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From: tedrick@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Tom Tedrick)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,sci.crypt
Subject: Re: The talk.politics.misc World War II Trivia Quiz
Message-ID: <20281@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Tue, 25-Aug-87 07:25:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.20281
Posted: Tue Aug 25 07:25:36 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Aug-87 05:43:22 EDT
References: <1664@brspyr1.BRS.Com> <20241@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <1688@brspyr1.BRS.Com>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: tedrick@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Tom Tedrick)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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Keywords: enigma
Xref: mnetor talk.politics.misc:4548 sci.crypt:529

>>>What's YOUR opinion on the "turning point" of World War II?

>>Probably something to do with use and breaking of enigma.

>Been reading _A_Man_Called_Intrepid_ lately, eh?

I've heard from several sources that the above book is not
a reliable source of information.

There are several good books on enigma available in good libraries
if you look hard enough. My favorite is the one on the Polish role
in the breaking of enigma. I don't have access to it currently, but
the title is something like "Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher
was Broken in WW2". I suggest you read it before you come to final
conclusions on the relative importance of intelligence vs. blood
and guts.

>I personally feel that intelligence is vastly overrated in importance.

Well, at least we have a clear point of disagreement for a change :-)

>It takes blood and guts to carry out the policy that intelligence may
>help to decide, but without the flesh and bones to physically beat the
>enemy, all the broken codes in the world come to nothing.

Without good information and good brains to process it, all the blood
and guts in the world come to nothing. Without good strategists all
the courage and self-sacrifice in the world can be useless.

>Anyway, I'd place the work of Richard Sorge and Rote Kapelle as the most
>critical intelligence events of the war.

Anyone more knowledgeable about Rote Kapelle care to comment? I haven't
has time to study the Rote Kapelle carefully. And the book on Sorge is
such tedious reading that I never managed to finish it.