Customer Reviews

Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having read Codebreakers and studied BP's work, I must call this book required reading for anyone interested in the most secret aspects of WW2.

The first hand accounts allow you to experience the atmosphere of comaraderie under intense pressure. More importantly, these mini-memoirs demonstrate the monumental intellectual efforts needed to break, daily, dozens of different Enigma ciphers.

The "dry, uninteresting administrative work" was the cornerstone upon which Ultra was built: without definitive indexes and dictionaries how were the decrypts to be interpreted and put into the proper context? Without the bureaucratic machinery in place to deliver the vital intelligence to leaders and commands, what use would it be? Bletchley Park was not about flying spies into enemy territory. The un-sung heroism of those working behind the scenes lay in a subtler realm, but the codebreakers did manage to shorten the war by several months at least.

Readers, be thankful for the glimpse into genuine genius: sparkling mathematical genius (like Turing or Welchman) as well as the other intellectual giants of the "dry administrative" field (like Sir F.H.Hinsley).

When I purchased this book I expected a coherent study of what Bletchley Park was like during its WWII heyday. I knew that its contents were derived from the collected input of a number of people who were at Bletchley at that time. It is actually a collection of short essays by these people. Each has a slightly different theme and focus. Some of the essay were quite interesting, but over all, I did not come away with any kind of coherent understanding of how Bletchley Park operated, what it was like to work there, etc. I wish there had been an over-arching narrative to tie the pieces together.

When the gag order was finally lifted circa 1970 on the Bletchley Park operations, a lot of scientific, historical, and technical histories appeared. And there was a great hue and cry among military and political historians that the whole history of the British and American war against Hitlerian Germany would have to be rewritten. Well, much of that has been proven to be just hyperbole but it is generally agreed that the war was shortened by about two years. But the closer the Allies got to Germany the less role Bletchley played for the German forces used landlines for most strategic communications from mid 1944 on. Also they had another machine known as FISH which was not as easily read as Enigma. This book is a collection of personal narratives of life at Bletchley and how tedious most of the work there was, no matter how essential. Harry Hinsley, one of the authors, was a "whiz kid" recruited directly from university and after the war became a professor without ever completing his studies. Over the years he has written the monumental multivolume official history of British intelligence operations in WW II and many historical papers. Alan Stripp, was one of the original operatives and served for many years.

This book is a set of essays by people who actually worked at Bletchley Park during World War II, and describes in some detail what they did. Much of it is dry reading. That's because real cryptology is mostly dry work; months of boredom interrupted by moments of joy or chagrin. For those who care about World War II cryptology this is a "must read," but read either the 1967 or the 1996 edition of David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" first; otherwise, some of this book won't make much sense, for lack of context.

Some of the most interesting work done at Bletchley Park, and some of the most valuable people who worked there, are not mentioned at all in this book; not even a hint. I assume this is because of two problems: the British Official Secrets Act presumably still applies to a good deal of what happened at Bletchley Park, and the topics of inquiry that involved both British and American personnel could hardly be described in detail without the agreement of NSA, which might be hard to come by in some cases. I wish that two friends of mine who worked at Bletchley Park had been able to write memoirs of their work and their interactions with colleagues. But that didn't happen. However, we can hope that the remaining veil of official silence will be lifted some day.

like some other reviewers, this wasn't what i was expecting, but i was reasonably pleased with what i found. this book is a series of narratives by various people who worked at GC&CS (later to become CGCHQ) and Bletchley Park during WWII. their stories typically recount how they were recruited, their nervousness, and their most memorable moments. some authors describe how the codebreaking operations worked, including some of the machinery, which itself was fascinating.

the whole book isn't all cryptographers and code breakers, some of it is written by WRNS (or Wrens, young women in the naval reserves) who assisted the operation. and not all contributions were truly seen as positive, the final story describes a woman who left feeling as though she had contributed little to shortening the war.

it's good that there are multiple perspectives, although some of the overlap in the tales gets a bit frustrating. still, the length of the typical piece means that the story is over before it drags on too long, and others you wish went on longer.

the organization is good, the stories are arranged to slowly immerse you into the work and the world of Bletchley Park in the war.

the book doesn't just cover engma operations at BP, it includes some tales of field operations (which sounded quite daring and thrilling), and some work to crack japanese naval codes (the last section focuses on this).

probably best in conjunction with an official history. lots of good references are listed in the book, and some nice diagrams to contribute to the technical side of things.

I'm one of those who believe that BP literally won the war. If you apply the principle of Ockham's Razor it's evident to me that everything hinged on the Battle of the Atlantic, which the Nazis came very close to winning, and would have won if BP hadn't been reading their communications. If Hitler had succeeded in stopping the convoys to Britain and Murmansk, he would have had things "all wrapped up." (with England and Russia no longer in the war). This is by way of saying that I highly recommend "Codebreakers" as an excellent collection of essays about some of the events and personalities of Bletchley Park, about an era that is fading from living memory.

This book was not what I was expecting. It is a dry narrative account of the "Hut" workers at Bletchley Park. I was really interested in how Enigma was broken not in the daily administrative work. It did have really good information on the significance of the contribution of the codebreakers to the Allied victory. But this was just in the introduction

This is a great history of the work that went on at Bletchley Park during WWII. The work that led up to breaking the Enigma machines, the people who made it possible (Turing etc) are all described in detail - great informational book for anyone interested in the history of codebreaking.

The book was written in a manner to hold your interest and allow you to be part of the team at Bletchley Park. Firsthand accounts of breaking of the codes and how the information was disseminated let you follow the events from the beginning to the end of WWII.

Fascinating eyewitness accounts from 29 individuals who were involved in the Bletchley Park code breaking efforts. These accounts range from somewhat technical accounts of code breaking by mathematicians and chess players, strategic analysis of "Ultra" and its effects on the outcome of the war to a report of working conditions by one of the many "Wrens" who had the mind numbing job of tending the code-breaking machinery. Absolutely essential reading to anyone interested in World War II Intelligence or Cryptography. -- Jim Bumgardner