Enigma Code Breakers - How Breaking the Nazi Code Helped Win World War II

by Michael Kerrigan

An illustrated history of how the Bletchley Park code breakers helped win key battles and campaigns in World War II. Features key code breakers such as Alan Turing, Gordon Welchman, Dillwyn Know, Janes Hughes, and Mavis Batey. Illustrated with more than 180 artworks, including maps and photographs of key figures, campaigns and battles - most in black and white, but some in full color. Small quarto. Bibliography, index. 224 pp.

Genres: History

224 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Michael Kerrigan is a seasoned freelance writer and editor with over thirty years of experience across a wide spectrum of publishing work, from advertising and catalogue copy to book blurbs and specialist nonfiction. A prolific author, he has written around sixty full-length books on subjects ranging from ancient warfare and Slavic myth to modern architecture and the science of consciousness, all aimed at a general readership. He contributed a weekly Books in Brief column to The Scotsman for two decades and has reviewed extensively for the Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and Financial Times.

Reviews

[Nate Bate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nerd Alert! The Enigma Code Breakers is a fascinating outlay of how the secret British group of code breakers at Bletchley Park played an increasingly more integral role in World War 2 Successes. By the end of the war they were able to read most of the German dispatches in real time. German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt expressed to his interrogators at the end of the war, "I don't understand how you could more or less be everywhere at once...".

I had two frustrations with this book - one because of me and one because of the author (I think). My problem was that I still don't know enough about WW2, and this book isn't about that. Instead it traces the role of these code breakers throughout the war.

One mistake Michael Kerrigan made (I think) is transitioning to using these code breakers interchangeably as ULTRA. I think the transition happened at page 51, but it wasn't clear. I could have missed where the transition was made clear which is why I say I think this was an author issue.

[David Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Kerrigan's account of the Bletchley Park code breakers was interesting, if a bit wandering at times. The side stories and pictures were helpful, adding depth to the story. Overall, it was a fitting tribute to their contribution to the war effort.

[Traviss · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to the subject...

[Kursad Albayraktaroglu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly short, but eminently enjoyable book on the successes of British cryptographers at Bletchley Park against the Enigma (and later Lorenz) encryption systems used by the Germans in WWII.

The fact that the Enigma traffic was broken was such a great secret that it was fully revealed only after the 1970s; and many high-ranking German officers went to their graves without ever knowing that the Allies could read their secret communications during some critical points in the war. Kerrigan's book is nicely illustrated, and provides a solid introduction to the background of Bletchley Park's operations. There are definitely much longer, and much more detailed books on how the Enigma was painstakingly studied and broken; and I intend to read them. However, if you were to read only one book on one of these most fascinating secrets of WWII, this would be a good candidate.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Not about the actual code breaking (cryptography). Not about the machines they built to break the code (Colossus etc). Not about the machines whose code they were trying to break (Enigma). Not even about the people involved in the Bletchley Park work, except peripherally. About the effect the results they obtained when they wee used to giv e the Allies advantage over the Nazi war macine on land, sea and air.

[Bowen Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Through the first chapters, the makeup of Bletchley Park’s intelligence foundation was the focus, with few parts highlighting the adversarial Enigma machine. Through the mid chapters, the intel aspect wasn’t talked about as much and went into the operational side, but didn’t really get into more specifics about how they were set up. The book had potential but it was squandered in this manner. Additionally, the pacing didn’t seem very fluid to thoroughly enjoy

2.3/5

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

A big disappointment. Text is a hodgepodge of loosely-written information that fails to cohesively create what is otherwise a fascinating story. Images are great, but many of the images are merely period pieces that are not specific to the story.