Enigma

The Battle for the Code

Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780471490357
  9781620456347
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780470468845
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

"cracking stuff... vivid and hitherto unknown details."-Sunday Times (London)The complete untold story of the cracking of the infamous Nazi codeMost 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Prologue
• 1 The Betrayal Belgium and Germany, 1931
• 2 The Leak Poland, Belgium and Germany, 1929–38
• 3 An Inspired Guess Poland, 1932
• 4 A Terrible Mistake Poland, 1933–9
• 5 Flight Germany, Poland and England, 1939–40
• 6 The First Capture Scotland, 1940
• 7 Mission Impossible Norway and Bletchley Park, 1940
• 8 Keeping the Enigma Secret France and Bletchley Park, May–September 1940
• 9 Deadlock Bletchley Park, August–October, 1940
• 10 The Italian Affair Bletchley Park and the Mediterranean, March 1941
• 11 The End of the Beginning Norway, March 1941
• 12 Breakthrough North of Iceland, May 1941
• 13 Operation Primrose The Atlantic, May 1941
• 14 The Knock-Out Blow North of Iceland, June 1941
• 15 Suspicion Bletchley Park, the Atlantic and Berlin, May–October 1941
• 16 A Two-Edged Sword The Atlantic and the Cape Verde Islands, September 1941
• 17 Living Dangerously The South Atlantic and Norway, November 1941–March 1942
• 18 The Hunt for the Bigram Tables Bletchley Park and Norway, December 1941
• 19 Black Out The Barents Sea, Bletchley Park and the Admiralty, February–July 1942
• 20 Breaking the Deadlock The Mediterranean and Bletchley Park, October–December 1942
• 21 The Turning Point South of France, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, November 1942–September 1943
• 22 Trapped South of France, November 1942–March 1943
• 23 The Arrest Berlin, March–September 1943
• 24 Sinking the Scharnhorst The Barents Sea, December 1943
• 25 Operation Covered Paris, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, August 1943–March 1944
• 26 The Last Hiccough Germany, France and the South Atlantic, March–June 1944
• Epilogue – Where did they go?
• Chronology
• Glossary
• Appendix 1 Polish Codebreaking Techniques
• Appendix 2 The Bombe
• Appendix 3 Naval Enigma
• Appendix 4 Cillis
• Appendix 5 Rodding
• Appendix 6 Naval Enigma Offizier
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index