Marching Orders: The Untold Story of How the American Breaking of the Japanese Secret Codes Led to the Defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan

by Bruce Lee

For the Allies, this news about the V-2 rocket could not be worse. British defenses have been mobilized to defend against the V-1, which can be shot down by antiaircraft guns or fighters. The V-2 appears to be a true ballistic missile, however, and there is no conventional defense against a rocket that falls without warning from a great height. Now one can appreciate how the work of British rocket expert Standish Masterman, as described earlier, rounded out the picture for Allied intelligence. (The British accounts of Masterman’s exploits do not mention the role played by the Diplomatic Summaries in alerting Allied intelligence about the V-2.)