The Emperor's Codes: The Breaking of Japan's Secret Ciphers - Softcover

Smith, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014200233X ISBN 13: 9780142002339

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 2002

Synopsis

In this gripping, previously untold story from World War II, Michael Smith examines how a group of eccentric codebreakers cracked Japan's secret codes and turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. Drawing upon recently declassified British files, privileged access to Australian secret official histories, and interviews with many of the men involved, The Emperor's Codes takes the reader step-by-step through the codebreaking process, explaining exactly how the codebreakers went about their daunting task-made even more difficult by the vast linguistic differences between Japanese and English. It details the grueling work and almost unfathomable dedication demonstrated by these relatively unsung heroes, without whose extraordinary exploits the outcome of World War II might have been very different.

About this title

Review:

While Allied Forces understandably pursued a "Europe-first" policy in the Second World War, the Japanese threat in the Far East grew with every month. Popular history credits the Americans with breaking Japanese codes and saving perhaps two years of conflict. This is not Michael Smith's view. Building on the success of Station X, which heralded British success in cracking the German Enigma cipher, The Emperor's Codes uses recently released British archive records to fill in the details of British and Australian involvement in the Far East. In fact, Smith goes further, and controversially concludes that internal bickering in the US military, compounded by a less than open exchange of information with the British, "must have cost many lives, the majority of them American". In addition, he observes that the Allies knew a Japanese "unconditional surrender", dependent on Emperor Hirohito remaining on the throne, was on the cards before the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, throwing into considerable doubt the need for such demonstratively horrific tactics.

As well as major players such as John Tiltman, Eric Nave and Joe Rochefort, Smith plays out the controversy, as well as the intricacies of cryptography, through recourse to witness statements from the "ordinary" men and women slavishly dedicated to "stripping"--that is, removing the cipher additive. The urgencies and peculiarities of war saw numerous marriages, Oxbridge linguists learning Japanese in six months (experts had predicted five years), a radio broadcast of a concert from Britain's most secret location and an over-optimistic colour-coded ticket scheme at Bletchley Park for meals; bread and butter, so to speak, for the hungry workers. Charting efforts in Ceylon, Singapore, India, Kenya, Australia and, of course, Bletchley Park, Smith's revisionist reading gives proper due to the grass roots co-operation between Allied intelligence which, though unable to prevent the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, helped accelerate Hirohito's surrender. As he makes plain, that it succeeded more in spite of than due to senior US Navy command scathingly undermines the conventional heroic narrative the American military was so quick to proclaim. It's a damning conclusion, but an enthralling read. --David Vincent

Review:

Smith provides plenty of technical information, including three appendices, to satisfy even the most ardent lover of cryptography. But less numerate readers are far from short-changed. Some of the book's most fascinating reading lies in the personal testimonies of the many veterans that Smith has interviewed, 'Anything', confesses one, 'was better than learning to march and salute.' --David Stafford, The Literary Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 014200233X
• ISBN 13: 9780142002339
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520