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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | For the first time, the inside story of the brilliant American engineer who defeated Enigma and the Nazi code-masters
Much has been written about the success of the British “Ultra” program in cracking the Germans’ Enigma code early in World War II, but few know what really happened in 1942, when the Germans added a fourth rotor to the machine that created the already challenging naval code and plunged Allied intelligence into darkness.
Enter one Joe Desch, an unassuming but brilliant engineer at the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio, who was given the task of creating a machine to break the new Enigma settings. It was an enterprise that rivaled the Manhattan Project for secrecy and complexity–and nearly drove Desch to a breakdown. Under enormous pressure, he succeeded in creating a 5,000-pound electromechanical monster known as the Desch Bombe, which helped turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic–but not before a disgruntled co-worker attempted to leak information about the machine to the Nazis.
After toiling anonymously–it even took his daughter years to learn of his accomplishments–Desch was awarded the National Medal of Merit, the country’s highest civilian honor. In The Secret in Building 26, the entire thrilling story of the final triumph over Enigma is finally told.
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| | Product Details | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 5 reviews |
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10 of 13 found the following review helpful:
The Codebreakers of Dayton, Ohio Jul 21, 2004
By Celia Redmore
"Celia Redmore"
Until now too little has been said about the contributions of Americans towards decrypting either German ?Enigma? or Japanese ?Purple? ciphers. From 1941 until the end of the war the Americans and British collaborated ? in a sometimes prickly relationship ? with the desperate task of deciphering the messages sent between German U-boats in the North Atlantic and Grossadmiral Karl D?nitz, commander-in-chief of the German Navy. Fortunately for the allies, the admiral liked to keep in close touch with his fleet of U-boats, providing a steady stream of messages with clues to the U-boats? position and intentions.
In 1939, with Germany threatening to invade Poland, the Polish had turned over to their British and French allies all the work they had done during the previous nine years on the ciphers generated by a machine called an ?Enigma? that the Germans used to send secret messages. The Polish artifacts included a mechanical device called a ?bomba kryptologiczna?, or ?bombe? in French. In response, the British set up a Code and Cypher School (note the British spelling of cipher) at Bletchley Park. That story has been well told many times and the contributions of at least some of the men and women who served there ? most notably the mathematician Alan Turing ? have been publicly recognized.
In the United States much of the code breaking was done in Dayton, Ohio, by NCR in cooperation with the US Navy. The Bombes used in the US were designed and constructed in Building 26 under the leadership of engineer Joe Desch. Desch was one of many people who have never received proper acknowledgement for their work during the World War II because of the tight security surrounding their duties. Putting together their story has been a labor of love for Dayton reporter, Jim DeBrosse, and security historian Colin Burke. Be warned that there is very little about the technical aspects of Enigma encryption in ?The Secret in Building 26?, but there is a wealth of information about the men and women who worked ? often for years of long, hard days and under tremendous strain ? for the love of their country.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Enigma Apr 10, 2012
By BobR
I had read the book "Enigma" which is the story of this remarkable device from the British perspective. It is very interesting to fill the gaps by reading the story from the American side of the problems.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The Secret in Building 26 Oct 14, 2011
By Thomas A. Tag
An interesting and well written book. This story covers a little known chapter of the history of World War II and America's part in solving the German code problem. While the British developed the procedures, America was able to create better and faster decoding equipment that assisted both countries in solving the problem.
 A Tormented Codebreaker in Dayton Oct 06, 2011
By Roger Davis
The Secret in Building 26 is the story of a project given the same national priority as the Manhattan project.The design of a massive device (bombe) to break the German enigma code. A device developed by a Ohioan named Joe Desch,-a devoted Christian, near pacifist, who was also a world class engineer who knew Orville Wright and at one point had Alan Turing himself sleeping on his living room floor.
And Desch would successfully design the bombe, which even the British admitted was far superior to what they had.-but at a horrible cost. Due to his German ancestry (he spoke the language fluently and his wife had at least one family member who was a member of the Nazi's party) He was forced to have the hated Captain Meader as his permanent houseguest to keep a eye on him, and to pressure him to design/build the bombe was quickly as possible, with Meader reminding him that every day lost meant the death of young men...and Captain Meader making it clear to Desch that Desch was very, very much personally responsible for those deaths. .not surprising that Desch would eventually breakdown.
In 1942, Desch who invented the first electronic accounting machine was asked to build the a new Codebreaking machine (Bombe) that would be capable of breaking the latest and future Enigma settings. With almost unlimited manpower and funding, it still took months and many maddening failures before the success. All the while with Desch 's houseguest reminding him non stop on how every one of Desch's failures was responsible for boys drowning in the Atlantic.
However once the American bombe was designed/built,even the British admitted the clear superiority of the American version over their own. This was thanks to the Desch 's and his Midwestern band of fellow engineers. Though further refinements would be needed throughout the War as the Germans tinkered with the enigma system
Desch's work was not done however. the Navy next had Desch work on building devices to break the Japanese code. though Desch was successful, after going though the guilt accusations of his houseguest and keeper while building the American bombe, the stress and the knowledge that he was now sending Japanese boys to die was too much for the near pacifist Destich. He suffered a nervous breakdown and only returned after the head of Naval Communications Intelligence Wenger flew down and persuaded him to come back.
(Wenger himself had a nervous breakdown and the authors discuss the very large number of personnel in codebreaking who suffered breakdowns and possible reasons why)-But Meader would remain as his "houseguest".
It should be mentioned that a fascinating side chapter in the book deals with the hundreds of WAVES that helped build and run the Bombes. And how successfully the Navy integrated them into the naval workforce, due to the fact that unlike the Army, it was not attempted to treat them like men but was accepted that they had to be treated differently.
Like the men, the hundreds of WAVES never talked throughout the decades. The official story given to the local (since hundreds of WAVES couldn't be hidden) was they were in Dayton learning how to run business machines-though until the declassification in the1990s, they never were even in Dayton according to the official records.
After the War, Destich turned down prime offers in National Intelligence and Private Industry. staying where he was born, lived and would die in near obscurity, in Dayton Ohio. His work remaining unknown until after his death. In reading the book, one come away with the definite feeling that exactly how Destich would have wanted it.
A documentary "Dayton Codebreakers" covers the events in the books, (Goggle "Dayton Codebreakers" and you will get a website concerning the theme.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Building 26 Aug 06, 2009
By Walter D. Phelps
A good read that informs the reader of the other, american contribution to codebreaking in WW II
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