consider here. There's a lot of stuff discussed that the Nazi's did and it can be very upsetting. Add disgusting and inhuman to that. There's a lot of guys that were involved in that and were never punished for the beyond-horrible things that they did to people.
FDR is shown to be a racist; there's the 'Blitz Spirit,' the 'Blackout Ripper,' and the Reich's bride schools. Not enough odd things yet? Try the British Pet Massacre, death rays and an exorcism attempt on Hitler and Stalin.
Who was the original G.I. Joe? A B-17 that lands itself. Stench liquid. A fighting duck. The origin of the swastika.
One of the most interesting things to me were the the section about Flight 19 (either a case of lack of training leading to a disaster or a Bermuda Triangle mystery).
However, there is something to consider here. There's a lot of stuff discussed that the Nazi's did and it can be very upsetting. Add disgusting and inhuman to that. There's a lot of guys that were involved in that and were never punished for the beyond-horrible things that they did to people.
July 1, 2019
I really enjoyed this! it does what it says on the tin... if you know what I mean. It is the second world war, and it is weird. I knew a few of the stories (i like history) but a lot i had never heard before. Check it out people! Really quite strange... in a good way!
***** 5 Stars
***** 5 Stars
June 17, 2019
Fascinating bite sized snippets around the darkest er of the 29th century
Having read extensively about the major events of Second World War this book is interesting in recalling forgotten moments and people’s from that tragic episode in our history
Having read extensively about the major events of Second World War this book is interesting in recalling forgotten moments and people’s from that tragic episode in our history
October 2, 2019
This is the second collection by the authors of weird stories gleaned from the events of the Second World War. Their first collection, Weird War Two, was published in 2018, and this title follows the same format: small chapters that outline a curious fact or tale. The second book doesn’t follow on from the first, it’s not imperative to have read the first title at all, and both can be enjoyed separately.
Like its predecessor, Weirder War Two doesn’t break new ground in the sense of revealing anything new. The authors have not spent hours studying archives or prising documents from governments through FOIA. But that is not what they set out to do and it’s not the value of this book. Rather, both titles seek to introduce the reader to little known, and yet fascinating, stories. Readers are then free if they like to search out more information on any they might be interested in.
A good example of this is the first story in the title, The Avengers, which details the efforts of Jewish resistance fighters and vigilantes to avenge the holocaust by killing Nazis after the war. The chapter gives a good overview, including recounting the plot to poison Nazi prisoners held in an American POW camp near Nuremberg. If anyone reading this wants to know more they can soon find books that cover the story in more detail (such as the excellent history of Israel’s targeted killings, Rise and Kill First. Written by the Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, while it mostly focuses on assassination by Mossad and other Israeli intelligence services and special forces, early chapters focus on The Avengers and similar groups). But that said, the overview in Weirder War Two is a good and concise introduction to the topic.
As with its predecessor, Weirder War Two contains a variety of topics that run the full gamut of the Second World War. Some are funny, some ridiculous, some fascinating, some heartrending, and some horrific. Bamse the Dog and Wojtek the Bear are heartwarming stories of animals that were adopted by fighting units and became mascots to their men. But I challenge anyone to read The Shrunken Heads of Buchenwald and not feel nauseous.
There are many chapters that span the emotions between these two extremes, but it is perhaps tales like the latter, challenging though they are to read, that explains the enduring fascination of World War 2. No conflict before or since has produced so many books. Even the first world war, which rivalled the second in its carnage, has failed to produce the weight of pages dedicated to its chronicling. There’s a sentence in the chapter on The Shrunken Heads of Buchenwald that I think explains this: “A civilised western nation, a Christian state, had experimented and shrunk a man’s head.”
While this sentence refers to the moral outrage the Nazi’s atrocities provoked, it speaks to the second world war as a whole. That a modern nation such as Germany had fallen into the grip of utter psychotic insanity is something the world is still trying to explain. All the tales in this book arise from that insanity - the heartwarming to the horrific - they all occurred due to that mass psychosis.
In conclusion, like the authors’ previous outing, Weirder War Two is a fascinating collection. It’s the kind of book you can dip into, and no matter one’s knowledge of the conflict readers are sure to find something surprising among its pages.
Like its predecessor, Weirder War Two doesn’t break new ground in the sense of revealing anything new. The authors have not spent hours studying archives or prising documents from governments through FOIA. But that is not what they set out to do and it’s not the value of this book. Rather, both titles seek to introduce the reader to little known, and yet fascinating, stories. Readers are then free if they like to search out more information on any they might be interested in.
