A Game of Birds and WolvesA Game of Birds and Wolves

"By 1941, Winston Churchill had come to believe that the outcome of World War II rested on the battle for the Atlantic. A grand strategy game was devised by Captain Gilbert Roberts and a group of ten Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) assigned to his team in an attempt to reveal the tactics behind the vicious success of the German U-boats. Played on a linoleum floor divided into painted squares, it required model ships to be moved across a make-believe ocean in a manner reminiscent of the childhood game, Battleship. Through play, the designers developed 'Operation Raspberry,' a countermaneuver that helped turn the tide of World War II.... Simon Parkin describes for the first time the role that women played in developing the Allied strategy that, in the words of one admiral, 'contributed in no small measure to the final defeat of Germany.'"--Publisher.