Customer Reviews

Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book deserves more than five stars, and the massive British and American government information releases that made it possible also deserve credit for making the book possible.

This book pays the reader the compliment of assuming both intelligence and sincere interest in the subject. Although much of the book is a repeat of what has been written before, the book also contains much new information (especially about breaking the Japanese codes) and important insights. As the most complete examination of the code side of World War II, the book is essential reading for anyone who is interested in that conflict.

Although this book is about World War II, it contains much interesting material about earlier code-breaking, especially during World War I and the disarmament conference in the 1920s.

Basically, codes and codebreaking were in a transition period during the 1930s and 1940s between the primitive historical codes and the modern encryption techniques. The weakness of this transition period was that computer-like devices could use brute force calculations to spot patterns that the code designers were unaware of.

Clues came from many places. For example, "eins" showed up very frequently in German communications, so by looking for four word groups of great frequency, you could guess that they meant "eins" and work from there. This could unmask the daily code key much faster. Luftwaffe code operators were sloppy about the codes they used, and those bad habits provided clues as well. The British were brilliant in targeting German naval and weather vessels, and sinking them in ways so that codes and code machine parts could be saved. In some cases, Japanese embassies were broken into and codes directly stolen.

The most fascinating parts of the book come from the descriptions of how raw brain power solved problems. Many new code-solving techniques were developed. The Poles (especially Marian Rejewski) deduced the structure of the German Enigma machine just through examining the encoded message structures, and built one. Later, Turing took the idea of linking Enigma machines together to test patterns and developed a process for finding which settings were being used each day. Almost unbelievably, ideas and machines came along later that greatly improved the efficiency of this process even further.

If you like puzzles, you will love the discussions of the codebreaking technques because they employ detailed descriptions of the codes, code machines, and the exact methods used. Many wonderful diagrams of wiring and logical connections make this transparent for those who are interested in fully understanding. If you are not so interested, you can skip ahead to the material that interests you instead.

Emotionally, you will find yourself riveted by the races between the code breakers and the pace of unfolding battles. In several instances, such as at Midway, in the North Atlantic convoy runs, in North Africa, and during the Battle of the Bulge, the codebreakers played a decisive role. You will be intrigued by how many military leaders were reluctant users of this intelligence. Does Monty come to mind? You will never think about the events in World War II in the same way, after fully understanding what was known and not known by government and military leaders.

New light was shed on major controversies for me in this book. A famous one surrounds whether FDR knew of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and used inaction to manipulate entry into World War II. From a codebreaking perspective, it is clear that the U.S. knew that the Japanese were going to break off diplomatic relations, but little else. There were indications that an attack was coming, but no knowledge that it was aimed at Pearl Harbor.

On the other hand, decoded radio transmissions from German police units clearly indicated that massive numbers of Jews were being killed during the invasion of Russia. This material was probably read by Churchill. It is not clear who else read it. Those who are interested in what government should have been doing about the Holocaust will find much troubling evidence of government's knowing inaction in this book.

The many bureaucratic battles detailed here to take over codebreaking and to get the credit for it are worth the price of the book by themselves. For example, there is a fascinating story of how the key person in the codebreaking for the battle of Midway, Commander Joseph Rochefort, ended up running a dry dock on the west coast soon thereafter, far away from codebreaking for the rest of the war.

007 fans will enjoy the many references to the war-time activities of Ian Fleming in dreaming up schemes to help the codebreakers.

After you finish reading and thinking about this fascinating book, I suggest that you consider how you can overcome the vulnerability that you have to someone breaking into your communications. How can and should you be using encryptian today? This book won't answer those questions, but you should be asking them and looking for answers.

This book is well-written in a clear, flowing and lucid style. Lots of details and human interest liven up a subject that is always on the edge of putting some readers to sleep. This book surveys code-breaking in both the European and Pacific theaters of war and even-handedly deals with the contributions of both the Brits and the Yanks (all too few books on this topic do so). The author wisely puts the most arcane bits of math in appendices.

Very well done and hightly recommended to both those who have never read a book on this subject and those who have read several.

I have for many years wondered exactly how the supposedly unbreakable German Enigma machine and the Japanese diplomatic and Naval codes were broken. Stephen Budiansky does a great job at explaining how this was done. This was no easy task, requiring the ability to explain complex mathematical and mechanical concepts in a political and military context. Budiansky is uniquely suited to this task and I for one am grateful for his successful effort. He has a master's degree in applied mathematics, along with work in military studies as a Congressional Fellow. To this one must add that he is a good writer, as attested to by the fact that he is a correspondent for The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Economist among other prestigious publications.

This is no dry academic text, but is a story of great excitement, of great internal rivalries and intrigues. It is also fortunately much more, as it also goes into detail about the design and operation of the code machines and ciphers, as well as the novel approaches that were used to overcome them. It goes into considerable detail about these approaches, without becoming overly pedantic. This book covers the Japanese Diplomatic and Naval codes as well as the German Enigma machine. As such, it covers both code machines and ciphers, with a very good discussion of the history of both and the distinction between them. This book is more than a dry discussion of mathematics, but also delves into the personalities of the people involved and the internal rivalries between the US Army and Navy and between the civilian and military branches of the governments involved. It touches on espionage and the application of the knowledge of what was learned from the code breaking.

