World War II, Untold Str

In the burgeoning literature on the Allied effort to decipher Axis codes, this is the first history to expand the scope of investigation into an account of the entire war. Warner ( Passchendaele ) chronicles the familiar political manipulations, military strategies and decisive battles and, at the same time, explains how ``secret'' and ``independent'' wars influenced World War II's outcome. The secret wars included the operations of spies, deception teams, saboteurs and scientists, as well as the British ``Ultra'' and American ``Magic'' code-breakers, whose work is here brought into clear focus. Warner also shows how those who waged secret wars affected strategy on a large scale: Richard Sorge, for example, a Soviet spy based in Tokyo, warned Stalin of the German invasion and later assured him that the Japanese were not planning to invade Russia, enabling the Soviet leader to divert his Far Eastern divisions to the Western Front. The independent wars included the operations of Merrill's Marauders, the Double Cross Committee and Britain's mastery of radar. Photos. (Oct.)