Unexplained Mysteries of World War II

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Why didn't I finish Unexplained Mysteries of World War II?  Well, for starters, "mysteries" was a bit of a stretch.  A brief portion of the book was devoted to actual mysteries.  And then the "coincidence" portion started, in which William Breuer found events that were actually pretty likely, and then acted as though these were miracles.  My favorite/most loathed example?  The "Look Out Below!" portion, which tells the story of how both German and British paratroopers decided to land on the same beachhead AT THE SAME TIME.  The odds against this are described as "astronomical".  Or, maybe, the Allies were both battling for Sicily, and the weather was good at this time.  You know, either or.

Another example is of a paratrooper who discovered that his parachute was inspected by his own mother.  The odds that his specific parachute was inspected by his own mother were certainly slim, but it's pretty likely that someone would get a parachute inspected by their mother.  It's like how the odds of an individual winning the lottery twice are slim, except for the fact that it's really likely that SOMEONE will win the lottery twice.




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