Colossus: Bletchley Parks Greatest Secret - Hardcover

Paul Gannon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843543303 ISBN 13: 9781843543305

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2006

Synopsis

In 1940, almost a year after the outbreak of the Second World War, Allied radio operators at an interception station in South London began picking up messages in a strange new code. Traffic in this new encryption increased dramatically and Bletchley Park codebreakers worked furiously to decipher the code that held the key to the secrets of Nazi high command. The codebreakers used science, maths, innovation and improvisation to invent an entirely new machine: Colossus. Colossus was Instrumental in several extraordinary breakthroughs: It revealed that Hitler had no intention of abandoning Italy to the Allies; It revealed how much the Nazis had been duped by the D-Day deception (they believed the Allies would invade at Calais and were tactically unprepared for invasion at Normandy, so couldn't deploy tanks in time); It monitored the locations of Nazi military troops in northwestern and southern Europe; It revealed the degree to which Germans has succeeded in breaking Allied codes What these codebreakers didn't realize was that they had fashioned the world's first true computer. When the war ended, this incredible invention was dismantled and hidden away for almost fifty years. With access to previously classified files, Paul Gannon has pieced together the tremendous story of what is now recognized as the greatest secret of Bletchley Park.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Gannon is a writer on all aspects of information and communications technology. He is the author of Trojan Horses & National Champions: A History of the European Computing and Telecommunications Industry (IT Book of the Year, 1997) and Colossus (Atlantic, 2006).

Review:

Paul Gannon has revealed a previously untold story . . . [Colossus] tells of the heroic efforts of the inventors and mathematicians [who] received no recognition for decades . . . Gannon sets the record straight. -- Simon Singh * The Times * Seeks to restore Colossus to its rightful place in the history of computing... read Gannon to feel the collective power of human minds harnessed to the cause of defending our freedom. -- Georgina Ferry * Guardian * Masterly in its breadth and sweep . . . Gannon's account of wartime interception and encryption is deeply researched . . . I commend the book to both the professional and the general reader. -- Donald Michie * Spectator *

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1843543303
• ISBN 13: 9781843543305
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352