The Ultra Secret

by F.W. Winterbotham

Book Overview

Operation Ultra was designed to intercept and decode German signals sent using Enigma, the top-secret German cypher machine. F.W. Winterbotham, was the man responsible for the organization,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060146788
• ISBN13: 9780060146788
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Knowing the Plan of Attack Before the Germans Attacked! The Ultra Secret.

The book describes, with historical context, how the Allies in WWII broke the secret codes of the German High Command. The OKH/German High Command used an encryption device to encode all communications to all military units. The book actually describes how the Allied command actually knew when the Germans were going to attack, who the lead units would be, how they would attack, even the phase line, supply and equipment disposition, battle status, and the like battlefield communications. Even having that type of foreknowledge the Germans were still able to beat the allies. I recommend the book to all those who really want to understand how the Allies actually used the Ultra Secret to achieve supreme allied victory. Without this book a military student will miss one of the most strategic and most secret intelligence of all of WWII.

How They Won the War

This book tells about the Ultra operation that broke the Enigma cypher. The author operated as a secret agent in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, then was placed in charge of the Scientific Intelligence Unit. The code breaking operation followed.Their man in Warsaw learned of the Enigma machine from a Polish mechanic, who was then exfiltrated to Paris. He duplicated the machine in wood. Next, a new cypher machine was acquired for study. They were able to break this unbreakable coding machine. He tells how carefully this information was guarded, and used. With radar and Ultra, Britain was able to efficiently use their scarce resources against larger forces. Only a small number of fighters were sent against the bombers and fighters to minimize losses to the RAF. It worked well; but afterwards Dowding was criticized for not using more fighters earlier.Why was the Battle of the Bulge a surprise? They had come to rely on Ultra so much that they disregarded other indicators that were not confirmed by Ultra. And these plans were not broadcast by the enemy.This was written from his own recollection, so it is not the complete history. It has nothing about the code breaking by other forces. This book provides new light on the previously known events.

An Important Secret

In 1976 "A Man Called Intrepid" was a best seller in the US. In 1977 Frederick William Winterbotham published "The Ultra Secret", about the decryption of the German Enigma systems. In 1978 "Room 3603" was reprinted. They all are important books about WW2, altho "Room 3603" starts in the 1930s and has important information about intelligence activities. Did you know that they knew how to forge typewritten documents in the 1930s? This book tells about FWW's involvment in solving the Enigma encryption system. Like any good history, it is well written. I would recommend it highly to anyone. A later book tells more of his personal history in the 1930s. Working for the Air Ministry, he travelled to Germany to sell aircraft parts, and met many high Nazi officials. He was such a good friend of Goering that he was the only foreigner allowed to fly his airplane thru the Third Reich! He was one of the top British Nazi sympathizers at the time, until 1937: he was summoned to the Berlin Foreign Office, and given 48 hours to leave the country, "or else". They finally discovered that FWW really worked for Military Intelligence!

Outstanding Book

No history of WWII can be complete without a knowledge of the part Ultra played in the winning of the wars in Europe and Japan. Moreover, no one is better qualified to tell the story than F.W. Winterbotham...an outstanding book, extremely well written, easy to read, and certainly informative.

Superb, a must for WW II history buffs!

This is an facinating look at the world of codes and code breaking that occurred during WW II. The real allied heros are the men with exeptional mathamatical talents, who like master chessplayers are able to defeat cunning and very deadly opponents.