Product Description

'Without these three men it might never have been possible to have D-Day in June 1944. It's hard to think of three individual servicemen who did more to hasten the Allied victory' - Robert Harris, author of "Enigma". 'They played a pivotal part in bringing the Battle of the Atlantic to an earlier close' - Prince Andrew. 'A contribution to the winning of the war that few could match' - Tony Blair. The capture of the Enigma codes helped shorten the Second World War by at least a year. Churchill took a special interest in the information that came out of Bletchley Park's Station X and he guarded his contact well so that the Germans would never find out the source.Without the quick actions of three men from HMS Petard, who clambered aboard a sinking German U-boat, the codes might never have been broken. On the night of 30 October 1942, First Lieutenant Tony Fasson, accompanied by Able Seaman Colin Grazier and Tommy Brown, climbed aboard U-559. Passing codebooks up through the hatch, Fasson and Grazier were caught aboard the sub as she suddenly sank. Brown was saved, along with the code books, and the rest, they say, is history...It wasn't until 1969 that the men were mentioned for their work in rescuing the Enigma codes, and even then it was in the comic "The Hornet". Phil Shanahan tells the extraordinary story of the three men who saved countless Allied lives and shortened the war by a year, as well as the efforts to recognise their bravery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106276 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-31
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

About the Author
Phil Shanahan is Deputy Editor of the Tamworth Herald. He lives in Staffordshire.

Customer Reviews

Review on 'The Real Enigma Heroes'
A truly superb book, brilliantly researched. An emotive read about the true story of men who sacrificed their lives in retrieving the enigma code books from a German U boat. Their amazing bravery shortened the war and saved thousands of lives. It is wonderful that the author has brought true recognition at last to these brave men and the crew of HMS Petard. After reading the book I really feel I know the different characters that are involved with this story and what they did to win our freedom.

A fitting tribute to three true heroes
Like many people who are obsessed with history, I really enjoy pondering the great `what if?' questions. But here's a `what if?' that is probably considered less frequently. What if Britain had failed to break the Enigma code? How then would history have altered?
The answer to this question is simple. The whole outcome of the Second World War might have been very different. And the Allies could easily have lost.
But how many of us really know the true background to how those codes came to be broken?
This excellent new book helps us by taking a fresh angle on a fascinating part of Second World War history and lifting the cloak on a decades-long secret.
By way of background, we need to go back to the early 1940s. Britain was virtually alone against the might of the Third Reich and risked being starved to submission. Only the frequent supplies we received from across the Atlantic kept us alive.
However, those vital supplies were in danger of drying up because of the Germans' deadly U-boats which, seemed to be picking off shipping at will. The way the U-boats communicated with each other to plot their deadly assaults was via their highly-sophisticated Enigma codes, which they believed to be unbreakable. So if the codes were unbreakbale, the Germans were, seemingly, unstoppable.
In this scenario, one can see that if things had carried on in the same way in the following years, there is no way that all the American troops would have been able to cross the Atlantic before 1944 and therefore there would have been no D-Day on June 6. And who knows then how long the war could have carried on?
This book looks at how the Enigma codebooks were captured by the British Navy. We know about the wonderful work of our best mathematicians and scientists in finally breaking the codes at Bletchley Park, but this book takes us one important step back to uncover the truth about the three men who actually grabbed the documents in the first place.
Phil Shanahan, a Midlands journalist, discovered almost by accicent that one of the men (Colin Grazier) used to live on his 'patch'. Phil decided to pursue this as then untold story - and it was a decision that for for the next 10 years was to dominate his personal and professional life.
Within a few years of that first chance discovery, Phil had transformed his Midlands town into an unlikely Naval outpost and he had the statisfaction of orchestrating the official unveiling of an impressive memorial to the men in the town where both Tony Blair and Prince Andrew sent messages to be read out.
Tony Blair said: "Without a doubt Colin made a contribution to the winning of the war that few people could match," and Prince Andrew said: "Few acts of courage can ever have had such far reaching consequences."
Powerful stuff indeed and yet none of this would have happened had it not been for the author's eye for a story - and his determination to finally give recognition where it was truly due.
This is Phil's story but more importantly it is the story of three brave sailors - Colin Grazier, Tony Fasson and Tommy Brown. They are not names that trip off the tongue when it comes to talking about great British military figures but, as this book so perfectly illustrates, the sacrifice they made means they truly deserve that much over-hyped title of `heroes'. And this book finally does them justice.
An excellent - and very important - work.

The definitive book about HMS Petard and it's role in cracking Enigma
If you buy only one book about The Royal Navy and it's role in the capturing of the Enigma codes then this is the one to choose. It is an excellent starting point for those who have an interest in World War II code breaking and brings the story right up to the present day with the author's campaign in Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK.
My Grandfather was Albert Claude Warwick Evans who served on the HMS Petard during this time so I have just purchased two more copies of the book, for his widow and son as they will no doubt enjoy this book too. I will also be buying a further copy for my Mother for Christmas.
Thank you to Phil Shanahan for both his campaign and what I would call the definitive book to date on the HMS Petard and how it's crew's efforts helped to defeat the U-Boats.