Remarkable view of ENIGMA codebreaking

Cryptologia, Jan 2003 by Kruh, Louis

REMARKABLE VIEW OF ENIGA CODEBREAKING

Hoare, Oliver. ENIGMA: Codebreaking and the Second World War, The true story through contemporary documents. Public Record Office Publications, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU UNITED KINGDOM. 2002. Document pack (16 documents 12 page booklet), L14.99, US $19.95.

Hoare, a specialist in intelligence and military records in the Public Record Office, points out that despite Churchill's orders at the end of the war that all evidence related to codebreaking be destroyed, a variety of important documents and other fascinating material survived. He has assembled 16 key document facsimiles, which include previously unpublished material ranging from top secret memos and letters to original decrypts. They include: Operation RUTHLESS by Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond), Holocaust intercept, Turing's notes on Enigma, double agent Tate's rotating disc code, a poem from Hut 6 at Bletchley Park, an Ultra decrypt of German situation reports during the Normandy landings, "Be Careful what you say" poster, history of Hut 8, letter from 'C' to Churchill, German Police signals traffic and much more.

A 12-page illustrated booklet by Hoare provides a brief summary of codebreaking and the Second World War, the Enigma machine, the Polish head start, Turing and Bletchley Park, Colossus: the world's first programmable computer, the influence of Ultra, and extensive background information on each item in the document pack.

Published in association with Bletchley Park Trust, each pack includes a sixpage illustrated folder on Bletchley Park, plus a free entry ticket to the Park. All material is contained in a roughly 9" x 12" cardboard container with a large photograph of an Enigma machine on its cover. It is an imaginative and fascinating publication that is almost guaranteed to please. It belongs in your personal library.

[Ed Note: If you have the passion we believe you do for cryptology and wish to pass it along, then this wonderful package assembled by Bletchley Park folks should be a must gift for young people (in our your family or acquaintance) say for school grades, birthday, family get together, whatever(!) to help them understand the history of our civilization and the role cryptology played in preserving it.]