Ultra Versus U-Boats: Enigma Decrypts in the National Archives

by Roy Conyers Nesbit

Keeping the Atlantic sea-lanes open was a vital factor in the fight against Nazi Germany. In the battle to protect merchant shipping from the menace of surface raiders and U-boats, Allied resolve and resources were tested to the utmost. The story of the extraordinary measures that were taken to combat the threat, at sea and in the air, has often been told. But there is one crucial element in this prolonged campaign that has still not been fully appreciated the role of code-breaking, in particular the decryption of secret signals transmitted by German Enigma machines. And this is the focus of Roy Nesbits fascinating new account of the Battle of the Atlantic. Using previously unpublished decrypts of U-boat signals, selected from the National Archives, along with historic wartime photographs, he tells the stories of the individual U-boats and describes their fate. Their terse signals reveal, perhaps move vividly than conventional communications could do, the desperate plight of the U-boatmen as they struggled against increasingly effective Allied countermeasures that eventually overwhelmed them.

467 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Roy has a long-established reputation as a leading aviations historian, who served in the wartime RAF.

Reviews

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straightforward account of a particular aspect of WW2 - the conflict between the Allies and the threat of German U-boats, mainly in Atlantic waters. Nesbit's account is based solely on records found in the National Archives, and presents a chronological account of military engagements broken down into each year.

Along with the dense text are photographs and reproductions of Enigma decrypts taken straight from the archives. Code-breaking is described in detail as are the various elements involved in the Battle of the Atlantic. One thing I did find is that the text can be a little samey, with a monthly update of how many tonnes of shipping the Allies lost repeated over and over again. The emphasis is factual accounts with a little background information to support them.

An interesting book for those wanting to find out more about an eventful aspect of World War 2.