Kahn,
David. Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes,
1939-1943. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. London: Souvenir Press, 1991. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1998. Kahn,
David. Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes,
1939-1943. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. London: Souvenir Press, 1991. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1998.
Kruh, Cryptologia 23.2, notes that the Barnes & Noble edition of "this superb book ... contains a new preface by Kahn, who also used the opportunity to correct some minor errors found in the earlier edition." In the view of Milner, I&NS 9.1, the author presents a "fascinating study ... and a perfectly sound conclusion." He has an "impressive grasp of the practical problems of codebreaking and usage ... [and] understands the limits of special intelligence."
For Surveillant 1.4, this is a "rare gem" of a book. It tells the "story of how the British, unable to break the German naval Enigma cipher machine because it was used in a much more complicated fashion than the Luftwaffe Enigma machine (which they were breaking), had to steal documents from some German weather ships operating north of Iceland, to aid in breaking the codes.... [W]ith these filched documents, [they] were able to break the German U-boat codes and divert their convoys so they wouldn't be sunk and, later, sink the U-boats because they now knew where they were located."
Miller, IJI&C 6.3, says that Kahn "presents another excellent work on intelligence and raises his standards even higher.... This remarkably fine book is the best to date on ULTRA." To Ringle, WPNWE, 17-23 Jun. 1991, the author's "impressive economy and dogged research" has produced "not only great history, but great midnight reading." Peake, AIJ 15.1/90, sees Seizing the Enigma as "a very readable and worthwhile book."
Kahn, David, ed. "From the Archives: Britain Reveals Its Bombe to America." Cryptologia 26, no. 2 (Apr. 2002): 124-128.
Memoranda from "C" (Admiral Sinclair) and Alastair Dennison make it clear that the early 1941 U.S. delegation was told of the existence of the bombes.
Kapera, Zdzislaw J., ed. Before Ultra There Was Gale: Some Contributions to the History of the Polish Enigma, 1939-1942. The Enigma Bulletin, No. 6. Mogilany, Poland: The Enigma Press, 2002.
Kruh, Cryptologia 27.4, notes that these essays come out of a conference on "The Contribution of Polish Intelligence to the Allied Victory in the Second World War," and mark the 70th anniversary (2002) of the breaking of the military Enigma by the Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski. This work provides "interesting reading about the vital role of the Polish Cipher Bureau in the Enigma battle."
Keegan, John. "The
Product of Bletchley." Times Literary Supplement, 12 Oct. 1984,
1163-1164.
Sexton calls this an "[i]nsightful essay."
Kesaris, Paul. ULTRA.
Lanham, MD: University Publications of America, 1980. [Chambers]
Korbonski, Stefan.
"The True Story of Enigma -- The German Code Machine in World War II."
East European Quarterly 11 (Summer 1977): 227-234.
Sexton notes that by focusing on "the pioneering Polish contribution to the solution of ENIGMA," this article "[s]eeks to correct the impression that ULTRA was primarily an Anglo-American achievement."
Kozaczuk, Wladyslaw.
1. Ed. and tr., Christopher Kasparek. Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War II. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1984.
According to Pforzheimer, the author focuses on "the role of Polish cryptologists in breaking the early German (pre-World War II) Enigma ciphers." Kozachuk may "give his Polish compatriots more credit than perhaps they should receive, major though their early work was." This volume belongs "on the shelf of important books on the Ultra secret." Sexton finds the book to be a "valuable corrective to Bertrand and Winterbotham" and an "essential source."
For brief excerpts from this work, see Wladyslaw Kozaczuk, "Enigma Solved," Cryptologia 6, no. 1 (Jan. 1982): 32-33.
2. and Jerzy Straszak. Enigma: How the Poles Broke the Nazi Code. New York: Hippocrene, 2004.
Foot, I&NS 20.3 (Sep. 2005), notes that the authors "make it clear how successful the Poles were in breaking the machine cipher the Germans thought impregnable.... This short book ... is eminently readable, and deserves study."
Kruh, Louis.
1. "British-American Cryptanalytic Cooperation and an Unprecedented Admission by Winston Churchill." Cryptologia 13, no. 2 (Apr. 1989): 123-134.
Included here is correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt documenting that the British had decrypted American diplomatic traffic.
2. "Unlocking Enigma's Secrets." Cryptologia 14, no. 4 (Oct. 1990): 366-369.
Discusses a then-new exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution.
3. "Why Was Safford Pessimistic About Breaking the German Enigma Cipher Machine in 1942?" Cryptologia 14, no. 3 (Jul. 1990): 253 257.
According to Sexton, this article explores the "meaning of Captain Laurance F. Safford's remark of March 1942 that 'our prospects of ever breaking the German ENIGMA cipher machine are rather poor.'"
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