“The paltry sum that Washington spent prior to 1941 to create the machine that broke the Japanese Magic ciphers produced the best return on investment in American military history.”2 Now, let’s estimate the contribution that breaking the Ultra/Magic codes made to Allied military effectiveness. Prime Minister Churchill said the results were worth many, many more divisions. Admiral Chester Nimitz rated the value of breaking Magic as the equivalent of another whole Pacific Fleet. And General Thomas Handy, Deputy Chief of Staff of the US Army during the entire war, claimed that it shortened the
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