An intriguing account of how Winterbotham single-handedly made the planet safe for democracy during WWII. One is left with the impression that the great generals and admirals may have had an ace up their sleeves, but also with the impression that Winterbotham is in love with himself. Despite his shameless name-dropping and self-aggrandizement, this book is a must-read for any serious student of WWII, because of the important context it provides for events of that time.

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.

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!