Communicating in the chaos of war is complicated, but vital. Signals intelligence makes it possible. In World War I, a vast network of signals rapidly expanded across the globe, spawning a new breed of spies and intelligence operatives to code, de-code and analyze thousands of messages. Signallers and cryptographers in the Admiralty’s famous Room 40 paved the way for the code-breakers of Bletchley Park in World War II. In the ensuing war years the world battled against a web of signals intelligence that gave birth to ENIGMA, LORENZ and ULTRA, and saw agents from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, America and Japan race to outwit each other through infinitely complex codes. For the first time, the secret history of global signals intelligence in the world wars is revealed.
Peter Matthews is Secretary of the Foreign Press Association and regularly works with a wide range of international journalists. He has written numerous articles on military history and international relations. He served in the Army in Berlin post-WW2 and developed an active interest and role in Signals Intelligence.