An edition of Battle of wits (2000)

Battle of wits

the complete story of codebreaking in World War II

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August 6, 2021 | History
An edition of Battle of wits (2000)

Battle of wits

the complete story of codebreaking in World War II

  • 6 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

"Battle of Wits presents the history of the war that these documents reveal. From the Battle of Midway until the last German code was broken in January 1945, this is an astonishing epic of a war that was won not simply by brute strength but also by reading the enemy's intentions." "This is the story of the Allied codebreakers puzzling through the most difficult codebreaking problems that ever existed. At the same time, the compelling narrative shows the crucial effect codebreaking had on the battlefields by explaining the urgency of stopping the wolf pack U-boat attacks in the North Atlantic, the burning desire in the United States to turn the tide of the war after Pearl Harbor, the importance of halting Rommel's tanks in North Africa, and the necessity of ensuring that the Germans believed the Allies' audacious deception and cover plans for D-Day."--BOOK JACKET.

Publish Date
Publisher
Free Press
Language
English
Pages
436

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Previews available in: Italian English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Battle of wits
Battle of wits: the complete story of codebreaking in World War II
2002, Simon & Schuster
in English - 1st Touchstone ed.
Cover of: Battle of wits
Battle of wits: La guerra dei codici
2002, Garzanti
Paperback in Italian
Cover of: Battle of Wits
Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II
April 2, 2002, Free Press
Paperback in English
Cover of: Battle of wits
Battle of wits: the complete story of codebreaking in World War II
2000, Viking
in English
Cover of: Battle of wits
Battle of wits: the complete story of codebreaking in World War II
2000, Free Press
in English
Cover of: Battle of wits
Battle of wits: the complete story of codebreaking in World War II
2000, Free Press
in English
Cover of: Battle of wits
Battle of wits: the complete story of codebreaking in World War II
2000, Free Press
in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Prologue : Midway
"No good, not even for intelligence": The end of the black chamber ; William F. Friedman picks up the pieces ; "I had the good sense to get out of it!" ; Room 40 ; Winston Churchill, an early convert ; The foreign office, a late convert ; The Soviet intercepts ; A strategic failure for intelligence
Nature of the beast: The birth of codebreaking ; Machine ciphers, Poland, and the Enigma ; Depth reading ; The distinct limitations of thievery ; Solving the Red machine
"Il y a du nouveau": 1939, a dark new year ; Meeting at Pyry Forest ; Marian Rejewski's mathematical feat ; Recovering the daily Enigma keys ; Alan Turing and other "men of the professor type" ; Bletchley Park ; The Poles' flight
Fighting back: British mathematicians vs. the Enigma ; The bombe takes shape ; "A pile of dull, disjointed, and enigmatic scraps" ; Cryptanalytic talent ; Norway and yellow ; France and red ; HMS Glorious
Impossible problems: The sinking of U-33 ; Naval Enigma and the bombe ; Operation Ruthless and other straws ; American isolationism ; Purple ; The British charm offensive ; A mission to Bletchley, bearing gifts
Success breeds success: The blitz ; Cape Matapan ; Boniface, Barbarossa, and Bismarck ; Naval Enigma, U-110, and the trawler pinches ; The eastern front and German atrocities ; Trafalgar day ; Cribs and continuity
The machines: The British make polite noises ; IBM machines and JN-25 ; The machine attack on Floradora ; Washington at war ; Military vs. civilians ; An American ultimatum ; Better bombes ; High-speed analyzers
Paranoia is our profession: Dönitz's suspicions ; The evacuation of Corregidor ; The Midway leak ; Some bungled operations ; "Do not talk at meals" ; Suspicions among friends
The shadow war: Calling the shots in the Mediterranean ; Torch and deception ; The flight from Vichy ; Atlantic convoys ; U-559 and the breaking of Shark ; The hunt for leaks ; The American invasion ; Pressures and diversions ; Women in uniform
Command of the ether: Russian espionage and Project Venona ; GEE and fish ; Masters of deception ; Yamamoto ; The water transport code ; Failure in the Ardennes ; Signaling the end
Epilogue : Legacy.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 363-417) and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
940.54/85
Library of Congress
D810.C88 B83 2000, D 810 C88 B83 2000, D810.C88B83 2000

The Physical Object

Pagination
436 p. :
Number of pages
436

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24736334M
Internet Archive
battleofwitscomp00budi
ISBN 10
0684859327
ISBN 13
9780684859323
LCCN
00028418
OCLC/WorldCat
43641278

Work Description

A million pages of new World War II codebreaking records have been released by the U.S. Army and Navy and the British government over the last five years. Now, Battle of Wits presents the history of the war that these documents reveal. From the battle of Midway until the last German code was broken in January 1945, this is an astonishing epic of a war that was won not simply by brute strength but also by reading the enemy's intentions.
The revelations of Stephen Budiansky's dramatic history include how Britain tried to manipulate the American codebreakers and monopolize German Enigma code communications; the first detailed published explanations of how the Japanese codes were broken; and how the American codebreaking machines worked to crack the Japanese, the German, and even the Russian diplomatic codes. The compelling narrative shows the crucial effect codebreaking had on the battlefields by explaining the urgency of stopping the wolf pack U-boat attacks in the North Atlantic, the importance of halting Rommel's tanks in North Africa, and the necessity of ensuring that the Germans believed the Allies' audacious deception and cover plans for D-Day. Unveiled for the first time, the complete story of codebreaking in World War II has now been told.

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