Ultra Secret Pb [Paperback]

F W Winterbottom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2000

Operation Ultra was designed to intercept and decode German signals sent using Enigma, the top-secret German cypher machine. F.W. Winterbotham, was the man responsible for the organization, distribution and security of Ultra. This is his personal account of the operation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham was born in 1897. He was educated at Oxford University and served in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. Between 1930 and 1945 he was chief of the Air Department of the Secret Intelligence Service. Throughout the war he was based at Bletchley Park, and he was awarded the CBE in 1943. He died in 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Orion Paperbacks (December 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752837516
• ISBN-13: 978-0752837512
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Secret, October 20, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultra Secret, The (Mass Market Paperback)

In 1976 "A Man Called Intrepid" was a best seller in the US. In 1977 Frederick William Winterbotham published "The Ultra Secret", about the decryption of the German Enigma systems. In 1978 "Room 3603" was reprinted. They all are important books about WW2, altho "Room 3603" starts in the 1930s and has important information about intelligence activities. Did you know that they knew how to forge typewritten documents in the 1930s?

This book tells about FWW's involvment in solving the Enigma encryption system. Like any good history, it is well written. I would recommend it highly to anyone. A later book tells more of his personal history in the 1930s. Working for the Air Ministry, he travelled to Germany to sell aircraft parts, and met many high Nazi officials. He was such a good friend of Goering that he was the only foreigner allowed to fly his airplane thru the Third Reich! He was one of the top British Nazi sympathizers at the time, until 1937: he was summoned to the Berlin Foreign Office, and given 48 hours to leave the country, "or else". They finally discovered that FWW really worked for Military Intelligence!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book, November 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ultra Secret, The (Mass Market Paperback)

No history of WWII can be complete without a knowledge of the part Ultra played in the winning of the wars in Europe and Japan. Moreover, no one is better qualified to tell the story than F.W. Winterbotham...an outstanding book, extremely well written, easy to read, and certainly informative.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, a must for WW II history buffs!, February 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ultra Secret, The (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an facinating look at the world of codes and code breaking that occurred during WW II. The real allied heros are the men with exeptional mathamatical talents, who like master chessplayers are able to defeat cunning and very deadly opponents.