German Naval Code Breakers

German Naval Code Breakers (2003) – Jak P. Mallmann Showell
Ian Allan | ISBN: 9780711028883
Condition: As New | Sold by Crappy Old Books

The Second World War. A conflict fought with battleships, submarines, aircraft and enough explosives to make the entire planet deeply uncomfortable. Yet behind the thunder of naval guns and the deadly cat-and-mouse encounters of the Atlantic lay another war, conducted in considerable secrecy by mathematicians, linguists, intelligence officers and people who spent their working lives staring at apparently meaningless collections of letters.

Welcome to German Naval Code Breakers, Jak P. Mallmann Showell’s fascinating exploration of the German Navy’s own code-breaking and signals-intelligence operations during the Second World War.

Mention wartime naval cryptography and most people immediately think of Bletchley Park, Enigma and the celebrated Allied effort to decipher German communications. Quite reasonably, too. But intelligence warfare was not exclusively a British occupation, and the Germans were equally determined to discover what their enemies were saying when they believed nobody was listening.

This is the rather less familiar side of the story.

Germany possessed its own sophisticated naval intelligence organisation, employing specialists to intercept, analyse and, whenever possible, decipher enemy communications. The information gathered could influence submarine operations, fleet movements and strategic decisions in a maritime struggle where knowing an opponent’s intentions might prove more valuable than possessing an additional battleship.

Naturally, the business was considerably more complicated than simply listening to a radio and hoping somebody accidentally announced the position of an Atlantic convoy.

Signals intelligence demanded patience, technical expertise, careful analysis and the ability to identify meaningful patterns within oceans of seemingly incomprehensible information.

Mallmann Showell, a respected historian of the Kriegsmarine and German submarine warfare, turns his attention to this shadowy world of naval cryptography, examining an aspect of the conflict frequently overshadowed by the celebrated achievements of Allied code-breakers.

The subject offers a fascinating reversal of the familiar wartime narrative. Instead of British intelligence officers attempting to unravel German secrets, we encounter German specialists trying to penetrate Allied communications and provide their commanders with an advantage.

There is something wonderfully ironic about two opposing military establishments devoting immense resources to developing secure communications, while simultaneously employing equally determined specialists to demonstrate that the other side’s security was not nearly as secure as everybody hoped.

Of course, intelligence success did not automatically guarantee military victory. Information could be misunderstood, arrive too late or be rendered useless by changing circumstances. Even an exceptionally clever code-breaker could do little about a submarine commander who had already made an unfortunate navigational decision.

Published in 2003 by Ian Allan, this volume offers an intriguing contribution to the history of naval warfare, military intelligence and the technological struggle beneath the surface of conventional combat.

This 2003 Ian Allan edition, offered in As New condition by Crappy Old Books, is an excellent acquisition for enthusiasts of Second World War naval history, cryptography, intelligence operations and the often-overlooked workings of the German Kriegsmarine.

A compelling investigation into the secret war of intercepted messages, hidden meanings and carefully guarded information.

Because while admirals commanded fleets and submarines prowled the oceans, some of the most important battles were being fought by men sitting quietly at desks.

Armed with pencils, paperwork and the deeply suspicious conviction that somebody else’s supposedly secret message wasn’t quite secret enough.

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