World War II Plans That Never Happened was an interesting and enjoyable read despite the fact that some were actually facts and others were opinions.

I liked it okay but didn't love it like I thought I would.

Not a linear book to read easily, although it is present in a chronological order during this conflict. It is a collection of all the schemes and plans previously classified and once given public access a researchers dream to learn more about the various operational decisions overtaken by events or dismissed. Some I have heard of but in the main these are the plans that never happened or ever heard of again. Until this book was commissioned with the idea of cataloging them all in some details. Casting an eye over them and analysing them and why they never saw this light of day or were rejected.
The problem with the book is that some are just ideas while others more detailed plans which were considered but the book tends to give equal time and effort to record them as similar common schemes.
I would have preferred fewer entries with a more detailed historical oversight; less being more.
Nearly every country was nearly invaded from Switzerland to Ireland and Australia to Japan. These were of note but others had similar mention but less strategic significance.
There are also chapters on various secret weapons, dirty war programmes with disease causing bombs and chemical agents. The secret work to deceive and spread misinformation.
I would have preferred the book to have chapters on the tactics and strategies needed in protracted conflict and used successful examples and why others were lost to history with comment and analysis on the balance of power or what might have tipped it against the allies. Clearly there were loose coalitions and fighting forces with different roles; political sway and the decision makers blunt even the best decisions and planning twelve new secret weapons when focusing on two could make more of a difference. One’s perception on how the war is going also makes some schemes into a desperate throws of the dice rather than a stepping stone to a winning objective.
The book is a good store of all the ridiculous and less credible ideas. It serves well that they are all in the same place but others books are needed to perhaps draw more meaningful lessons from history. Each chapter here has the potential for a longer specific book but I feel they have all been taken and written already. So it is like a list of clothes you didn’t buy, or pack and take on holiday. The jumper at home is only relevant to those where it gets unseasonably chilly at night.
A book that if I keep now just for reference purposes I fear I will not dip into again. But if I was to want to know more about Australians fears and efforts to counter the threat of a Japanese invasion the chapter would be worth reading again.