The Enigma
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/colossus/
The Enigma was the machine used by the Germans to communicate in their won code. You would type in a word and using a set coding system, the machine would scramble and code the words written in to the machine. The Germans believed this code to be unbreakable due to the fact that the only way they knew to unscramble their own code is to know the exact rotor and electric circuit setting on the Enigma machine. However, this machine proved to be breakable and was not complex enough to allow the Germans to have success in WWII.
The first people to break in to the German code were the Polish because of how similar each country's electronic settings are. Because they were able to break parts of the code, they were able to read the Wehrmacht messages between 1933 and 1938. The Polish knew though, that they would never be able to break the remaining parts of the code on their own. So, with the German invasion looming, they shared the information with the British who had a broader range of intelligence and technology at the time, and the British were able to establish Bletchley Park.
Experts at Bletchley Park were the first to successfully crack the code in 1940, but it didn't truly pay off until 1941, when they were able to gain information on their planned invasion of Greece as well as learn the Italian naval plan for the Battle of Cape Matapan.
The information obtained from elite German sources through the Enigma was codenamed 'ULTRA' by the Allies and was considered top secret. Then, when the Germans became rightfully suspicious of the Allies, they added a fourth wheel to the Enigma, multiplying the possible combinations by 26. Once again though, Bletchley Park was able to crack the code and then code named it 'Shark'.
In March 1941 the ship 'Krebs' was captured off the coast of Norway and it was found to be filled with German enigma machines and code books. This is when the Germans code had truly been broken and the Allies could now discover where German U Boats were at all times, in order to steer their own away from danger. However, with this new found power and advantage in the war, the Allies could never make it too obvious that they had cracked the code. Because of the lack of complexity in this machine, the Allies were able to use their advances in technology to gain a large advantage over the Germans, leading to their eventual WWII victory.
Alan Turing was the person who is credited with officially breaking the Enigma code for good. He was born on June 23, 1912 in London where he attended and concurrently taught at Cambridge University. He then moved to America where he studied at Princeton University. His code breaking career began in 1938 when he moved back to England and began to work in secret for Bletchley Park. On the outbreak of the war, he began to work full time for Bletchley Park in order to lead the team that designed the 'bombe', the machine used by the Allies to decode the Enigma. He was a highly recognizable figure around Bletchley park and is considered to be one of the great reasons why the Allies were so successful in breaking German code.
There are many differences between the American code used in World War II and the German and Japanese code. The first and most obvious one being that the German and Japanese code were breakable and therefore worked the opposite way of what the German and Japanese wanted. The American code however proved to be truly unbreakable. SIGABA, the name of the Americans coding machine, was invented by the Navy and eventually shared with the Navy before the war even began and was by far the most secure and complex cryptographic machine used during the war. One of the best features of SIGABA as far as communication during the war was its ability to link to British machines and allow American Presidents Roosevelt and Truman to communicate securely throughout the war with Winston Churchill. And finally, at the end of the war, almost all SIGABA machines were destroyed so that the design could never be stolen or replicated in any way. The complexity and security involved in SIGABA is what allowed the Americans to experience such success compared to the lack of security and simplicity of the German Enigma machine, allowing the Allies to experience much more success and eventually win the war, all because of their code breaking ability.
The Enigma was the machine used by the Germans to communicate in their won code. You would type in a word and using a set coding system, the machine would scramble and code the words written in to the machine. The Germans believed this code to be unbreakable due to the fact that the only way they knew to unscramble their own code is to know the exact rotor and electric circuit setting on the Enigma machine. However, this machine proved to be breakable and was not complex enough to allow the Germans to have success in WWII.
The first people to break in to the German code were the Polish because of how similar each country's electronic settings are. Because they were able to break parts of the code, they were able to read the Wehrmacht messages between 1933 and 1938. The Polish knew though, that they would never be able to break the remaining parts of the code on their own. So, with the German invasion looming, they shared the information with the British who had a broader range of intelligence and technology at the time, and the British were able to establish Bletchley Park.
Experts at Bletchley Park were the first to successfully crack the code in 1940, but it didn't truly pay off until 1941, when they were able to gain information on their planned invasion of Greece as well as learn the Italian naval plan for the Battle of Cape Matapan.
The information obtained from elite German sources through the Enigma was codenamed 'ULTRA' by the Allies and was considered top secret. Then, when the Germans became rightfully suspicious of the Allies, they added a fourth wheel to the Enigma, multiplying the possible combinations by 26. Once again though, Bletchley Park was able to crack the code and then code named it 'Shark'.
In March 1941 the ship 'Krebs' was captured off the coast of Norway and it was found to be filled with German enigma machines and code books. This is when the Germans code had truly been broken and the Allies could now discover where German U Boats were at all times, in order to steer their own away from danger. However, with this new found power and advantage in the war, the Allies could never make it too obvious that they had cracked the code. Because of the lack of complexity in this machine, the Allies were able to use their advances in technology to gain a large advantage over the Germans, leading to their eventual WWII victory.
Alan Turing was the person who is credited with officially breaking the Enigma code for good. He was born on June 23, 1912 in London where he attended and concurrently taught at Cambridge University. He then moved to America where he studied at Princeton University. His code breaking career began in 1938 when he moved back to England and began to work in secret for Bletchley Park. On the outbreak of the war, he began to work full time for Bletchley Park in order to lead the team that designed the 'bombe', the machine used by the Allies to decode the Enigma. He was a highly recognizable figure around Bletchley park and is considered to be one of the great reasons why the Allies were so successful in breaking German code.
There are many differences between the American code used in World War II and the German and Japanese code. The first and most obvious one being that the German and Japanese code were breakable and therefore worked the opposite way of what the German and Japanese wanted. The American code however proved to be truly unbreakable. SIGABA, the name of the Americans coding machine, was invented by the Navy and eventually shared with the Navy before the war even began and was by far the most secure and complex cryptographic machine used during the war. One of the best features of SIGABA as far as communication during the war was its ability to link to British machines and allow American Presidents Roosevelt and Truman to communicate securely throughout the war with Winston Churchill. And finally, at the end of the war, almost all SIGABA machines were destroyed so that the design could never be stolen or replicated in any way. The complexity and security involved in SIGABA is what allowed the Americans to experience such success compared to the lack of security and simplicity of the German Enigma machine, allowing the Allies to experience much more success and eventually win the war, all because of their code breaking ability.