Secret History of World War II, The: Spies, Code Breakers, and Covert Operations

I received two large-format books over the holidays on subjects that fascinate me, and this one is unlike any other history book that I own. In the first place, it is heavily illustrated. There are 730 color photos in this book that measures 9″ by 11″ and is 352 pages long. This gives the book a magazine-like look because many of the photos are used as sidebars. Here is an example of a typical page in the book, reduced in size, of course.The illustration shows a metal Nazi belt buckle that turns into a four-shot gun, one of Himmler’s favorite possessions. The authors suggest that these guns were used for show rather than in actual combat. This book is full of amazing, formerly secret illustrations like this one, including an explosive dead rat, small demolition charges that could derail a locomotive, BEANO hand grenades the size and shape of a baseball, crystal radio receivers the size of small matchboxes, inflatable fake tanks and dummy fighters and bombers to fool aerial surveillance.We also learn about the unsung Allied heroes of the war, from spymasters like Ian Fleming and William Donovan, leader of OSS, to undercover espionage agents like the daring Amy Pack and Virginia Hall.The technology was particularly interesting. For example, the year I was born, 1944, the Colossus Mark 2 was introduced to decipher the German “Tunny” encryption machine, which had evolved from the Enigma devices. The Colossue machine weighed one ton, had 1,500 vacuum tubes and was one of the first electronic digital computers–it lacked only a memory.This book does not go into great detail about individual battles–that would take several books this size. Its subtitle reveals its main goals, to reveal the details about the “Spies, Code Breakers & Covert Operations.” This book is highly recommended.

Secret History of World War II told me a lot I did not know. A movie "The Monuments Men 2014" was based on the facts unearthed in this book and others. What became of all that GOLD?!!

Perfection

Solid book, and well made. Great content.

The photos, people and timeline of this book are great! Could use a little more secret code details.

Bought this for my husband for Christmas and gave it to him early. As a WWII history buff, the book has intrigued him with unknown facts and wartime tactics. Great gift for anyone who has a penchant for history and, in particular, the real happenings during WWII

Although I have not yet had a chance to read this book completely, which was a Christmas gift, I have scanned and browsed it and am impressed, as always, with the quality of materials that National Geographic publishes. With a background in military intelligence, I naturally tend to be drawn to this genre of military history, which too often takes a back seat to more dramatic aspects of war. But intelligence--human and electronic--is, and always has been, vital to the success of military campaigns and, ultimately, entire wars themselves. I have read other books by Stephen Hyslop and have found them all to be first-rate.

Well presented.

I give it 3 stars only because of the excellent illustrations - as might be expected from National Geographic.An innocent (GCSE?) reader might be forgiven for thinking WW2 started with Pearl Harbour as this work contains very considerable omissions and historical fact of three years' war with no support before that time. EG There is absolutely no mention of the huge amount of effort by British and Commonwealth forces in the years leading up to Operation Torch in North Africa, or the work of Auchinlek, Alexander, Admiral Cunningham, 'Mary' Conningham (RAF)Air Cmmdr Tommy Elmhirst, Air Mshl Arthur Tedder and many others in the preparations to achieve Torch. Similarly no mention of the LRDG or the SAS.Ditto Sicily which, to read this book, appears to have been the sole preserve of Patton, when in fact Alexander was commander of 15th Army Group.Ditto Burma which appears to have been liberated by Joe Stilwell with virtually no help from British or Commonwealth forces! (Or the Chindits who are not even mentioned.)The OSS read as almost the sole clandestine warriors in France and southern Europe - SOE gets a slight mention!Overlord is written from the perspective of the Americans' engagement with not much reference to the vast amount of work by British (and other) work on photo-reconnaissance, planning, X-Craft sorties and so on.Overall by all means look at this for the images but read on the basis that this is History Lite in favour of Uncle Sam!

Not for me

Great book, good format

good book

Good book as anything coming from NatGeo. But it suffers from the usual biased look at WWII that American authors tend to have. WWII started in 1939 but the USA only joined in 1941 (at least officially) so the book is rather short on the pre-war and early war years, and is not that great in the timeline it presents. Most of the more important Secret War was fought on the European theatre (even before 1939) and the book does not give enough credit to it.Even so, it includes photos of a lot of very interesting memorabilia and other items I have never seen elsewhere, and the fact that t is a large size book allows for good detail in the images.Not great but, if found at bargain price, a good add-on for a WWII library.