Capturing Enigma: How HMS Petard Seized the German Naval Codes

by Stephen Harper

The incredible story of how HMS Petard and her gallant crew seized priceless German Enigma codebook from a sinking U-boat is one of the greatest stories of World War II. An attack by a British destroyer on a German U-boat in the Eastern Mediterranean in October 1942 altered the course of the entire war. The capture of secret coding material from U-559, at the cost of two of HMS Petard 's crew, enabled Bletchley Park's codebreakers to successfully crack the U-boat cypher.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1999

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Reviews

[Mike White · Rating 4 out of 5]

“By this time. 2245 hr, Petard was hove to with the U559 low in the water about 60 yd away on the port side, down by the bows in a roughening sea. Outside the beam of light from the Petard all was darkness. The Dulverton circled to ward off attack by any other U-boats.”
The story of the destroyer HMS Petard, which was in action to the end of WWII but whose most valuable contribution to the Allies’ victory was the capture of documents enabling the deciphering of German submarine messages by the experts at Bletchley Park.
The story is in three parts; the first deals with the process of deciphering Enigma and its variants, putting in context the second part, which covers the actions of the brave men who lost their lives inside the German submarine, passing documents to others. The third part tells the story of the subsequent actions of the ship and its crew in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
There are photographs, appendices, bibliography and an index.
An interesting and informative read.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more about the general exploits of HMS Petard which therefore includes a brief mention of the capture of the papers needed to break into Germany's naval Enigma codes. Vast, unacknowledged bravery (at the time, due to security) for sure.

I got a little irritated at the bulk of the book which chronicled various other wartime missions with nothing at all to do with Enigma. Interesting in its own right - though occasionally reading a little like a list of diary entries: "went here, did that; dry-docked; went there, did this; ..." - it was not what I expected from a book with this title.

[Kevin Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heavy but interesting read on the GPS Pretoria ship, which played several key roles during the second world war.

[Jesper Jorgensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it was of paramount importance that the Allies had captured an Enigma code machine, it was not a story that caught me for real.