Breaking the German Enigma codes was not only about brilliant mathematicians and professors at Bletchley Park. There is another aspect of the story which it is only now possible to tell. It takes in the exploits of spies, naval officers and ordinary British seamen who risked, and in some cases lost, their lives snatching the vital Enigma codebooks from under the noses of Nazi officials and from sinking German ships and submarines. This book tells the whole Enigma story: its original invention and use by German forces and how it was the Poles who first cracked - and passed on to the British - the key to the German airforce Enigma. The more complicated German Navy Enigma appeared to them to be unbreakable.

About the Author

Barrister and journalist (currently attached to the Mail on Sunday). His family owned Bletchley Park - where the Enigma code was broken - until they sold it to the British government in 1937.

Prizes

Has the essential ingredients for a spellbinding war story: larger-than-life characters, nail-biting cliffhangers, murky, backroom in fighting and breathtaking under-water drama Previous paperback edition has been reprinted twelve times 140,000 copies of paperback edition already sold New revelations based on hitherto secret files The film of Robert Harris's novel, Enigma, starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott, was a major movie hit 'Cracking stuff' Sunday Times 'Unquestionably deepens and enriches our understanding of the Bletchley story...Sebag-Montefiore demonstrates superbly that the seizure of the Enigma codebooks was among the crucial episodes in Britain's prosecution of the war' Observer