Bletchley Park and D-Day cover art

Bletchley Park and D-Day

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About this listen

The untold story of Bletchley Park's key role in the success of the Normandy campaign

Since the secret of Bletchley Park was revealed in the 1970s, the work of its codebreakers has become one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. But cracking the Nazis' codes was only the start of the process. Thousands of secret intelligence workers were then involved in making crucial information available to the Allied leaders and commanders who desperately needed it.

Using previously classified documents, David Kenyon casts the work of Bletchley Park in a new light, as not just a codebreaking establishment but as a fully developed intelligence agency. He shows how preparations for the war's turning point - the Normandy landings in 1944 - had started at Bletchley years earlier, in 1942, with the careful collation of information extracted from enemy signals traffic. This account reveals the true character of Bletchley's vital contribution to success in Normandy and, ultimately, Allied victory.

©2019 David Kenyon (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc. 20th Century Europe Great Britain Military Modern England War Imperialism

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Adds more detail to D day story than I have ever heard elsewhere. The narrator can't do accents but is OK.

Great

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The role and scope of the intelligence gathering, analysis and the organisational structures of Bletchley have never before been explored in such depth. The book lays bare the benefits of team work, sharing and trust providing a template for modern Intelligence services so often ignored with resultant dire consequences.

Outstanding and detailed

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Really lifts the lid on the extent of codebreaking at Bletchley, very comprehensive, but could be a bit shorter.

A deeper look at Bletchley Park

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Interesting and comprehensive account, well written and easy to follow.
Unfortunately the dry, academic style of the reader can become tedious and the decision by the (clearly English) reader to pronounce the letter 'z' as ”zee” rather than ”zed” is particularly annoying.

Let down by reader.

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Bletchley Park (BP) by 1945 had become an intel factory, employing over 9K. They did vital work against many different codes & machines apart from Enigma. Dr Kenyon, the leading expert on BP's archives, offers a pathbreaking work re both D-Day & BP..

First-rate BP specialist scotches many myths re BP

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interesting account, but annoying narrative. The use of dodgy accents greatly distracted from the tale and nearly led to abandoning the book several times.

Good story but distracting narration

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If you like your facts and figures then this is for you, I am glad that I listened to the book otherwise I would have put it down.

facts and figures

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Interesting and mainly good narration except for the ridiculous and almost comic 'aloh aloh' style German accent, which somewhat spoils the book.

German Accent becomes very annoying

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A potentially interesting subject poorly presented and read by a man with a speech impediment.

Failed to meet my expectations

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As a piece of research work, Dr David Kenyon has given us the definitive book in just how GC&CS did their day to day work and how it effected the outcome of one of the most important campaigns.

I was a little disappointed that Blackstone let a few fluffs through around the 3 hour mark ... GC&GS ... Von Rumsfeld, jumped out. Also some of the ‘impressions’ by the narrator were verging on the comical.

Brilliantly researched

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