One Day in August: Ian Fleming, Enigma, and the Deadly Raid on Dieppe (edição 2020)

This is an amazingly detailed look at perhaps one of the deadliest operations in World War II. The events behind the scenes were long kept secret and Canadian historian James O’Keefe searched through mounds of documents to find the truth. ( )

David O’Keefe gave us a new and refreshing perspective on the Dieppe Raid repositioning Dieppe from a meaningless and costly raid to an limited offensive that was designed to capture meaningful German code intelligence and ideally a 4 rotor Enigma Machine.

Viewed from this perspective the Dieppe Raid can be viewed as a justifiable operation with lofty goals that unfortunately failed in all objectives. With the release of new sources that led to this new take on the Dieppe mission, this becomes a must read.
The book also discusses the background of the Naval Intelligence Division, the Ian Fleming and other persons of interest early on in the British code breaking endeavor and how they developed and acquired resources to break German Naval Codes. ( )

It's hard to believe that things are still being declassified this long after World War II. Recently released documents shed new light on the raid at Dieppe. Previously, it was thought that the raid was undertaken to boost British morale or ease pressure on the Eastern Front. It was actually an attempt to 'pinch' a four rotor Enigma machine and associated code material.

Most of the book is not about the raid itself, but about the huge task of dealing with breaking German naval codes. Several other 'pinch' raids are covered as well as the planning for the raid at Dieppe.

This is a very good book. Obtained through LT ER program. ( )

One Day in August by David O'Keefe (London : Icon Books Ltd ; 2020) revisits the August 1942 Allied Powers (United Kingdom, Canada, United States) raid on the English Channel coastal town of Dieppe, France, occupied by the German Wehrmacht since the fall of France in 1940. Although a military disaster, the Dieppe Raid provided valuable lessons-learned for the June 1944 cross-channel invasion of France that would lead to Allied victory in Europe and serve as the beginning of the end of World War II. The book was first published in Canada by Knopf in 2013. ( )

I rather enjoyed this book, even if the subject is grim. Plenty of information about Enigma decrypting, details of the planning of the Dieppe raid and the prior operations that it was based on. Very solid history work by Mr. O'Keefe.