Title:
A game of birds and wolves : the ingenious young women whose secret board game helped win World War II
Author:
Edition:
First US edition.
Publication Date:
2020
Publication Information:
New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2020.
Physical Description:
309 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
ISBN:
9780316492096
Abstract:
By 1941, Winston Churchill had come to believe that the outcome of World War II rested on the battle for the Atlantic. A grand strategy game was devised by Captain Gilbert Roberts and a group of ten Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) assigned to his team in an attempt to reveal the tactics behind the vicious success of the German U-boats. Played on a linoleum floor divided into painted squares, it required model ships to be moved across a make-believe ocean in a manner reminiscent of the childhood game, Battleship. Through play, the designers developed "Operation Raspberry," a countermaneuver that helped turn the tide of World War II. Combining vibrant novelistic storytelling with extensive research, interviews, and previously unpublished accounts, Simon Parkin describes for the first time the role that women played in developing the Allied strategy that, in the words of one admiral, "contributed in no small measure to the final defeat of Germany." Rich with unforgettable cinematic detail and larger-than-life characters, [the book] is a heart-wrenching tale of ingenuity, dedication, perseverance, and love, bringing to life the imagination and sacrifice required to defeat the Nazis at sea.
General Note:
"First published in Great Britain in November 2019 by Sceptre" -- Title page verso.
Contents:
Last man standing -- As you wave me goodbye -- They will come -- Wolves -- Pineapples and champagne -- Never at sea -- Roberts -- Oak leaves and Christmas trees -- The aces and the note -- The citadel -- Raspberry -- The royal key -- The elephant has landed -- Nulli secundus -- The battle of birds and wolves: part I -- The battle of birds and wolves: part II -- Honours -- The gun in the night -- The sisterhood of the linoleum -- Postscript -- Epilogue.
Corporate Subject:
Language:
English
