Picture Quiz 5 answer

Detail from the Enigma Machine

So who spotted the Enigma Machine? It was possibly a bit easier than the Viking lock and key.

Essentially the enigma machine was developed by the Germans during World War II to encrypt messages so that they could be transmitted securely. For a time the code seemed unbreakable. Alan Turing cracked the code with his team at Bletchley Park. The brilliant mathematician was eventually able to use the Bletchley Park Bombe machine to decrypt the signals.

Polish mathematicians initially started the process which was complicated when the Germans started changing their code every day. The capture of a set of code books and an in tact enigma machine by the Royal Navy on May 9th 1941 was key to the success – in later times Holywood played fast and loose with history by replacing the British Navy with an American force.

Having been to Bletchley Park I am still more than a little confused by what went on in hut 8, despite using the children’s guide and can only conclude that some very clever people worked there.

The Enigma Machine
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