Posted on 11/16/2011 10:35:32 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
In December 1932, the Polish Cipher Bureau first broke Germany's War II, on 25 July 1939, in Warsaw, they presented their Enigma-
from wiki Enigma Machine
decryption techniques and equipment to French and British
military intelligence.[3][4] Thanks to this,[5] during the war, Allied
codebreakers were able to decrypt a vast number of
messages that had been enciphered using the Enigma.
The intelligence gleaned from this source, codenamed "Ultra"
by the British, was a substantial aid to the Allied war effort.[6]
, I was sent to Bletchley Park about 40 miles away. This as a very low level radio operator. I did six months training there. They told us we could get ten years durance vile, for informing anyone as to what we did. The embargo was lifted ten years ago.
The place was a going concern all through the 1950's and longer. I saw the late Johnny Cash being interviewed by Larry King. He was asked what he did in the American Airforce.
"High speed intercept morse operator"
Johnny put the finger on it. Still feel a bit squeamish about the exact details even yet. Ok they were watching the Ruskies, I got sent up to remote North Scotland to a radio station, The shift work was brutal. Lasted nearly two years.
Know that once fine building well. Post office trained hundreds of young women at the facility. Glad to see the concern of old friend Google.
Interesting article.
Read The Code Book (non fiction by the author of the Fermat book) and Cryptonomicon, a fantastic historic fiction that I have enjoed more than once.
Saw an excellent detailed documentary this past week on Bletchley!!!....amazing
Thanks Ernest! Almost a GGG “Thoroughly Modern Miscellany” topic.
Thanks.
QSL Bump.
I wish they would spend 1/2 of that 20% of their time fixing the poor performance and silly interface failings of Android.
...it might have been BBC but I don't think so....
It was amazingly detailed....however, my husband noted they never did say how they broke the code....
..they talked all around it....described it.....made the point they destroyed the machine when all was over...(although they had bits and pieces of the code machine left).....
...they talked about how Stalin probably knew of it.....but Hitler never did....that they discovered a mole at Bletchley, but hinted he might have been 'turned'.....it was fairly comprehensive
...I will try to find it for you.
Amazing what secrets come to light after so many years..........YET, I tend to believe its only the tip of the iceberg and the important 'bits' are never revealed
The fairly new Spy Museum in DC is rather good.
After the WWII end, Churchill issued a ban on information that Enigma cipher was broken. As a result, many Enigma machines were still in operation by unsuspecting foreign governments well into the 1960s.
Still have it in my library.
I believe that the public was not told the Enigma/Ultra story until about the time of the release of The Ultra Secret, the script on the book cover claims this was when it was first revealed.
A Man Called Intrepid was released a little later and has a section devoted to Enigma. Also fascinating.
What countries would have used an Enigma after the war? For what? Communication we tapped into?
. Incidentally, the countries where the bulk of Nazis who fled via Vatican's Ratlines settled.
Also, some ENIGMA machines were discovered in Spain, but it was not clear until when they were in use. Spain also played an important role in hiding Nazis after WWII.
My take: If Nazi expertise was used to establish NSA and staff CIA, BND and Mukhabarat in various Arab countries, very likely it was used in South America also. Keeping the countries who obtained ENIGMA in the dark does make sense in retrospective. Nazis were given free pass in order to work for UKUSA interest. Keeping them in dark about ENIGMA being cracked was a way to keep tab on them.
It would be an easy way to keep tabs on them...we'll never know for sure - but it makes sense. Thanks for sharing.
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