If you read World War II history but haven't read two or more books about the secret codes being broken by both sides, you really don't understand that war's history. It is a lot easier to be a great general or admiral if you are reading your enemy's mail. For instance, take German General Rommel. For most of the war in North Africa, he knew what the British 8th Army was going to do, often before that army's division commanders did. That was because the Italians had stolen the American secret code, even before we were at war. But that's another story which is not covered in this book.
I have an entire shelf about the "code wars." Since most of these books didn't come out until decades after the war, and some aspects are still secret, when they did come out, and I read them, I often realized what happened and why.
Most of what many people know about breaking the German Enigma code was learned from several movies. And most of that is wrong. Never trust a Hollywood screenwriter with history.
This is the latest book I know of about Enigma. It was published in 2000. It not only covers the entire history of the breaking of Enigma, beginning with the Polish secret service in the early 1930s, but also covers how changes in Enigma were re-broken throughout the war. And the author spends some time telling you how it was done, especially in the several appendices. I won't go into that, as it was all Greek to me. Most of the code breakers were top-level mathematicians. Whereas, if I had been one of the code breakers we would all be speaking German now.
Of course, the really big problem about knowing what the enemy was going to do was not letting him figure out you had broken his codes. This was a constant threat the Allies sweated out. So they always needed a cover story. For example, a plane would 'discover' an Axis ship, which would then call in Allied ships. And initially, the British didn't want to share they had broken the code with the Americans, as we "couldn't be trusted to keep a secret." Only later did the British code breakers begin to realize we were a valuable part of the team. And that is covered here too
Highly recommended for World War II buffs.
I have an entire shelf about the "code wars." Since most of these books didn't come out until decades after the war, and some aspects are still secret, when they did come out, and I read them, I often realized what happened and why.
Most of what many people know about breaking the German Enigma code was learned from several movies. And most of that is wrong. Never trust a Hollywood screenwriter with history.
This is the latest book I know of about Enigma. It was published in 2000. It not only covers the entire history of the breaking of Enigma, beginning with the Polish secret service in the early 1930s, but also covers how changes in Enigma were re-broken throughout the war. And the author spends some time telling you how it was done, especially in the several appendices. I won't go into that, as it was all Greek to me. Most of the code breakers were top-level mathematicians. Whereas, if I had been one of the code breakers we would all be speaking German now.
Of course, the really big problem about knowing what the enemy was going to do was not letting him figure out you had broken his codes. This was a constant threat the Allies sweated out. So they always needed a cover story. For example, a plane would 'discover' an Axis ship, which would then call in Allied ships. And initially, the British didn't want to share they had broken the code with the Americans, as we "couldn't be trusted to keep a secret." Only later did the British code breakers begin to realize we were a valuable part of the team. And that is covered here too
Highly recommended for World War II buffs.
