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  • The Third Reich Is Listening

  • Inside German Codebreaking 1939-45
  • By: Christian Jennings
  • Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
  • Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (41 ratings)
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The Third Reich Is Listening

By: Christian Jennings
Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
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Summary

The codebreakers at Bletchley Park have been immortalised in films such as The Imitation Game and Enigma, but the Germans were also breaking Allied ciphers. The Third Reich Is Listening is the comprehensive account of the successes, failures and science of Germany's codebreaking and signals intelligence operations from 1935 to 1945. 

This fast-moving blend of modern history and popular science is told through colourful personal accounts of the Germans at the heart of the story, including a former astronomer who worked out the British order of battle in 1940, a U-boat commander on the front line of the Battle of the Atlantic and the woman from the foreign ministry decrypting Japanese and Italian signals. 

It investigates how and why a regime as technologically advanced as the Third Reich both succeeded and failed in its battle to break their enemy's codes and to use the resultant intelligence effectively, and why they failed to recognise the fact that the Allies had cracked the enigma code.

©2018 Christian Jennings (P)2018 Audible, Ltd
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Third Reich Is Listening

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good book, bad editing.

A fascinating story if that's your thing, but it almost seems like they uploaded a draft copy of the audio by accident. Words are repeated and mispronounced, and at one point mid sentence the narrator audibly sighs and then starts over again. Long story short: Good book, bad editing.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent, needs a companion PDF

Rather broader than the title suggests, with an excellent introduction and comprehensive view. I learnt a very great deal about Axis efforts and allied failures. I strongly recommend this for anyone interested in the subject or even just the second world war in Europe.

There are two small niggles in an otherwise brilliant book. The narrators describes printed tables etc that needs a PDF to accompany the book, this is a significant issue. The narrator has not been taught/learnt how to pronounce a number of names, appreviations etc. Examples are reading U-Boat type VIIA as type Vee Eye Eye Aay, rather than Type Seven A. Also the German Battlecruiser KMS Gneisenau with a hard G like gnu, rather than a soft G like gnat.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Had to return.

Had to stop listening after 30 minutes die to the poor narration. Use someone else to narrate and I would try again.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A bit heavy in places

I enjoyed it, well read and a great topic. some of the acronyms got a bit much but ok apart from that

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Pretty disappointed

Well first off, the production on this book is pretty poor. The gaps between the announcement of the chapter numbers and names are far too short, so you don’t at first realise it’s a new chapter. There are a bunch of retake error which have been left in ... that’s what happens when you don’t proof the finished recording.

Then as for the content, the explanation are far too long. The timeline jumps around all over the place.

My biggest issue is quite personal. I know an awful amount about Bletchley Park and I’m afraid his research seems to have been not as good as the German side. There a coupe of what are not know to be myths. But the absolute stinker is when he talks about the May 27th Japanese Ambassadors msg after meeting Hitler. He states that Hitler knew the invasion would be in Normandy. What it actually says is that he believe that will be a diversion and then the REAL landing will be at the Channel.

I dislike giving a poor review, but this book deserves it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

interesting having an opposite view point

very detailed and really interesting to know that germany were actually far more technologically advanced within code breaking. if you like the stories of the war you will enjoy hearing it from a german perspective

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

most informative

a chance to hear about the other side in WW2 and very interesting it was.
there are some pronounciation errors and some minor editing errors but overall most enjoyable and enlightening.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

well woth a listen

well read story giving a good idea of the situatiion particularly to a person unfamiliar to it

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fascinating

always hear about British efforts, I was amazed at how much better the Germans often were.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting but quite technical

very well read but some reading errors were not spotted and made it into the production

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