Seizing the Enigma Audiobook By David Kahn cover art

Seizing the Enigma

The Race to Break the German U-Boats Codes, 1939–1943

 Preview

$0.00 for first 30 days

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Seizing the Enigma

By: David Kahn
Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.74

Buy for $19.74

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

For almost four desperate years, between 1939 and 1943, British and American navies fought a savage, losing battle against German submarine wolf packs. The Allies might never have turned the tide of that historic battle without an intelligence coup. The race to break the German U-boat codes is one of the last great untold stories of World War II.

David Kahn, the world’s leading historian of cryptology, brings to life this tense, behind-the-scenes drama for the first time. Seizing the Enigma provides the definitive account of how British and American code breakers fought a war of wits against Nazi naval communications and helped lead the Allies to victory in the crucial Battle of the Atlantic.

©1991 David Khan (P)1994 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Armed Forces Freedom & Security Intelligence & Espionage Military Naval Forces Politics & Government Wars & Conflicts World War II War Submarine Espionage U-Boat Inspiring Imperialism

Critic reviews

“The best historian of cryptography explains the cracking of the Naval Enigma cipher.... David Kahn writes with authority and enthusiasm.” (Simon Singh, author of The Code Book and Fermat's Last Theorem)
“[Kahn] underscores the strategic importance of submarine warfare in the Atlantic, giving a balanced account of the ultimate importance of code breaking in that arena. High drama at sea seizing German codebooks and equipment and analytical genius ashore were essential. Kahn describes both of these matching efforts expertly. Informed laypersons and specialists will find this book valuable and intriguing.” ( Library Journal)
“Kahn provides detailed, action-packed accounts (drawn from interviews with surviving eyewitnesses on both sides) of the bold seizures that yielded vital documents…A first-rate briefing on the use of brawn as well as brains to alleviate the U-boat threat.” ( Kirkus Reviews)
Fascinating Story • Detailed Historical Accounts • Even Cadence • Engaging Narrative • Suspenseful Storytelling
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Excellent history of history’s most important information war. This was well read and very interesting !

This time free is good !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story of how the enigma machine was conceived and developed after WW1 then perfected by the German Navy in WW2. Then how the Poles almost cracked it before moving to Britain where a massive secret program at Blechley Park and throughout the Navy ultimately destroyed the German submarine packs and won the war.
The best thing about this book is the way it describes how the machines were constructed and how the messages were decrypted. Ten times better than the movies I've see on the subject. I want to read more from David Kahn but only after I have built an enigma machine myself.

Techno Thriller but it is a True Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a very interesting book with the entire background of the British efforts to break the code to the Enigma machines.

The one problem with the book is that there are many pages explaining how to set up and operate the enigma machine - this is interesting only to a very limited audience.

Other than that I recommend it highly.

Fascinating Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a VERY detailed history of a very convoluted military technology that evolved and matured over several decades, not just the period of 1939 through 1943. As such, the author chose to include at times bewilderingly complex, long-winded, and dry technical content that is nonetheless vital to his audience’s understanding of the momentous contribution of the decryption of the Enigma cyphers to the Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. While the narrative contains several moments of wartime drama, this is a work intended for an audience of serious serious students of military history, as well as academics looking for source materials. Bernard Mayes’ reading style is clear and of an appropriate pace for such an information-dense subject, making this book an ideal candidate for an audiobook. This reviewer probably would not have attempted to read this on his own!

Fascinating story requiring patient audience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend this book.

It tells the story behind the challenge to break the German U-Boat communications that was the key to the Allies reducing the toll of sunken ships and associated loss of lives and materials critical to fighting and ultimately winning the war. It provides interesting background stories of the players including several unsung heroes (including the Poles) that led to the ultimate success in the Battle of the Atlantic. Unlike other books and TV documentaries I've read/seen that have told a rather simplistic story about cracking Enigma (which apparently didn't actually occur in a sustained way until the very end of the war), this book tells the more nuanced story of the hard detailed grunt work and multiple approaches that gradually (and periodically) improved the ability of the allies to get more timely and accurate information on German plans, even as the the codes and methods evolved.

Particularly fascinating to me was seeing how successes were often the result of taking advantage in weaknesses in well-intentioned German implementation procedures rather than in Enigma itself. For example, the author points out that the German guidance that a code should never repeat the same character -- guidance that is usually applied to modern passwords to this day -- actually weakened the overall strength of the encryption by eliminating an entire letter from consideration. As another example, the practice of sometimes send out the exact same message both to Navy warships using Enigma and other vessels using a lesser (i.e. cracked) coding method would provide a template for reverse-engineering the enigma key (another practice that would still apply today).

Bernard Mayes' has a nice voice with an even cadence that I generally found enjoyable. Much of the book is telling a highly suspenseful story, and in these sections his even cadence let's the natural excitement of the book shine through.

However, as noted by other reviewers, there are places where the book goes into fairly dense levels of detail, and in these sections Mr. Mayes' even cadence can be very slow going. Had I been reading the book in paper format I would have just skimmed these denser sections, going to re-read any that I found interesting or useful, but that's not possible in the audio format. And, I didn't want to just skip these sections as the background being provided is important to the overall understanding of the book.

Then I got the idea to mimic skimming by using the Audible Apps Narration Speed control and the Jump Back button. When set to about 1.2-1.3x speed, the reading still sounded natural but went by at a fast enough pace that kept my interest. And whenever a section proved interesting but I felt I might have missed something, I would hit the Jump Back button to re-listen to 30 or 60 seconds. Then, when the story resumed, I would go back to normal 1x speed.

All-in-all, it's a great story that's well told and provides lessons that are still useful today. I highly recommend it.

Fascinating Story - I learned a lot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic book, exhaustive research and filled with great detail. I also love this reader’s style; nice and understated.

Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Enigma

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Enigma story is like something out of a thriller- the author recounts several daring exploits in the quest for Enigma, but they fall a little flat. I think part of the problem is the narrator; I have several other books narrated by him which I quite enjoyed but his lack on inflection in this recording is disappointing. I still enjoyed the book, but I wasn't able to just listen all the way through as is my habit.

A somewhat slow narrative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Way more information than I ever knew about the Enigma. An excellent book for the history buff.

Loved it, incredible detail.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very well done. Exciting plot, wonderful narrative. This is a great value for those interested in history.

Great Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thought I knew this history but no I learned I did know even half of the story. Great read, deep research and a superb performance. It can get a bit wonky and detailed. I’m no math whiz and I stayed interested and engaged. Well Done!

This is the COMPLETE history of the Enigma Code Breakers.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews