Ultra Goes to War

Ultra - the most effective system for reading the enemy's mind ever used in the war - was one of the world's best-kept secrets for thirty years.The Germans believed the high-level signals transmitted on their complex Enigma machine were invulnerable. But they were broken by Station X at Bletchley Park. Ronald Lewin's classic account tells the full story behind this crucial operation by the Allies during the Second World War. Basing his research on countless interviews with many of the people directly involved, including the wartime codebreakers themselves, the author gives a fascinating and comprehensive account of the work carried out by Station X. This was the source of Ultra, the 'special intelligence organization' whose top secret information was sent to Special Liaison Units in the field. In the Battle of Britain, in North Africa and Italy, in the Battle of the Atlantic, and before and after D-Day, Ultra was invaluable; small wonder that Churchill called his staff at Bletchley 'the geese who laid the golden eggs but never cackled'.