When Captain Ridley s shooting party arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no-one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Bear in mind that an Enigma machine had a possible 159 million million million different settings and the magnitude of the challenge becomes apparent. That they succeeded, despite military scepticism, supplying information that led to the sinking of the Bismarck, Montgomery s victory in North Africa and the D-Day landings, is testament to an indomitable spirit that wrenched British intelligence into the modern age, as the Second World War segued into the Cold War. Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park, and their stories add a very human colour to their cerebral activity. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement.
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From the Author
This book contains the most up-to-date history of Bletchley Park with the latest information from the national archives on what happened at Bletchley and what effect it had on the war. It naturally contains some of the same quotations from codebreakers that were used in Station X, my previous history of Bletchley Park, but is a completely new book which is 50 per cent longer than Station X, corrects some of the earlier misinformation surrounding the codebreakers and really is the better of the two books.
About the Author
Michael Smith is a former military intelligence officer and award-winning journalist and author. He is the author of many books, including most recently, Six: A history of Britain s secret intelligence services.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Michael Smith's latest book is a fascinating insight into a very important part of the British effort in WW2
26 Oct 2011
By HJRubinstein
Format:Paperback
I have already read Station X by this author and Secret Life of Bletchley Park but neither of them were as good as this book. There seems to be far more in this book than either of the others. It reads very well and one only has to turn to the back of the book to see the broad and far-reaching research that was carried out in the construction of this book.
I didn't realise that most of the people at Bletchley were young woman in their late teens and early twenties and they do seem to have enjoyed themselves in all sorts of ways! But what is really good about this book is that it not only tell you how they lived, it also tells you what difference they made at each point of the war. They really did make a difference in a lot of ways.
This is definitely five stars for me.
I didn't realise that most of the people at Bletchley were young woman in their late teens and early twenties and they do seem to have enjoyed themselves in all sorts of ways! But what is really good about this book is that it not only tell you how they lived, it also tells you what difference they made at each point of the war. They really did make a difference in a lot of ways.
This is definitely five stars for me.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Secrets of Station X" is a brilliant book. Through this compact publication, the author Michael Smith introduces the reader to the secret world of the World War Two code-breakers working under the guise of the Government Code & Cypher School based in Bletchley Park, a quirky English Mansion in the heart of rural Buckinghamshire.
Working his way chronologically from 1938 to 1945 the author calls on substantiated evidence and code-breakers' memories. With his easy read, writing style Smith tells the story of some of those people, the place they worked and the work they did, breaking into the enemy codes and cyphers.
By integrating the history of the Second World War with the work of the code-breakers Smith highlights the importance of their work, their frustrations and the tensions under which they were working.
With simple explanation of codes and cyphers the author explains the breaking into the Enigma cyphers, the working of the Enigma machines and that of the Bombe machines tasked to assist in breaking those cyphers; the building of Colossus to identify the wheel settings of the Lorenz machine used to encipher the teleprinter messages between Hitler and his high command. He also introduces, the often ignored, work undertaken on hand cyphers and in particular the breaking of the Japanese codes.
With 295 pages of substantiated facts 24 pages of notes and 9 index pages, this book is well laid out and well presented. To my mind, this book makes for good reading and is an ideal reference tool.
Working his way chronologically from 1938 to 1945 the author calls on substantiated evidence and code-breakers' memories. With his easy read, writing style Smith tells the story of some of those people, the place they worked and the work they did, breaking into the enemy codes and cyphers.
By integrating the history of the Second World War with the work of the code-breakers Smith highlights the importance of their work, their frustrations and the tensions under which they were working.
With simple explanation of codes and cyphers the author explains the breaking into the Enigma cyphers, the working of the Enigma machines and that of the Bombe machines tasked to assist in breaking those cyphers; the building of Colossus to identify the wheel settings of the Lorenz machine used to encipher the teleprinter messages between Hitler and his high command. He also introduces, the often ignored, work undertaken on hand cyphers and in particular the breaking of the Japanese codes.
With 295 pages of substantiated facts 24 pages of notes and 9 index pages, this book is well laid out and well presented. To my mind, this book makes for good reading and is an ideal reference tool.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Easy read. Good background to the workings of Bletchey park. A book you can pick up and put down and not loose the thread
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The solution.
This is an excellent book. It is authoritative, meticulous and detailed. The objective and informative core is liberally punctuated with a wide range of personal testimonies... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Peter M. Hartley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Admirable and comprehensive history, with enough cryptographic detail for non-experts. Good bibliography for further reading. Worth considering 'The Code Book' by Singh.
Published 1 day ago by W. Stevenson
5.0 out of 5 stars
The codebreakers influence on the campaigns of WWII.
This enjoyable book describes the activities at Bletchley Park (BP) during WW2 and their influence on various stages of the war. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tony Howard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
On of the most interesting books I have ever read. Its a wonder that Bletchley did'nt sink with all that brain power there. They were reading Hitlers coded messages before he did!
Published 4 months ago by David Russell
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rehash of an earlier book
This book seems to be no more than a rehash of Michael Smith's earlier "Station X", first published in 1998 but "revised and expanded" in 2004. Read more
Published 19 months ago by W. A. Fraser
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