Enigma Traitors

Enigma Traitors: The Struggle to Lose the Cipher War

By Dermot Turing

Everyone knows the story of Enigma and secret codebreaking in the Second World War alongside the triumph of Bletchley Park over world-class cipher technology. However, it was very nearly not like that at all. Both sides in WWII ignored evidence their codes were being broken and the consequences that could have led to very different outcomes.

Whilst there was an excellence in codebreaking for the Allies it was nearly betrayed by incompetence in code making. German codebreakers were effective and Allied codes and ciphers were weak. The Germans believed that Enigma was uncrackable, even when the evidence was clear. Examples such as when the Allies rounded up the U-boats at refuelling rendezvous were simply ignored or treated as 'bad luck'.

Enigma Traitors is a hardback book written by well-known author Dermot Turing explores this story as never before. Not only was there treachery, betrayal, deception involved, this book shares how overconfidence, bureaucracy and inter-service rivalry all impacted the Allied and German responses to their codes being broken. The Germans demanded that the traitors be rooted out whilst the British stifled cipher questions beneath a tangle of committees.

Ultimately the codebreakers' contest became a struggle to decide who would lose the cipher war. Enigma Traitors shines a light on this largely unknown aspect of the Enigma story in WWII and is a fascinating read.

Size 156x234mm, 320 Pages, Hardback
ISBN: 9781803991696