Unexplained Mysteries of World War II [Hardcover]

William Breuer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2008

Loss of life, destruction, unending pain and misery - the results of war never seem to make sense. But war is also a breeding ground for illogical occurrences, coincidences, premonitions, mysteries and twists of fate. Over 100 of these events are detailed here.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

What do 50 doctors in Hawaii, a lost dog tag, and a $212 unpaid storage fee have in common? They are just a few of the strange occurrences, odd coincidences, and unexplained mysteries of World War II collected here by Breuer (Shadow Warriors, LJ 5/1/96), who offers a less serious look at a very serious subject. Some of the oddities he unearthed include a candy bar that saved a life and a German spy living next to the top British spy-catcher. Anyone interested in twists of fate should find this book fascinating. For public libraries.?Terry L. Wirick, Erie Cty. Lib. System, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Book Description

Loss of life, destruction, unending pain and misery - the results of war never seem to make sense. But war is also a breeding ground for illogical occurrences, coincidences, premonitions, mysteries and twists of fate. Over 100 of these events are detailed here.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Book Sales, Inc. (May 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785822534
• ISBN-13: 978-0785822530
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > Military > World War II > General
  • #65 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > Military > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccuracies of WWII, April 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Unexplained Mysteries of World War II (Paperback)

I can not recommend this book. While reading it I found 4 major errors. This leads me to believe that the author did not do any research nor did his editors do any fact checking. The 4 errors I found are as follows: 1. The author states that no trace of the crew of the B-24 Lady Be Good was ever found. All but one of the bodies of the crew of the Lady Be Good were found by the mid-1960s. 2. The author states that Zeke was the allied name for a kamikaze. Zeke was the U.S. Navy code name for the Japaneese Mitsubishi Zero-sen fighter plane. The U.S. Navy gave Japaneese fighters male names and bombers female names. Any WWII historian should know this. 3. The part about the rescue of Eddie Rickenbacker says that a 2-man Kingfisher float plane spotted their raft and they were picked up by a PT boat. In reality, the Kingfisher landed on the ocean and picked them up. Since the plane only had two seats, the survivors held on the wings and the pilot taxied across the water to an island. 4. In the section on the death of Joe Kennedy Jr. he states that the mission was to attack the London Gun sites. This is incorrect, the mission was to attack U-boat pens. He also incorrectly states the crews of the bombers were to bail out over German held territory. The crews were to bail out over England and the bomber would be flown by radio control to the target. There are other things in the book that just don't seem correct. I can not recommend this book. Mistakes like this make one doubt the accuracy of the rest of the book. The author is supposed to be a WWII historian. If he is, then why are such obvious errors in the book.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little from column A, a little from column B..., January 18, 2004

By 

Lisa Horner (Rolling Prairie, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unexplained Mysteries of World War II (Paperback)

I thought it was a fairly interesting book with a lot of interesting WWII trivia that you won't get from many other places. The thing that brings this book down is the fact that if you decide to look deeper into a story, one has to wonder if the author didn't just convienently ignore facts to keep things interesting. I must agree with what the other reviewers have said about the sloppy research when dealing with stories. The author finishes the story about the Lady Be Good with this ominous sentence: "No skeleton or other signs of the Lady Be Good's crew have ever been detected." That piqued my interest, as it would for many other people. A quick internet search turns up information that 8 out of 9 of the crew were found. My book was published in 1997- the crew members were found in late 1959 and early in 1960. The worst part is, at the end of that sentence, the author had the gall to put a footnote, which when looked up reads: "Author's Archives". It would seem as if anyone with internet access and even a little interest is better informed than the author of this book.
Although I'm sure some of the information in this book is completely true, the glaring errors that are there make it hard to seperate the two. And no one reading what is supposed to be nonfiction should have to find out for themselves what is true and what isn't.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some Great Stories, July 5, 2000

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unexplained Mysteries of World War II (Paperback)

This compilation of about 100 "strange coincidences, ominous premonitions, and baffling mysteries" contains a lot of tantalizing little tidbits, but one has to be a little dubious about some of the stuff. Especially since others with much more detailed WWII knowledge than me have pointed out factual errors that undermine the entire book's credibility. Even so, it's worth reading for some of the incidents are remarkable and would make great grist for the Hollywood Mill. If you've got limited time or interest, the sections "Puzzling Events," "Uncanny Riddles," and "People Who Vanished" are much, much stronger than "Odd Coincidences," "Curious Happenings," "Peculiar Premonitions," and "Strange Encounters."