Dilly: The Man Who Broke Enigmas

(Paperback)

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The highly eccentric Alfred Dillwyn Knox, known simply as 'Dilly', was one of the leading figures in the British codebreaking successes of the two world wars. During the first, he was the chief codebreaker in the Admiralty, breaking the German navy's main flag code, before going on to crack the German Enigma ciphers during the Second World War at Bletchley Park. It was at Bletchley that Dilly enjoyed the triumphant culmination of his life's work: a reconstruction of the Enigma machine used by the Abwehr, the German Secret Service. This ensured that the British were fully aware of what the German commanders knew about the Allied plans for the invasion of Europe, allowing MI5 and MI6 to use captured German spies to feed false information back to the Nazi spymasters. Dilly's codebreaking skills played a vital part in the deception operation that ensured the success of the D-Day landings. Knox, however, did not live to see the fruits of his work, sadly dying of cancer in 1943.

Reviews

'Very impressive: historically significant and worthwhile reading for both historians and anyone interested in problem-solving, code-breaking and certainly the Second World War.' History Today

Author Bio

Mavis Batey was one of 'Dilly's girls', the young female codebreakers allocated to help him break the various Enigma ciphers. Batey, the author of numerous books, advised Kate Winslet, star of the film Enigma, on what it was like to be one of the few female codebreakers at Bletchley Park.