The Secret War

By Johnson, Brian
1978, British Broadcasting Corporation, London
ISBN 0563174250
Hardcover, 352 pages.

Descripton: This is the companion book to the famous BBC TV series. It covers the enormous scientific efforts undertaken throughout the war, by both sides, in their continuous struggle to attain and maintain technological advantage. Many aspects of the U-Boat war are featured and this book provides an excellent primer on all of the key technologies: Magnetic mines, ASDIC, Hedgehog, Huff-Duff; centimetric radar; METOX and Naxos; the Leigh Light; the long drawn out development of effective depth charges by the British; plus the huge contributions of the back-room boffins of Operational Research and the Enigma codebreaking. The book is both lucid and extremely entertaining, covering even obscure weapons such as the man-carrying helicopter observation kite used by some type IX U-Boats, the Fa330 Bachstelze. The book has a depth of coverage far greater than that which could be achieved in the TV episodes, and is highly recommended.