‘Weird War Two’ Gives Odd Facts about the Second World War

Weird War Two is a new Imperial War Museum publication that reveals odd and baffling facts about the Second World War, like that elephants were used in Berlin to clear rubble away.

The book contains more than 250 images and is the result of researchers looking through museusm’s archives in search of weird facts.

The stories range far and wide, from cows being painted with white stripes to help motorists see in case of blackouts, to the story behind why Winston Churchill had apes delivered to Gibraltar.

Weird War Two is a follow-up from Weird War One, which looked into the odd facts from the First World War.

Imperial War Museum has five branches, which attract over two million visitors each year. The museum aims to tell the stories of people who lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since World War I.

Churchill in his siren suit, one of which can be found in the Churchill Museum at Churchill War Rooms. (IWM)

digitised by Leanne Rodgers-Gibb

An Essex farmer paints a herd of black cows with white stripes in case they should wander on the road after dusk, so they will be visible to the motorists in the blackout. (IWM)

The latest arrival to Gibraltar being checked in – Churchill ensured the numbers of apes on the rock were topped up following a legend that if the monkeys ever left, Gibraltar would cease to be a British colony. (IWM)

digitised by Greg Smith (IWM)

Mascot of the ship HMIS Godavari, a Persian kitten, finds a quiet spot in a special hammock. You can find Frankenstein the cat in a similar hammock on HMS Belfast. (IWM)

Some Spitfires were painted ‘Camoutint Pink’ to camouflage them when flying at dusk or dawn. (IWM)

An inflatable Sherman tank, one of many dummy vehicles made to deceive the enemy. (IWM)

Richard Ash

Overshoes designed for Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents operating in South East Asia. They were intended to disguise footprints to fool the Japanese into believing they belonged to a native. (IWM)

Greg Smith

Colorful ‘mickey mouse’ gas masks were designed to make the mask less intimidating to small children. IWM North has one of these masks on display. (IWM)

Salvo, the ‘Paradog’ completing a parachute jump during training at Andrews Field, near Great Saling, Essex. (IWM)

Circus elephants Kiri and Many moving a wrecked car from a bombed out garage in Hamburg. (IWM)

Richard Ash

Venus the bulldog mascot of the destroyer HMS Vansittart (IWM)