The Secret War

by Brian Johnson

A look at the scientists and technicians whose hard work off the battlefield assisted the Allied Forces in winning the World War II.

Based on the BBC television documentary series of the same name, this book offers a behind-the-scenes look at the fight by the "back room" scientists and technicians of the Second World War, including the battles against the Luftwaffe navigational beams, the V-1 and V-2 flying bombs, the development of radar, the battle against the U-boats, countering the magnetic mine, and the breaking of the codes produced by the Enigma machines.

Genres: History, War, Military History, Nonfiction, Technology

659 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parts of this account of the scientific and technological innovations used by both sides in WW2 that were new to me held my interest more (navigation, air and sea weapons and emerging rocket technology) whereas later parts concerned with Enigma etc. and ideas that never really took off didn’t engage me so much. Well researched as it was in 1978 when this was published, some of the subjects within have been covered in a more complete and up-to-date manner. Nevertheless, there was quite a lot of this I found quite interesting, amongst a fair amount of excessive jargon/detail.

[Rami Neudorfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story

The story of the secret electronic war between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany is really fascinating. All the advanced military capabilities that we see today originate from the world war II such as guided missiles, video guided bombs, counter measures and counter counter measures, navigation systems and the Jammers used to make them useless. Although the book is not new it is still extremely interesting

[Jack Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating insight into the 'boffins' of the second world war, the secret war as the title suggests.
The book goes into considerable detail explaining the twists and turns of the fortunes of war with a degree of authority and lucid explanations for sometimes very complex subjects.
This is a very readable book. Mr Johnson should be congratulated for a sometimes esoteric subject, well told.

[Timothy James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally watched the television series when it was first transmitted in the 1970s and read the serialisation of the book in the Sunday Telegraph. I recently bought and watched the DVD of the series and found it just as fascinating as I did all those years ago.

The book is even better, offering all sorts of information which isn't included in the TV shows. The description of the development of RADAR and the V weapons were covered effectively but the chapter titled "Misfortunes of War" which described many unsuccessful (and in some cases successful) weapons and technology was particularly interesting.

This is a book I would recommend to any person interested in the technological developments during the Second World War, but I would suggest that you watch the DVD too.

[Taiti]

I'd quite like to buy a copy of this without paying more for postage than the book, but haven't found the shop as yet. The library here only has reference copies otherwise.