Seizing the Enigma The Race to Break The German U-Boat Codes 1939-1943

By David Kahn

Revised Edition 9781591148074 Paperback 416 pages 2012 Naval Institute Press

Seizing the Enigma tells the thrilling story of the Royal Navy’s battle to crack the Germans’ supposedly unbreakable U-boat Enigma code, which would allow the vital Allied convoys in the North Atlantic to be routed away from Dönitz’s wolfpacks. This battle was fought both on shore and at sea: by an assortment of scientists, chess champions and linguists, including Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer, who struggled to crack Enigma at Bletchley Park, and in the Atlantic by sailors and intelligence officers, such as Ian Fleming, the future creator of James Bond, who undertook dangerous and often fatal missions to seize the essential encryption keys and Enigma machine components from Kriegsmarine surface ships and U-boats. Kahn expertly brings this unparalleled intelligence operation to life in this revised paperback edition of his classic book.

Having a friend that worked at Bletchley Park and a father who took part in the Battle of the Atlantic, this book was read with great interest. Written by David Kahn, former Scholar-in-Resident for the US National Security Agency and considered one of the foremost experts on cryptology.

A detailed account on all parties involved in the coding and code breaking, which will likely be around in perpetuity, is covered from each nation’s perspective. A good selection of photographs is included which is always good to help the reader get a sense of the persons they are reading about.

This fascinating book is highly recommended to for those with an interest in naval or cryptography history.

Indian Defence Review

Indian Defence Review

Quarterly Journal Lancer Publishers

A beautiful looking publication apparently offered as up as a vehicle for contractors wishing to sell in the Indian market. Several topical essays are included in each issue and is profusely illustrated. This journal provides a rare English language insight into the psyche of the Indian Armed Forces.

Why the USS Scorpion (SSN 589) Was Lost: The Death of a Submarine in the North Atlantic By Bruce Rule

Why the USS Scorpion (SSN 589) Was Lost: The Death of a Submarine in the North Atlantic

By Bruce Rule

9781608881208 2011 Self-Published

This book is not a traditional historical text, but instead a compilation of materials related to the tragic loss of USS Scorpion in 1968.

The book contains a number of tables, correspondence and graphs that largely debunks, via information in the public domain, that Scorpion had been sunk by the Soviet Navy. Mr Rule has come to the same conclusion as many historians – Scorpion was sunk by one of her own MK37 torpedoes that somehow managed to start itself while in the tube. Although not mentioned in this work, the torpedo is widely believed to have been fitted with a nuclear warhead, a regular occurrence in Cold War ASW operations. Luckily it appears the warhead never exploded.

Such a detailed work, a labor of love by the author, will likely only be of interest to serious students of submarine operations and naval history. We certainly commend Mr Rule for his efforts to bring the Scorpion story to life again; a difficult undertaking as most official records are still classified.

One Marine’s War A Combat Interpreter’s Quest of Humanity in the Pacific

One Marine’s War A Combat Interpreter’s Quest of Humanity in the Pacific

By Gerald A Meehl 9781612510927 Naval Institute Press 2012

Growing up in Shanghai in the 1930s, Mr Sheeks had an opportunity to develop a familiarity with Asiatic languages. Studying at Harvard at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, Sheeks was quickly recruited by the US Navy for language translation duty in the Pacific for the US Marine Corps. Extensive training in the Japanese language followed in California and Colorado before leading to active duty in the invasions of Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian.

The book certainly educates the reader on the heretofore little known work of the translators during combat operations and behind the front lines.  A worthy addition to the historical record of the war against Japan in the Pacific and is recommended.

No Sailing Waits and Other Ferry Tales: 30 Years of BC Ferries Cartoons

No Sailing Waits and Other Ferry Tales: 30 Years of BC Ferries Cartoons

By Adrian Raeside Harbour Publishing 128 pages 978-1-55017-596-7 2012 $9.95 

Adrian Raeside, following in the footsteps of the great Len Norris of the Vancouver Sun, is renowned for his topical editorial cartoons.

BC Ferries, long the bane of BC travelers, has provided enough material over the years for the full Raeside comic treatment in this compendium of 150 works issued by Harbour Publishing.

The book reveals one of the cartoonist’s proudest accomplishments, helping to get rid of the breakfast fare served onboard by the transportation behemoth.

This book makes the perfect gift or purchase for those familiar with ferries in British Columbia and makes a great read in a ferry lineup or at home. Congratulations to Harbour for bringing the cartoons of Mr Raeside to a wider audience.

Images of War Tirpitz The First Voyage Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

 

Images of War Tirpitz The First Voyage Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

By Jonathan Sutherland and Diane Canwell

9781848846685 2011 Pen and Sword Barnsley, South Yorkshire

The photos in this book are taken from an unpublished album belonged to a member of the crew of famous German Battleship Tirpitz. It is a little known fact that before the start of World War Two the ship went on a shakedown voyage into the Atlantic, travelling north into Arctic waters and south into the more tropical climbs of the Caribbean. There are superb photos of the officers and crew both above and below decks, including some unique shots of the crew during their stint on a magnificent sail training vessel. Other stunning shots show the vessels mighty weapons during gunnery practice during her sea trials. This unique collection gives a close up view of one of the most powerful ships of World War Two, a ship that proved to be a persistent thorn in the side of the Royal Navy until sunk in Norway towards the end of the war.

This book is a fascinating look at the German Navy built around a collection of photographs from a Luftwaffe flight officer stationed on Tirpitz. The details of youth work, naval training, wartime service and postwar incarceration are displayed with detailed captions. One small error was noted on page 71, the photo shows a light cruiser built in the 1930s and not the training ship Schleswig-Holstein as indicated.

The fate of original photo album owner after his incarceration in France has not been discovered to date.

We are certainly happy his photographic work has survived for present day and future historians to study.

The Memoirs of Karl Doenitz Ten Years and Twenty Days

The Memoirs of Karl Doenitz Ten Years and Twenty Days

By Karl Doenitz 548 pages 9781848326446 2012 Pen and Sword £13.50

The story of the last world war, as told by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz himself. His memoir covers his early career with submarines in the First World War and follows both his successes and failures through the Second World War, with great detail on the way the U-boat campaign was waged, as told by the man who invented U-boat tactics.

Doenitz includes details of the U-boat campaigns during the Second World War as well as the opinions, ideas and commentary on the period. Of particular interest are the comments regarding British and American conduct during the war. An important social document, and an invaluable source for any student of the last war.

He became the last Führer of Germany after Hitler's suicide in May 1945 and the book’s subtitle, Ten Years and Twenty Days, is a direct reference to the time Karl Doenitz spent in Spandau Prison having been convicted of war crimes following trial at Nuremberg.

Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, a First World War U-boat officer, stayed in the peacetime navy and was the flag officer in charge of submarines upon the commencement of hostilities in 1939. In 1943 he became navy commander and eventually succeeded Hitler after the latter’s suicide in 1945.

This book, first published in 1959, chronicles U-boat and naval operations as well as the political and organizational machinations at home. To do this to such an extent, only a senior officer could have compiled such a comprehensive record.

This book should be compulsory reading at naval and staff colleges and on the shelf of any student of naval history.