A good example of this is the first story in the title, The Avengers, which details the efforts of Jewish resistance fighters and vigilantes to avenge the holocaust by killing Nazis after the war. The chapter gives a good overview, including recounting the plot to poison Nazi prisoners held in an American POW camp near Nuremberg. If anyone reading this wants to know more they can soon find books that cover the story in more detail (such as the excellent history of Israel’s targeted killings, Rise and Kill First. Written by the Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, while it mostly focuses on assassination by Mossad and other Israeli intelligence services and special forces, early chapters focus on The Avengers and similar groups). But that said, the overview in Weirder War Two is a good and concise introduction to the topic.
As with its predecessor, Weirder War Two contains a variety of topics that run the full gamut of the Second World War. Some are funny, some ridiculous, some fascinating, some heartrending, and some horrific. Bamse the Dog and Wojtek the Bear are heartwarming stories of animals that were adopted by fighting units and became mascots to their men. But I challenge anyone to read The Shrunken Heads of Buchenwald and not feel nauseous.
There are many chapters that span the emotions between these two extremes, but it is perhaps tales like the latter, challenging though they are to read, that explains the enduring fascination of World War 2. No conflict before or since has produced so many books. Even the first world war, which rivalled the second in its carnage, has failed to produce the weight of pages dedicated to its chronicling. There’s a sentence in the chapter on The Shrunken Heads of Buchenwald that I think explains this: “A civilised western nation, a Christian state, had experimented and shrunk a man’s head.”
While this sentence refers to the moral outrage the Nazi’s atrocities provoked, it speaks to the second world war as a whole. That a modern nation such as Germany had fallen into the grip of utter psychotic insanity is something the world is still trying to explain. All the tales in this book arise from that insanity - the heartwarming to the horrific - they all occurred due to that mass psychosis.
In conclusion, like the authors’ previous outing, Weirder War Two is a fascinating collection. It’s the kind of book you can dip into, and no matter one’s knowledge of the conflict readers are sure to find something surprising among its pages.
Read
October 31, 2019This is a follow-up to Weird War Two which I reviewed back in 2016. I enjoyed that, so the authors sent me a copy of this one to see what I made of it.
The short answer is that it is remarkably similar to the first one. I had thought that they might be scraping the bottom of the barrel, having used up all the best stories, but it turns out that besides killing millions of people, destroying many of the great cities of Western Europe, and wreaking economic havoc on an unprecedented scale, World War II provided an almost endless source of unlikely yarns.
There are stories of great heroism, some of which deserve to be better known. The defiance of those Jews who fled to the woods and raised guerrilla forces against the Nazis is not remembered as it should be.
There are, inevitably, stories of animals that fought alongside the troops – the most unlikely being a bear that fought with the Free Poles. More tragically there is the account of how hundreds of thousands of pets were put down, ostensibly to aid the British war effort.
There are one or two stories that I have never heard before, but which ring horribly true. The fact that Jesse Owens was not insulted by Hitler, but was refused a place at the White House reception for victors is quite shocking. Some other stories, though, are definitely not true. I really want to believe that Polish cavalry charged a German armoured column, but I have met historians who have traced this one down to the misreporting of an incident witnessed by an Italian newspaper correspondent. It should be true, but sadly it isn’t.
There are stories of criminals sheltering in the London blackout and German frauleins being taught how to make an SS husband happy (and no, sex was very definitely not on the curriculum). Anything that is even loosely associated with the war seems to be grist for the authors’ mill.
As with the first book, this one adopts a remorseless “factoid” approach that is well suited to the interests of the Internet generation. It’s designed to be dipped in and out of, but it’s easy to read much more at a time than you meant to.
There are occasional references to sources that have more information, but generally there is an absence of footnotes and you have to take much of what you read on trust. This isn’t a “serious” book about the war but rather, like the BBC, something that seeks to educate, inform, and entertain at the same time. On the whole I think it does this rather well.
The short answer is that it is remarkably similar to the first one. I had thought that they might be scraping the bottom of the barrel, having used up all the best stories, but it turns out that besides killing millions of people, destroying many of the great cities of Western Europe, and wreaking economic havoc on an unprecedented scale, World War II provided an almost endless source of unlikely yarns.
