Without Enigma: The Ultra & Fellgiebel Riddles

by Kenneth John Macksey, Robin Lumsden

This new book by distinguished British military historian Kenneth Macksey strongly challenges widely-held assumptions about World War II and is one of the most significant books on the war to appear in recent years. For the last 20 years books on the Allied effort in World War II have placed great emphasis on the fact that the Allies had broken the German "Enigma" codes and often had advance warning of German activities. For some years, knowledgeable researchers have felt that a counter-argument needed to be made, that perhaps undue emphasis had been placed on Allied code-breaking successes. Kenneth Macksey here makes just such a counter-argument. A fresh study of the evidence leads Macksey to argue that anti-Hitler generals knew that Enigma had been broken and were playing a sophisticated double game to bring down the Nazi regime. Particular attention is given to the activities of General Erich Fellgiebel, head of German Army Signals, who was executed in the wake of the Hitler assassination plot. This book will be essential reading for all those interested in World War II intelligence and the German anti-Hitler opposition.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

British author and historian who specialized in military history and military biography, particularly of the Second World War. Macksey was commissioned in the Royal Armoured Corps and served during the Second World War (earning the Military Cross under the command of Percy Hobart). Macksey later wrote the (authoritative) biography of Hobart.Macksey gained a permanent commission in 1946, was transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment in 1947, reached the rank of major in 1957 and retired from the Army in 1968.

Amongst many other books, Macksey wrote two volumes of alternate history, one, entitled Invasion, dealt with a successful invasion of England by Germany in 1940 and the other describing a NATO–Warsaw Pact clash in the late 1980s. The latter book was done under contract to the Canadian Forces and focuses on the Canadian role in such a conflict. He was an editor and contributor to Greenhill's Alternate Decisions series since 1995.

In Macksey's Guderian – Panzer General, he refuted the view of historian Sir Basil Liddell-Hart regarding Hart's influence on the development of German Tank Theory in the years leading up to 1939.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally published at Book of Bogan.

The cracking of the enigma code by Allied scientists at Bletchley Park has - in recent years - become one of the greatest success stories of the Second World War, lionised as the key to breaking the German war machine. Much of that narrative relies on a somewhat incompetent, oblivious characterisation of the people who were on the other side. Without Enigma seeks to take a sort of alternate history approach to the importance of the enigma machine, and the ULTRA program.

The author draws heavily on this style to develop a sort of alternative narrative, still mostly within the bounds of what actually occurred during the war. At the end of each chapter, however, he notates the places where his own stories diverge from the actual historical events, and while I found these intriguing at first, as time went on I was less and less interested in knowing where the differences lay.

I did enjoy the author's style, and his dedication to bringing this alternative view of history to us. His characters felt realistic, and well-fleshed out, although he tended to focus a little too much on the German side of things, without giving the English enough individual credit. Axis competency aside, the reality is that the English did have some part to play in all of this.

If there is one other failing I found with this book is that it tended to be front-loaded with action, as the discovery and investigation of whether the Enigma machine is no longer secure reads like a spy novel. As the story progresses, however, I found that the pace slowed down, and it felt like a fairly banal retelling of our own reality, with only vague callbacks to the earlier alternatives. This remains an interesting read, for people with an interest in history, who are looking for more than what they get taught in school. I don't necessarily agree that the author succeeds in his premise of revealing the 'importance' of enigma to be a lie, but it is an interesting read nonetheless.

[Antony Douglas Whipp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not averse to the occasional alternative history but this one simply doesn’t work for me. The basic assumption behind such inventions is that, at some pivotal point in history, a credible alternative occurred. Having some knowledge of military communications and a long-standing interest in Ultra, to my mind, the alternative offered here is frankly, utterly incredible. Incidentally the format of alleged minutes and records of supposed conversations ring as true as a cracked bell. It is a very long time since I was this disappointed in a book...