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Enigma: The Battle For The Code (Cassell Military Paperbacks) by Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh (2004) Paperback
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About the author
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
13 books43 followersHugh Sebag-Montefiore was a barrister before becoming a journalist and historian. He has written for the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Observer, Independent on Sunday, and Mail On Sunday. His first book Kings On The Catwalk: The Louis Vuitton and Moët-Hennessy Affair was published in 1992.
Bletchley Park, the backdrop to much of the action in his first history book Enigma: The Battle For The Code (published in 2000), used to be owned by Hugh’s great great grandfather, Sir Herbert Leon. Hugh’s father, Stephen, used to stay at Bletchley Park every Christmas, at a time when the house was humming with servants, and when the garden was tended by no less than forty gardeners. During the run up to the 70th anniversary of the capture of the Enigma codebooks from German U-boat U-110, Hugh was commissioned by Bletchley Park to supply the text and photos for an exhibition describing the capture.
The location for the climax of his next book, Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man (published in 2006), also summoned up forgotten memories within Hugh’s family. His cousin Denzil Sebag-Montefiore lost his precious ivory backed hair brushes engraved, with his initials, which had to be thrown into the sea at Dunkirk, along with other heavy items in his backpack, so that he would be more buoyant. He eventually made it back to England, after being heaved into one of the boats ferrying British soldiers out to the larger ships waiting off shore. Another cousin, Basil Jaffé, passed the time waiting to be rescued from the shallows near one of the Dunkirk beaches by reading his miniature edition of Shakespeare’s plays.
Hugh’s next book will tell the story of another great British military enterprise: the 1916 Battle of the Somme. It is to be published by Penguin in July 2016, at the beginning of the Somme centenary.
From http://www.hughsebagmontefiore.com/th...
Bletchley Park, the backdrop to much of the action in his first history book Enigma: The Battle For The Code (published in 2000), used to be owned by Hugh’s great great grandfather, Sir Herbert Leon. Hugh’s father, Stephen, used to stay at Bletchley Park every Christmas, at a time when the house was humming with servants, and when the garden was tended by no less than forty gardeners. During the run up to the 70th anniversary of the capture of the Enigma codebooks from German U-boat U-110, Hugh was commissioned by Bletchley Park to supply the text and photos for an exhibition describing the capture.
The location for the climax of his next book, Dunkirk: Fight To The Last Man (published in 2006), also summoned up forgotten memories within Hugh’s family. His cousin Denzil Sebag-Montefiore lost his precious ivory backed hair brushes engraved, with his initials, which had to be thrown into the sea at Dunkirk, along with other heavy items in his backpack, so that he would be more buoyant. He eventually made it back to England, after being heaved into one of the boats ferrying British soldiers out to the larger ships waiting off shore. Another cousin, Basil Jaffé, passed the time waiting to be rescued from the shallows near one of the Dunkirk beaches by reading his miniature edition of Shakespeare’s plays.
Hugh’s next book will tell the story of another great British military enterprise: the 1916 Battle of the Somme. It is to be published by Penguin in July 2016, at the beginning of the Somme centenary.
From http://www.hughsebagmontefiore.com/th...
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July 28, 2025
Everybody who knows anything about World War II know that cracking the Japanese and German military encryption systems was critical to shortening and winning the war. That is about it. They do not know how it was done. This book fills that gap gallantly for the Enigma machines used by the Germans and especially focuses on how the German Navy used Enigma. It all started in the 1920s, came to a top issue in the 1930s and was solved in the 1940s. A shortcoming of the book is that it does not cover the conceptual ideas of how Enigma machines came to be invented and developed in the first place. Nevertheless, it does focus on how the encryption was broken and how events in the field supported the effort. Few people realize the effort, courage, and lost lives that it took to capture German U-boats and trawlers and their encrypting equipment and documentation. This provided necessary clues on how to break the Enigma machine. Many times, British personnel would go down the conning tower of a damaged and sinking U-boat that had been abandoned by its German crew and recover Enigma machines and codebooks. These were then sent to Bletchley Park where the material was put to good use. Bletchley is where the Enigma system was being researched and solved.
The book also delves into the details of how the encryption was used by the Germans and broken by the British. There were many ways to do so depending on what was available. The Poles started the effort and solved some code in the early 1930s, and this work was taken over by the French and British after Poland was invaded in 1939. Even before France fell, the British recruited math geniuses from universities to work on the code and develop methods of solving. Another major piece was keeping the Germans in the dark about how successful the effort was. This was tricky as a balance had to be struck between using the decoded messages directly to save lives (and the war) and how to obfuscate the Germans that the decodes were being used. This generally involved masking the use of Enigma by setting up a situation where planes or ships would “stumble” onto German U-boats and supply ships. This provided cover to solving the code that gave away this information. An excellent read that provides a good history of the topic.
The book also delves into the details of how the encryption was used by the Germans and broken by the British. There were many ways to do so depending on what was available. The Poles started the effort and solved some code in the early 1930s, and this work was taken over by the French and British after Poland was invaded in 1939. Even before France fell, the British recruited math geniuses from universities to work on the code and develop methods of solving. Another major piece was keeping the Germans in the dark about how successful the effort was. This was tricky as a balance had to be struck between using the decoded messages directly to save lives (and the war) and how to obfuscate the Germans that the decodes were being used. This generally involved masking the use of Enigma by setting up a situation where planes or ships would “stumble” onto German U-boats and supply ships. This provided cover to solving the code that gave away this information. An excellent read that provides a good history of the topic.
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