All the writers included in the new anthology Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II agree: War and monsters is a lot like love and marriage—you can’t have one without the other. 

Give props to editor Henry Herz. Not only did he curate this terrific collection of weird war tales, but his story “Das Mammut” represents the most overt example of how men and monsters coexisted during wartime. 

In 1943, Germany unleashed a super weapon upon Russia. The Land Dreadnought was an impenetrable walking battleship that couldn’t be stopped by conventional artillery. Inexplicably, it looked like a gigantic Mesopotamian ziggurat. 

But Russia wasn’t without a super weapon of its own. Recently, the Motherland had discovered a three-headed, fire-breathing dragon sleeping in an abandoned mineshaft. The beast was now a valuable asset in the Red Army. 

Although Zmei Gorynych was an ancient creature, he had the attention span of a teenager. He needed the guidance of a pilot—someone to keep him focused during battle. That someone was Kapitan Andrei Petrov.

As Gorynych and Petrov prepared their strategy to destroy the Dreadnought, they formed a bond of respect and friendship. To be honest, their unlikely camaraderie probably wouldn’t have happened in any other situation. The story’s tragic ending underscored the bittersweet consequences of war. 

Another example of unlikely unions forged on the battlefield can be found in Jonathan Maberry’s story “A Terrible Aspect.” Two supernatural creatures stumble upon each other during separate but similar missions. They’re both trying to eradicate a coterie of Ariosophists making trouble in Italy. 

Even though the two preternatural agents were on different sides of the war, they quickly agreed to work together to defeat their shared enemy. Maberry includes a dollop of glamour in his story to make readers pine for a little romance between the Italian benandanti and the American mercenary.

Other excellent stories include “The Fourth Man” by Jeff Edwards about a soldier who sells his soul to an unholy god in order to defeat an ancient leviathan and “The Night Crew” by Peter Clines about a boatload of seafaring vampires. And just for me, there’s a David Mack story about Americans dropping an A-bomb on Japan in order to slay a Ghidorah-like giant monster.

The most uplifting thing in Combat Monsters comes from author Bishop O’Connell. “Nachthexen” is about a group of female Ukrainian pilots fighting Nazi troops in concert with the Russian Air Force. The story features a witchy brew of Ukrayina patriotism and female empowerment. Without a doubt, it’s my favorite thing in this collection. 

[ Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II / Edited by Henry Herz / First Printing: February 2025 / ISBN: 9798874748432 ]