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'r*nSilent ciphers speakcoursel | • i V •1. •. ■' j / • • •r r • * % ’ 11 ’ *By Drew Middleton /v/Zv because the. Germans hadNew York Times Writer ft ' mJW dP,-lt;'r ”'achine 19v^.•.:•-the’J.ap anese. ■... .%Ultra’s development is a story as bizarre as anything in spy fiction, It began in 1938 in a factory in eastern Ger-war J .0\One sunny niorhihg in 1940, 3oi.SteWardMenries!Offeri'. ain‘s SecretlntetUfeenceSer-t'ice sent fourslips ofpaper to :he British -Air Minist.ryi fheir contents were prosaic -• routine personnel changes in the German LuftWaffWvBut. -they had boen'fsent from one: German coinirn^n-deir t6 : another and f^' resented an extraordinary' intelligente achieve.ment/. many where a young Polish mechanic was engaged in the manufacture oi what; he judged was some form' of. secret signaling machine. The Gestapo discovered his Polish nationality and deported him to Poland. He got.7 .The intelligence service had lt;:,i proved that it could intercept high-ife^cl Nazi military sigm . aJs and break the ciphers in which they were sent.. Secret Messages ' /'For five and a half yeqrsj/ Ultra, as the operation was called, provided iBritish and U.S. leaders with the contents of secret messages between the top military and political leaders of the Third Keich.At the most important periods of- the. war,:western leaders were able to’ learn the precise composition, strength, and location of enemy forces and, equally important,to del er mine what the. enemy intended to dp in many operations.For a.third of a.century Ultra remained a secret. An official British ban on any mention of the operation-was lifted last spring.. This enabled a retired group captain of the Koval Air Force, FredW. Wmterbotham,'formerly of the Secret Intelligence Service, to write the story of I he operation,in which he had played a major role. ■Bidding BeginsHis book, “The- Ultra. Secret,” by Weidenfeld Nicholson, was published in Londonlast fall. A' number, of. Am erica n publishers are reported to be bidding for.it because of ils vivid picture of the manner in which intelligence of the highest • sensitfyily is ■ gathered, processed and used : in war/ ,m-to find the right answer for a single cipher setting: *lt;?»■ ■■■'. -Math iWlicate .,• . ' •itf? • , In Britain/ ‘'BackroomBoys” mathematicians from the great universities “ Set,to wor k to duplicate E nigtiia, Using the then.very new science of clectirbnics th'jgr conquered the prbblems' Enigma variations' and AV -1 ate wihter. the British haa* a reproduction of,the enciphering machine and the rtieans.of cracking the ciphers, y ';J • ^ 1 I •• ‘V . *. / ^ ^■ Then ■ came- the task^of, obtaining a Single and correct translation of the signals that \yerc deciphered in the original Gorman; . . ■■r .The -author . says nothing about the means by. which the .signals were, deciphered. .//•, ’ * . ! * •’ *The problem arose of how the literally priceless information was to be passed oh to. the military : Obviously ; if foe. Germans 'suspected a lejik they would stop using Eni|-ma or make its operation's even more complex.Restrict AccessVery strict rules .were ,js-tablished to •/ rest rict,. ihe number of people \Vho kneiv about the existence of. Ultra , information and to insure that no. actions, would alert the German that the Allies had knowledge of their, plaris.' ' 1 ’ ’ ♦* ’ ‘r ■’ 1 ■ . ■ ^ “Throughout the war at sea and. in the air. these precautions were strictly observed, Ultra, for example, informed , the /British navy/ in the •: Mediterranean of a sweep'rby the Italian fleet in 1941. TheWinslohChurchU!The Fate of Coventry. ■ 1 - ' {‘in touch there with British intelligence. ; . ■ . ■Smuggled to ParisThe British smuggled himto Paris. There he was givena workshop and,with the aidof a carpenter/began to builda wooden mock-up of themachine he ; had seen inGermany.-/'’ ' /, ' f , , \ - ’ * *’• ' 1 f 1 ' “Shortly it became apparent.that the machine was an improved mechanical cipher machine eailed Enigma' bv■ r-r *■ its German makers.Rnigma was a system of clpct.rically. connected revolving drums around .whichThe-book adds a new di-.i; mensioii lo the history of '• World Wav 1LUltra intercepts of signals between Hitler and Gen. Gunther \?on Kluge led to thetion was protected by sending a ./flying boat ostensibly/|o “'spot** the;Ital,ian fleet.The Italians char.ged their plans. Ultra ■ reported the -ch angc': andvlhe ; Britishcaught them;off Greece and crippled.the,fleet.. iUltra was the!,cause of one of Churchill’s most agonizing decisions. /' • -uSomeone SlippedUuftwaffe orders use dran the letters of the alphabet. A, typewriter fed the -code-names for- BWtish cities letters of a message into the during ihe bombmg ‘in l940. machine where they were so But on the afternoon Of Nov. proliferated by the drums 15 someone in Berlin .slipped that, it was estimated, a team . and the name Coventry came..... - .. , .of. mathematicians .might re- through;- UltraIt would.bedestruction of a large;part of citiUtc a month/to work Out all : ;four or five/hours before thehbw r:n,-mfin rn,vnfic in Mrtr- t|ir! pernv^atiohs' necessary -:-.bpmbers,:.-.reacheii- i'he midlands city,;'... .. . ..Best Sellers Churchill had time, if hechose, to order'the evacua-the German forces in. Nor mandy in 1944 after the Allied landing. Ultra enabled American fliers to shoot/ down Adm, Vamomoto, the Japandse commander, in the Pacific. '■Why was Gen. George S. Patton, commander of the United States 3rd Army, able lo cross the Rhine in boats without artillery and air preparation? Ultra told himthere was little opposition onthe eastern bank.*’ 1 •*: Escape TrapWhy was Adm.. Chester W. Nimitz.. Ihe Pacific Naval Commander, able to escape a Japanese naval trap at Midway? Because Ultra told of Japanese intentions three weeks before they moved.Ultra's usefulness had been extended to the Pacific war -:—--rconsccuNve,FfCTfONBawd *f‘than 250 tion of the p-opulation. But\SS:r,!S?iK2SSAlK Ulis uould have been impassible lo conceal, and evacuation would have, given away the possession of prior information.- .The prime minister- took the tough course; he alerted Ihe air force, the fire and ambulance services and the . police. But the Germans blew the heart out of Coventry.!“This is the sort of terrible• • ,p decision that sometimes has to be made oil the:highest levels in war/’- the author writes. “It was unquestionably the right oiie, but I 'am glad it was not 1 who had to lake il.”lt;c6pvri»hi) (Copyright) •ThisL*vt Wtefcs'We** -WMfc efl LijiK Mlch^r«r.1'1 TitiY.tr 17 i\\*r,Zi\4\tr,SpY-LeCarre. ‘23?3. Nells/. 34■t. Ihe S^alulSwiipMev«r.' 5% 95. TteDftUtfW*r619A, The- i .57. Ja^s. 0irchl5v.• 7 '37GENERAL ,•r1. All Thirt** RrilM.. BMutilul.Herrlos.i7. A tiridf* Tom Fir.wRvaniA73. All 1h* M*rt.'' Sernstftln arid Woodward,254. Tft4 Mtftnorv■ Lorayne*nd LycflL.35. Tr,§ Wom^n MeMarl in5146. T*tINwer,■Casfaneda. *10. 7, Yw lt;Uft tf+til Frim * -- !3?
Newspaper Details
Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City, Utah, US
Sun, Nov 17, 1974
Page 28
Full Page
Clipped by
William J.
MO, USA 08 Oct 2019
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