When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 it was woefully unprepared to
wage a modern war. Whereas their European counterparts already had three years of experience in
using code and cipher systems in the war American cryptologists had to help in the building of
a military intelligence unit from scratch. This book relates the personal experiences of one
such character providing a uniquely American perspective on the Great War. It is a story of
spies coded letters plots to blow up ships and munitions plants secret inks arms smuggling
treason and desperate battlefield messages. Yet it all begins with a college English professor
and Chaucer scholar named John Mathews Manly. In 1927 John Manly wrote a series of articles on
his service in the Code and Cipher Section (MI-8) of the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence
Division (MID) during World War I. Published here for the first time enhanced with references
and annotations for additional context these articles form the basis of an exciting
exploration of American military intelligence and counter-espionage in 1917-1918. Illustrating
the thoughts of prisoners of war draftees German spies and ordinary Americans with secrets
to hide the messages deciphered by Manly provide a fascinating insight into the state of mind
of a nation at war.
