Enigma - bookrastinating.com

422 pages

English language

Published June 16, 2000 by J. Wiley.

ISBN:: 978-0-471-40738-6
OCLC Number:: 45015470

"cracking stuff . . . vivid and hitherto unknown details."-Sunday Times (London) The complete untold story of the cracking of the infamous Nazi code Most histories of the cracking of the elusive Enigma code focus on the work done by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, Britain's famous World War II counterintelligence station. In this fascinating account, however, we are told, for the first time, the hair-raising stories of the heroic British and American sailors, spies, and secret agents who put their lives on the line to provide the codebreakers with the materials they needed. Noted British journalist Hugh Sebag-Montefiore tracked down many of the surviving players in the Enigma drama, and these witnesses-some of them speaking on record for the first time-provide unforgettable firsthand accounts of the courageous men and women who faced death in order to capture vital codebooks from sinking ships and snatch them from under the noses …

"cracking stuff . . . vivid and hitherto unknown details."-Sunday Times (London) The complete untold story of the cracking of the infamous Nazi code Most histories of the cracking of the elusive Enigma code focus on the work done by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, Britain's famous World War II counterintelligence station. In this fascinating account, however, we are told, for the first time, the hair-raising stories of the heroic British and American sailors, spies, and secret agents who put their lives on the line to provide the codebreakers with the materials they needed. Noted British journalist Hugh Sebag-Montefiore tracked down many of the surviving players in the Enigma drama, and these witnesses-some of them speaking on record for the first time-provide unforgettable firsthand accounts of the courageous men and women who faced death in order to capture vital codebooks from sinking ships and snatch them from under the noses of Nazi officials. In addition to these gripping stories, we learn fascinating new details about the genesis of the code and the feverish activities at Bletchley. Enigma is a spellbinding account of the brilliant feat of decryption that turned the tide of World War II.

10 editions

Sascha Welter reviewed Enigma by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

True background knowledge ... and good reading

4 stars

By now the story of the cracking of the german Enigma code seems to be well known, with books and movies all over the place. But a lot of that (especially in fiction) is overly generalised and lacking in background ... to nobody's surprise. This book is the real deal. It has all the background info and the back story. I guess it's not a spoiler to say that the story starts way, way before Alan Turing does his things.

The book starts with the almost first contact of french and polish cryptographers with the enigma mistery encryption. It then covers the arc of the war, mostly but not exclusively centered on the battle of the atlantic. It stops after the allied invasion of normandy. I think it's right to give a lot of attention to the battle of the atlantic, because the real story is on how the …

By now the story of the cracking of the german Enigma code seems to be well known, with books and movies all over the place. But a lot of that (especially in fiction) is overly generalised and lacking in background ... to nobody's surprise. This book is the real deal. It has all the background info and the back story. I guess it's not a spoiler to say that the story starts way, way before Alan Turing does his things.

The book starts with the almost first contact of french and polish cryptographers with the enigma mistery encryption. It then covers the arc of the war, mostly but not exclusively centered on the battle of the atlantic. It stops after the allied invasion of normandy. I think it's right to give a lot of attention to the battle of the atlantic, because the real story is on how the code had to be cracked open again and again around that battle, and because the pinching of code books mostly happened there. But the other pillar of the book is how the secret of having broken Enigma has to be protected, and was almost revealed so many times over.

The book is also expectedly british centered. The polish, french, and american codebreakers and admins all take part and are given credit, but this is the british point of view.

This books makes a good union between giving the background information and/or technical details (there are huge appendices with lots of detailled explanations) and the lively stories that give you the human blood in all this. Which makes for good reading.

Salagubang

rated it

Oct. 11, 2011

Subjects

Enigma cipher system -- History
World War, 1939-1945 -- Cryptography