There are stories of great heroism, some of which deserve to be better known. The defiance of those Jews who fled to the woods and raised guerrilla forces against the Nazis is not remembered as it should be.
There are, inevitably, stories of animals that fought alongside the troops – the most unlikely being a bear that fought with the Free Poles. More tragically there is the account of how hundreds of thousands of pets were put down, ostensibly to aid the British war effort.
There are one or two stories that I have never heard before, but which ring horribly true. The fact that Jesse Owens was not insulted by Hitler, but was refused a place at the White House reception for victors is quite shocking. Some other stories, though, are definitely not true. I really want to believe that Polish cavalry charged a German armoured column, but I have met historians who have traced this one down to the misreporting of an incident witnessed by an Italian newspaper correspondent. It should be true, but sadly it isn’t.
There are stories of criminals sheltering in the London blackout and German frauleins being taught how to make an SS husband happy (and no, sex was very definitely not on the curriculum). Anything that is even loosely associated with the war seems to be grist for the authors’ mill.
As with the first book, this one adopts a remorseless “factoid” approach that is well suited to the interests of the Internet generation. It’s designed to be dipped in and out of, but it’s easy to read much more at a time than you meant to.
There are occasional references to sources that have more information, but generally there is an absence of footnotes and you have to take much of what you read on trust. This isn’t a “serious” book about the war but rather, like the BBC, something that seeks to educate, inform, and entertain at the same time. On the whole I think it does this rather well.
July 1, 2019
What an interesting and thought provoking title. The subtitle sums up this book, strange facts, unsolved mysteries and tall tales. What I found most interesting about this is that a human brain likes things to be neat, so that X are the good guys and Y are the bad guys and we know what did and didn't happen. This book throws that notion out the window and explains what a complex and entangled web the world of WW2 politics really was and how little we can actually be certain of.
The book is divided into small chapters with each chapter being its own 'fact' of between 1 - 6 pages or so. The authors do tend to repeat themselves slightly but this is not a problem as they are treating each fact as standalone and introducing the context of it.
There are lots about the war that I didn't know, which is remarkable considering it all happened over 70 years ago but for me the most memorable and moving ones were the stories of self-sacrifice and the quiet heroes such as 'The Midwife of Auschwitz' who worked in the hellish atmosphere of the camps maternity ward; 'Mr Doktor' who chose to go to certain death with his orphans and Nicholas Winton, who took it upon himself to save hundreds of children rather than indulge in a skiing holiday.
Highly recommended for fans of WW2 facts or those who just like weird and wonderful facts.
The book is divided into small chapters with each chapter being its own 'fact' of between 1 - 6 pages or so. The authors do tend to repeat themselves slightly but this is not a problem as they are treating each fact as standalone and introducing the context of it.
There are lots about the war that I didn't know, which is remarkable considering it all happened over 70 years ago but for me the most memorable and moving ones were the stories of self-sacrifice and the quiet heroes such as 'The Midwife of Auschwitz' who worked in the hellish atmosphere of the camps maternity ward; 'Mr Doktor' who chose to go to certain death with his orphans and Nicholas Winton, who took it upon himself to save hundreds of children rather than indulge in a skiing holiday.
Highly recommended for fans of WW2 facts or those who just like weird and wonderful facts.
October 26, 2023
The stories are short and in alphabetical order, which can cause a bit of whiplash. They range from horrific to heartwarming, a few are funny, and there was a surprising amount of stories about animals. All of them were pretty interesting.
May 22, 2023
Trivial trivia.
August 11, 2019
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Weirder War Two explores the strange, but true, stories from WWII that most people haven’t heard of before. It’s the second book by the author covering these types of stories. There’s the story of the German fighter that escorted an English plane back to England to safety. There’s the story of the atom bomb being shown in a cartoon before the public knew about it. There’s also the story of the murder spree that happened during the blackouts. Some of my favorite stories were about the dogs and how they helped people. With more than 90 stories, my only wish is that the stories had been grouped by topic rather than arranged in alphabetical order. I really enjoyed learning more about history through this book, though.
April 5, 2020
Loved this
What a brilliant book. It is filled with fascinating stories, some quite harrowing. It's proof that sometimes real life is stranger than fiction.
Highly recommended.
What a brilliant book. It is filled with fascinating stories, some quite harrowing. It's proof that sometimes real life is stranger than fiction.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews