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.

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.

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.

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 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.

A collection of little-known facts about WWII?

I approached this tome with interest as many years ago my college thesis was based on the rise of the Third Reich. This book has no chronological order but is a collection of facts, some of which are interesting, others of which are already well known yet few of which are weird. To be frank, I found the foreword by M J Trow more readable than the main body of the text itself.

It’s a book for dipping into rather than reading straight through and would be useful as a stocking filler at Christmas for anyone with interest in military history. Each “chapter” consists of between 1 and 5 pages, so it’s hardly taxing to read. Unfortunately, as with all lists of this type, the facts which the reader already knows about are too long whereas the ones a reader finds interesting are far too truncated.

It’s a shame that one of the weirdest WWII facts plays no part in the book. There has for some time been enough doubt that Hitler and Eva Braun died in their Berlin bunker for this to be included as a highlight. Whether true or not its inclusion has as much validity as many of the other so-called facts mentioned.

It’s not a volume I shall be looking to in future, but some may find it vaguely interesting or amusing.

mr zorg

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review