Spy Thriller Poles Crack ENIGMA Code Garlinski

The Enigma War, by Józef Garliński. 1983

Spy Thriller! R. V. Jones, ENIGMA-Codebreaking Participant, Affirms the Crucial Pioneering Successes of the Poles

This fascinating book is of enduring value. Nowadays, British films and articles about Enigma typically downplay or ignore the pivotal role of the Poles, or overemphasize the work of gay mathematician Alan Turing in order to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

THE FOUNDATIONAL POLISH ACHIEVEMENT

The cracking of the “invincible” German code ENIGMA was surely one of the greatest intelligence achievements of all time. In his Foreword to this book, Professor R. V. Jones, a participant at Bletchley, gave unstinting credit to the Poles: “The Poles were said to have somehow stolen the wheel; this would have been a marvelous cloak-and-dagger exploit, but the truth as told in this book is even more remarkable…By 1937 the Polish cryptographers had succeeded first in working out the connections and then in deciphering German messages; they even designed a machine for this purpose. Some measure of their feat is provided by the fact that their British counterparts were still, two years later, some way from success.” (p. ix; my review based on 1979 edition).

POLES HAD BEEN BREAKING GERMAN CODES LONG BEFORE WWWII

Author Jozef Garlinski places the ENIGMA-code breaking process in the context of developments before and during WWII. The reader learns that German-speaking Poles were already working on German codes not long after WWI. (pp. 18-19). This book contains many photos and diagrams of the relevant persons and code machines. For instance, the alphabetical sheet-overlays are included (p. 37). An appendix contains much technical information on ENIGMA.