Capturing Enigma [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Stephen Harper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 1999

The incredible story of how HMS Petard and her gallant crew seized priceless German Enigma codebooks from a sinking U-boat is one of the greatest stories of the Second World War. With the use of vivid eyewitness accounts, the author describes how this operation changed the course of the entire war.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing; illustrated edition edition (October 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750923164
• ISBN-13: 978-0750923163
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,247,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Capturing Enigma, October 3, 2000

By 

Bill Mahoney (Madison, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Capturing Enigma (Hardcover)

The story of HMS Petard's capture of an enigma machine and related codebooks probably deserves no more than a chapter in a history of World War II. Whilst it is a story of great bravery by a few individuals, it is a lightweight story. Time and again, the author repeats the basic story of the ship, its crew, and their actions. Frankly, there just isn't enough material to fill a book or to hold a reader's interest. Save your money!

2.0 out of 5 stars The focus should have remained on the value of Ultra to the British, April 11, 2007

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Capturing Enigma (Hardcover)

It is impossible to overstate the value of the British decryption specialists in the Allied victory in World War II. The project, given the overall codename Ultra, allowed the British to read the secret dispatches the German military was sending out to their forces. By knowing what the Germans were going to do, the British navy and air forces were able to organize and concentrate their limited forces and meet the challenge.
The HMS Petard was a destroyer in the British navy and in October of 1942 it engaged in a battle with the German submarine U-559. When the German crew abandoned the submarine, three British sailors swam over and removed some of the German code books. Two of them went down with the sub. The codebooks allowed the British to break the codes the Germans were using to control their submarines and enabled the British to prevail in the battle of the Atlantic. Like the air battle over Britain, this one was also very close. The British Isles are completely dependent on supplies arriving by ship and if the Germans had been more effective in sinking Allied shipping, the British would have been starved and forced to surrender.
The action of the HMS Petard was so secret that the British navy refused to give the two sailors who gave their lives a suitable military decoration. This was in fear that it would tip the Germans off that their codes had been compromised. Fortunately for the British side, the German High Command never became aware that their codes had been broken.
Given such powerful material, you would expect this to be a very good book. It is not because the author is so repetitive and non-sequential. He jumps back and forth in time and many situations are repeated, albeit in a different guise. He also describes the actions of the Petard throughout the war, which is a tangential subplot off the main plot, namely the value of Ultra. It would have been a better book if the emphasis would have remained focused on Ultra.