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Ultra’ cooked 6 Enigma V gooseBy LARRY DODSON CN Staff WriterPOLAND 1938- How couldan operation as large and complex as the Normandy Invasion be planned and mounted while the enemy remained in the dark? A better question might be how the Allies knew the Nazi weaknesses and made decisions to attack when and where they did. The answer lies in a little known intelligence device known as “Ultra.”During the late 1930s, the Germans developed a cipher machine that was to be used by the Axis powers all through the war. Known as “Enigma,” its coding abilities were so effective that Hitler and his henchmen could not fathom their codes being broken. They relied heavily on radio transmissions to give orders and exchange information and, with the use of Enigma, communicated with each other with relative impunity.What they did not know was their precious secret was out and the allies were listening n on even the most personal dialogues between Hitler and his generals discussing land and sea strengths and movements, and the best laid plans of the Nazi invaders.In 1938 an unknown and sfdl unidentified Polish mechanic went to work in a factory that manufactured the “Enigma” cipher machine that would eventually carry thesecret messages of the German war effort. Later he was smuggled to Paris where he helped build a wooden mock-up for English Intelligence.In late 1939 an Enigma was smuggled out of Poland where it was dismantled by a team of mathematicians, linguists, and cryptographers, and with the aid of an early computer known affectionately as “The Bronze Goddess” the cryptic secrets of Enigma were soon uncovered. This in itself was no little task since the German device used no fixed code base and was subject to being reprogrammed daily or even hourly. Still, Allied intelligence was able to develop “Ultra,” which decoded Nazi radio transmissions within minutes, and was privy to German (as well as Japanese) transmissions throughout the war.To protect “Ultra,” Churchill made it a capital offense to discuss it and, in fact,Ultra” was not declassified for more than 30 years.Such information is not without its burdens. Even though the intelligence service was privy to the Germans’ plans they could not act on information in such a way as to tip their hand. This often meant not acting on information that took only minutes to decipher.(See, Code, Page 2)
Newspaper Details
Blytheville Courier News
Blytheville, Arkansas, US
Mon, Jun 06, 1994
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
William J.
MO, USA 24 Sep 2019
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