The Spy Who Spent the War in Bed : And Other Bizarre Tales from World War II

Rating:
Summary: Light Bedtime Reading for WWII Buffs
Review: By Bill Marsano. This book is for fun, although it does appear to be well researched (there are chapter notes, and they often refer to actual published sources, not websites and TV shows) and the author is an established writer on military affairs. It's the content that's fun--a likable and sometimes funny collection of oddball stories of foolery by Axis and Allies alike. The anecdotes--there are several dozen of them--run from one end of the war to the other. They include the US general who lost his pants on a secret mission; the German spy who was caught with a batch of secret plans--but got away when his captors simply forgot about him; the incredible shortsightedness of the British government about Bletchley Park (where the Enigma secrets were unraveled); and secret agents who bilked their masters of large sums of money for high times--and provided no intelligence whatsoever (Joe Stalin's son was among them). This is a brisk tour of the situation-comedy side or WWII, and the author's charmingly dated, almost archaic tabloid writing style only adds to the fun. Bill Marsano is a long-time WWII buff himself.