Peter Donovan and John Mack's upcoming book on WWII code breaking

Dr Peter Donovan and his colleague John Mack (Honorary Associate Professor, USyd Mathematics and Statistics) are currently putting the final touches on their upcoming book, "Code Breaking in the Pacific". 

The book is slated for an October 2014 release by Springer Publishing.

Of the book, Dr Donovan says, "This is almost certainly the last new material on World War II to be put together in context for publication in a book". Associate Professor Mack adds: "From using archival sources, it traces the history of the Allied development of expertise in code breaking against the Japanese in World War II".

The book explores the development of the cryptanalytic techniques used to break the main Japanese Navy code and the Japanese Army’s Water Transport Code during WWII. It illuminates the issue of how having insider knowledge, via code breaking expertise, allowed significant military advancement and advantage during that period.

Dr Donovan and Associate Professor Mack have both written extensively about WWII code breaking for prominent journals. Dr Donovan is a leading expert on cryptologic history, whose research on the topic spans more than 12 years. In 2003 he was the first in the modern era to recognise the damage done to Japanese Navy communications security by the practice of using only multiples of three as code numbers. This was pivotal in the 1942 Battle for Australia.

We wish Dr Donovan and Associate Professor Mack all the best for the final stages of preparing their book. More details on their book will appear on the website as it comes to hand.