Posted on 10/25/2008 2:57:39 PM PDT by kellynla
Sixteen crates locked in a dark store room in Madrid for more than 70 years hold the secret to how General Franco might have won the Spanish Civil War.
Inside the crates are Enigma code-making machines that Franco had bought from Nazi Germany and used to co-ordinate his troops who fought on fronts hundreds of miles apart.
The 26 machines were discovered this week by the Spanish daily newspaper El País, hidden in army headquarters since the Civil War ended in 1939, most still in perfect condition.
The Enigma machines gave Franco's Nationalists a crucial advantage because their code was never cracked by their Republican foes. Hitler used the machine to devastating effect to command his forces during the Second World War, until the code was finally deciphered by cryptologists at Bletchley Park, Oxfordshire.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
These guys are revealing your secrets! Lol.
Man, what a find.
interesting history ping
This just in: “Generalismo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
Someday it will be revealed that Obama’s campaign conducted their illegal activity with Pretty Good Privacy. Nothing new under the sun.
Very interesting, but not surprising.
ping
The Brits were reading Franco's code, but they didn't tip off the Republicans. They held their codebreaking prowess pretty close to the vest.
Wonder how much they would bring on eBay. A million apiece I would think...
I think the forces of order would have prevailed even without the Enigma code. Their advantages were overwhelming, with German and Italian support, while the deomcratic powers boycotted the conflict.
Also, why weren’t the Soviets able to figure out Enigma? Perhaps they did, but didn’t let the Spanish Republicans know.
By the way, Franco was able to outsmart Hitler (something Mussolini was unable to do). He got German aid, but refused to allow Hitler to talk him into entering WWII.
Franco was a hero of Western Civ. He kicked the snot out of the Reds in block to block fighting. Name one other person who actually rose up and beat the commies out of his country.
He also told Hitler he could not come through Spain to use Gibraltar.
Thats because didn’t break Enigma until after the Spanish Civil War was over in 1939.
I had a chance to buy an Enigma machine about 30 years ago. Back then, there wasn’t any cable channel interest in WWII and the machine was quite cheap - about $300.00. Of course, I thought the price was quite outrageous . . .
Franco was a hero of Western Civ. He kicked the snot out of the Reds in block to block fighting. Name one other person who actually rose up and beat the commies out of his country.
Also, Franco was not a Fascist. He was a monarchist, and a traditional, European Catholic Christian conservative/reactionary authoritarian.
Jose Primo de Rivera may have been a Fascist. Franco used Primo de Rivera until he was killed, and the Spanish Falange for his (Franco’s) own purposes, just as he was able to use Hitler and Mussolini, and later, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and other Western leaders.
Franco was a very wily politician and national leader.
Not entirely accurate. The French sided with the communists, and the British support wasn't insignificant (although nothing on the order of that from France or Russia). Even the Americans permitted leftists to go and fight, before FDR finally cracked down. (Probably a net gain for this country, as some of them didn't make a round trip.)
Some 9000 Frenchmen fought in Spain for the Communists (that would have been a strong division in those days).
The article says 1937, not 39
****He also told Hitler he could not come through Spain to use Gibraltar.***
He also kept Spain out of WWII when Hitler and Mussolini wanted him in. It is said that in a meeting with Hitler and Benito that he droned on for about two hours on reasons Spain could not join.
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