This isn't a ham radio entry today. While away on Barbados I took a couple of books with me to fill in time on the beach. The Invisible War by Gil Murray is a fascinating read on a little known top secret group of Royal Canadian Signal Corps operating in Australia, from 1944 to 1946. The group intercepted and deciphered Japanese military signal. Number One Canadian Special Wireless Group (1CSWG) was part of the Allied Special Wireless units that provided vital advance information about Japanese battle plans.
Gil Murray says, " Long after the war's end, the very existence of 1CSWG and its part in the Pacific victory has remained unknown to Canadians. Canada's contribution to the top-secret Allied operations known in the Pacific as "Magic" and in Europe as "Ultra" could not be told under the Official Secrets Act." Canada and other Allied countries had been monitoring Japanese military signals since before the outbreak of war in the Pacific in 1941.
The book details the lives of the 336 operators, their equipment and skills and their survival in the bleak hostile terrain of Australia during the Pacific war.
Highly recommended.
"The Invisible War" ISBN 1-55002-371-3
