Weirdest War Two: Extraordinary Tales and Unbelievable Facts from the Second World War


Book Description

Was Britain's Thermopylae really fought over a tennis court? What happened in Canada during the invasion of Winnipeg? How did the Night Witches terrify and torment the Axis? Was Hitler actually sent to spy on the Nazis by the army? Who was the schoolgirl who helped win the Battle of Britain? Truth, they say, is the first casualty of war. You will have to decide how many such casualties occur in this book, the third in the Weird War series. Amber rooms worth a fortune, the spear that pierced Christ's side, deadly female snipers and Lucille Ball's spooky teeth, it's all here for the discerning buff of 1939-45. Whether it's official Nazi propaganda dreamed up by Josef Goebbel's Ministry of Enlightenment or the 'scuttlebutt' of the US navy; tall stories from the officers' mess or attempts to escape from the grim reality of total war, the Second World War provides a fascinating glimpse into the mindset and ingenuity of a generation. Have we now exhausted our supply of weirdness? With new information coming to light all the time from the classified archives in the corridors of power, we wouldn't bet on it!




Weirdest War Two: Extraordinary Tales and Unbelievable Facts from the Second World War


Book Description

Was Britain's Thermopylae really fought over a tennis court? What happened in Canada during the invasion of Winnipeg? How did the Night Witches terrify and torment the Axis? Was Hitler actually sent to spy on the Nazis by the army? Who was the schoolgirl who helped win the Battle of Britain? Truth, they say, is the first casualty of war. You will have to decide how many such casualties occur in this book, the third in the Weird War series. Amber rooms worth a fortune, the spear that pierced Christ's side, deadly female snipers and Lucille Ball's spooky teeth, it's all here for the discerning buff of 1939-45. Whether it's official Nazi propaganda dreamed up by Josef Goebbel's Ministry of Enlightenment or the 'scuttlebutt' of the US navy; tall stories from the officers' mess or attempts to escape from the grim reality of total war, the Second World War provides a fascinating glimpse into the mindset and ingenuity of a generation. Have we now exhausted our supply of weirdness? With new information coming to light all the time from the classified archives in the corridors of power, we wouldn't bet on it!




Moon Rising


Book Description

Book twelve in the Kit Marlowe series. May 1593. The rumour spreading around London like wildfire is that Kit Marlowe, playwright, poet and government agent, is dead; killed, men say, in a tavern brawl. But can it be true? And is it that simple? A Puritan stranger turns up at the Rose theatre in Southwark bearing somewhat of a resemblance to the man of fire and air. Is it a trick of the light? Is it a ghost? Or has Kit Marlowe really cheated death and is he now out for revenge on those who tried to kill him? From the highest in the land, in the Whitehall corridors of power, to the lowlife of the Smock Alleys, everyone is a target as the dead poet hunts down the men responsible. Moon Rising sees the welcome return of the queen's most enigmatic spy, the Muse's darling, who doesn't let a little thing like death stand in his way.




The Ultimate World War Two Trivia Book: Unbelievable Facts, Extraordinary Accounts and Tall Tales from the Second World War


Book Description

The Second World War ended over seventy-five years ago and yet it holds a lasting fascination for millions. Most school children worldwide have studied it but it is unlikely that they would have learned any of the fascinating facts to be found in The Ultimate World War Two Trivia Book. Funny, heart-breaking and downright borderline unbelievable, the snippets in this book are perfect for dropping into conversations to amaze and amuse your friends. You might also find yourself becoming the king or queen of the pub trivia quiz when you have knowledge of Winkie the Pigeon, the Battle of the Tennis Court and the Bee Bombs of Prester John. One thing to be careful of - never, ever lend this book to anyone; it is totally addictive and you will never see it again! Many books of trivia push the envelope and the facts inside can't be trusted. This is not something to worry about with The Ultimate World War Two Trivia Book because it comes from the pens of Richard Denham (Robin Hood: English Outlaw and Arthur: Shadow of a God) and M. J. Trow (The Black Book and Enemies of the State). Just because a fact sounds unlikely doesn't mean it isn't true and you can amaze your friends and colleagues as well as clean up at the Dog and Duck by memorizing absolutely any of these facts, presented in short snippets for either devouring all at once or for browsing in the loo. Complete with a whistle-stop tour of the causes, course and consequences of the war by M. J. Trow who, to quote a recent reviewer could 'make a shopping list interesting', this book is a quick way to learn more than you ever thought there was to know about the weird and wonderful side of World War Two.




