Behind the battle

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Many recent studies have covered aspects of the military intelligence available to Britain and her allies during the Second World War, but until now no succint survey of the whole field has existed. By the end of 1942 Ultra had become the richest and most reliable of the many different sources, but the relation between their individual contributions requires analysis. This authoritative book provides that service and offers a detailed study. When war began, Britain was ill-prepared in intelligence as in armaments. Civilian scientists had discovered the principle of radar in the mid-1930s, but everything else had to be learned from scratch in the heat of the emergency. First signs of improvement came in mid-1941, when Ultra targeted navel vessels and bomber aircraft on to so many of Rommel's supply ships that the Afrika Korps almost withered on the vine. From then on intelligence played an increasingly indispensable part in final victory. Ultra won the Battle of the Atlantic, driving the U-boats back to coastal waters by June 1943. A lower grade code gave Montgomery the vital first news of the whereabouts of the German tanks as he planned the breakthrough at Alamein.