A Game of Birds and Wolves, Simon Parkin

 

A Game of Birds and Wolves:  The ingenious young women whose secret board game helped win World War II by Simon Parkin was on a list of upcoming books and a quick look at the description was compelling.

Started: 4/29/2021
Completed: 5/2/2021
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I am not big on war books.  This one, however, which mixes gaming and war as a means of understanding tactics caught my eye.  Add on that this is the story of women (at a time when women were not welcome) as analysts and players and this was a must-read for me.  This book offers an excellent broad look at the war in the Atlantic and the effort to bring food and supplies to beleaguered England.  Alternatively, it also brings to light how crucial the Germans felt it was to starve England.  Unfortunately, it is light on details of the women.

Roberts, who headed the tactical unit, is a man and well covered.  Despite his personal feeling that he and the WRENs who served with him did not receive the credit they deserved, at least there is some lasting memory of his work.  The WRENs however are known by name in some cases, by to whom they were married in others, and simply by function in yet more.  The book does a great job of describing the circumstances at the time, detailing much of Roberts' life, and offering insights (clearly gleaned from diaries and other original sources) of the WRENs themselves, but he does a much better job of putting the reader in Roberts shoes then in any of the WRENs.

I think that the lack of detail of the WRENs is due to a dearth of source material and not a failing of the author who clearly wanted to find a way to document their contributions without straying from the facts.  All in all, this is a good read, but not the detail of the life of women in the British navy I had hoped it might be.