Weird War Two: Strange Facts and Tales from the World's Weirdest Conflict


Book Description

Welcome to the wonderfully weird World War Two... The Second World War is the bloodiest on record. It was the first total war in history when civilians; men, women and children were in the front line as never before. With so many millions involved, the rumour machine went into overdrive, tall stories built on fear of the unknown. With so much at stake, boffins battled with each other to build ever more bizarre weapons to out-gun the enemy. Nazi Germany alone had so many government-orchestrated foibles that they would be funny if they were not so tragic. Parachuting sheep? Pilot pigeons? Rifles that fire round corners? Men who never were? You will find them all in these pages, the weird, wonderful and barely believable of World War Two




Strange and Obscure Stories of World War II


Book Description

Here are overlooked or forgotten tales from the world's greatest conflict. These are stories of courage, daring, and stupidity, some of which would challenge the imaginations of Hollywood scriptwriters. Some of the many true tales that author Donald Aines recounts include: • He would never be cast as a dashing war hero, but a cast member of "The Addams Family" television show volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs the Army Air Force had to offer. • The US Navy's deadliest submarine claimed an unexpected victim with its last torpedo, and led to one of the war's most harrowing tales of survival. • Bob Hoover's escape from a German stalag would have made a great movie. • British commando "Mad Jack" Churchill earned his nickname, arming himself to fight a 20th century war with a 15th century attitude and weapons. • The Germans and Japanese wasted precious resources developing weapons more dangerous to the users than their enemies. • The GI who stole the voices of his victims, and other Allied and Axis serial killers. Within the pages of Strange and Obscure Stories of World War II,the reality of war trumps fiction.




The World War 2 Trivia Book


Book Description

When was the last time someone around you brought up World War Two? It's a pretty popular war. Maybe you heard about it yesterday. Maybe last month. But it was probably recent. And when it came up, did you wish that you could be the one to casually drop a fact that would have everyone in the room going, "Wow, I never knew that!" With this book, you can be that person. You can read it in just a few minutes a day. Chapters are bite-sized and easy to read, meant for normal people instead of war historians! Each chapter ends with a bonus helping of trivia and some quick questions to test your knowledge. You'll zoom through this book and be hungry for more. Get ready to impress your friends with your knowledge - not just of the main events of World War Two, but of all the gritty details and weird true facts. By the time you finish this book, you'll have a fact for every occasion, from the first moment someone thought about having a second World War, to the most recent blockbuster movies about it. So get ready to meet characters from Adolf Hitler, rejected art student, to Jack Churchill, the broadsword-swinging male model. Find out why World War Two started in the first place, and why it's never a good idea to invade Russia in winter. Learn why the United States was going to stay out of the war, how Canadians stole airplanes for the British, and what an orange soft drink has to do with the Nazis. Some of the things you're going to learn are sad. Some are scary. Some are sexy. And some are downright strange! It's everything your history teacher never got around to telling you.




German Military Intelligence


Book Description

Seldom can the true history of a secret service be revealed but the total collapse of Nazi Germany provided the opportunity and Dr. Paul Leverkuehn has taken it. He was himself a senior member of the Abwehr, Germany's Military Intelligence Service, and one of Admiral Canaris's trusted collaborators. He has sought out some of the most important survivors of the Abwehr, and in this book we have their stories as well as his own. During the war the author was chief of German espionage in Turkey and the Near East and he describes the elaborate intrigues with the Mufti of Jerusalem and Rashid Ali, the Iraqi Prime Minister, whom he smuggled out of Turkey disguised as a German journalist. He tells many other fascinating stories of the Abwehr: that of the man who sailed an agent 14,000 miles to operate against the British in South Africa; of the men who organized the 'Brandenburg Commandos' who operated far behind the Russian lines in enemy uniform; of the mysterious Klatt, who claimed to be in contact with a radio operator inside the Kremlin; of the unmasking of the great Soviet spy organization the Rote Kapelle, which functioned inside the German Air Ministry. He also throws interesting light on the German's use of nationalist minorities; the intrigues with the Flemish nationalists in Belgium; the negotiations with the I.R.A. in Ireland; and the recruitment of Ukrainians against Russia. This book is the first authoritative account of the German Military Service and in important contribution to the history of the Second World War. Print ed.




1,000 Amazing Weird Facts


Book Description

A jaw-dropping collection of incredible facts about our weird and wonderful world The bizarre beasts, incredible places, and peculiar phenomena featured in this mind-blowing compendium are not just really weird - they're really real. This wacky book explores our world's most exciting oddities. Did you know there's a plant that eats mice? Or that you can dip your toe in a rainbow-colored river? From fiery tornadoes flying across the sky to huge sinkholes eating up the earth, each example is illustrated with jaw-dropping images and handy fast facts that provide the explanations behind the stories. Whether it's geography, people, places, animals, plants, or weather, 1,000 Amazing Weird Facts is the ideal book for curious young minds who are fascinated by our weird and wonderful world.




Weirder War Two


Book Description

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 skies: the V1 with their hideous grumbling engines, the V2 with sudden, unexpected death. People were systematically starved: 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!