I was aware of the general outlines of what was done, of Bletchley Park and the American equivalents and of the importance of the early work of Polish code breakers. What I was not aware of was exactly how this was done. The Germans were confident that even if the allies got hold of a code machine they could not unscramble a message that was coded with what was a virtually unlimited number of possible combinations. I now have a better idea of how this was done and if you read this book so will you. I learned of the importance of a spy in Germany who early on provided a few messages and some code setting that were of great initial help, how German regularity in the form of the messages and the laziness of some operators in reusing the same text were of great importance, of the struggles to overcome the continual changes in the machines and upgrading of the codes. Most of all, I learned of the creativity and persistence of the human mind. My only criticism, and it is a minor one, is that very little space is given to the German and Japanese efforts (many of them successful) in deciphering allied codes. I hope that this will be the subject of a future book of Budiansky's.

What is hidden will be revealed. This is the concept of this book. After a brief history of pre-war cryptographic work, it outlines the Allied cryptologists' breaking Axis codes and ciphers, discreetly mentioning the early lack of candor of "our British cousins". There is a decent explanation of the precursors of modern computers used by the eclectic, and sometimes eccentric, people at Bletchley Park, England (a story in themselves) and the USA developments that often built on the British work. The appendices have some useful information for the technically challenged. Misuse of the decrypts is not glossed over, particularly the alleged security looseness by MacArthur's headquarters and the tendancy of some commanders to ignore intelligence estimates or to color them by the commander's preconceptions. Budiansky cites Montgomery's cautious lack of pursuit of Afrika Korps in North Africa after the victory at El Alemain in October 1942 and the surprise of the 1944 German offensive in the Ardennes as examples. However, I have some doubts that there was enough information available from any source to predict accurately the 1944 offensive's location. Budiansky only somewhat indicates agreement. (Tactical intelligence deals primarily with capabilities and secondarily with intentions). An exception to this rule is the well-described Navy coup at Midway, including the in house fighting between the Hawaii station and the US Navy headquarters. I would have liked more information on Axis decryption, though it may have caused the book to be the size of Webster's unabridged. I do recommend it to those interested in the general history of World War II decryption.

Unquestionably the finest general history of codebreaking in the Second World War. This comprehensive, well-researched and well-balanced treatment is particularly valuable for its account of the US contribution to the codebreaking war. Everyone interested in cryptanalysis or the history of the Second World War should read this book.

If you are going to read only one book on Allied cryptoanalysis during World War II, this is clearly the book to get. Stephen Budiansky does an outstanding job of covering the story.

The work has more detail than many readers (including this one) can absorb on specific codebreaking techniques. Perhaps some of this nmaterial could have been moved into appendices.

Nevertheless, "Battle Of Wits" is definitely worthwhile even if the reader should decide to skim its more technical sections.

I agree with the reivewer from Washington, D.C., who enjoyed the book: I thought it was marvelously well-written -- I have enjoyed Mr. Budiansky's stuff in the Atlantic Montly magazine in the past -- and it showed me new things about a subject I thought I knew pretty well. At the same time, I have to agree with John Berry that the greater part of the book was spent discussing British/U.S. cooperation, and the focus was clearly on cracking the German Enigma (and the use of Ultra intelligence). I am glad I read the book, as it was informative and fun (I laughed out loud at a few things, surprising myself and the others on the train) but I really would have really enjoyed deeper coverage of the Pacific theater.

Very thoroughly researched, with lots of new and interesting details. Especially clear explanations of how it all worked. This is not "cryptology for drooling idiots," but with a little attention you can follow the details without knowing anything about group theory. I really liked the material about the development of mechanical methods for sorting and correlating -- poorly covered in most accounts.

Sticks to documented facts and steers clear of speculation and hearsay, which may be part of why the book seems slightly light on the Pacific side. But if you like your history factual, clear, and well-written, this is an excellent book.

It's no accident that it sells well in Virginia and Maryland!

Stephen Budiansky, who knows both math and military history, has provided us with a well written new telling of the story of how the USA and UK cracked German and Japanese codes, and used this knowledge in winning World War II. This is the best treatment for a wide audience since David Kahn's The Codebreakers, and contains much new material from documents declassified in the last decade. Budiansky is particularly good at explaining how the cryptanalysts actually worked, with excellent diagrams. He also explains how the early data-processing machines they used functioned--at the dawn of the computer era. As for the war itself, he sticks to the high points, such as Midway and the Battle of the Atlantic, but the military history is accurate. This is a must-read book for any Ultra-Magic buff.

I was interested in the history of codebreaking in World War II but my very incomplete knowledge about the subject stemmed from fiction work, both movies (such as "Enigma') and books (such as Neal Stephenson' 'Cryptonomicon'). After reading this book I have now a very clear picture of what really happened. The author does a great of explaining in great details the history and background of this cryptograhical war. The emphasize of this book is really on efforts by both British and Americans to break German codes although activities to break codes of other Nazi allies also described. The author does a very good job of explaining how various algorithms worked in a language that should be understandabe to anybody (for somebody who is interested in more technical details there are a number of appendixes). It provides a very good and 'live' portraits of people that were involved in these activities. It made me realize how much bureaucracy and stupidity these people had to overcome. Highly recommended for anybody who is interested in the subject but feels he still didn't get a complete picture.