This Week’s Historical Theme: World War II
9 July 1941
A significant event throughout the history of World War II that occurred in June is the Enigma key on the Eastern front being broken. Enigma was the German's most sophisticated coding machine used to send secret information securely. The Enigma machine was invented in 1919 by Dutchman, Hugo Koch, and was originally intended for business purposes. However, the German army adapted it for their own use and deemed the coding system unbreakable. They were sorely mistaken as Dilly Knox, a former British WWI codebreaker, set up an Enigma Research Section at Bletchley Park. This is where Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman invented a machine, known as the Bombe, to significantly aid codebreaking. Here, the first wartime Enigma messages from the Western front were broken in January 1940.
With the German invasion of Russia in June 1941, the Allies needed to be able to intercept and interpret messages transmitted on the Eastern front. The first breakthrough occurred on 9 July 1941 when British cryptologists broke the key regarding German ground-air operations. Various keys continued to be broken over the course of the war by British codebreakers at Bletchley Park. The messages intercepted contained extremely important information, such as anticipating German anti-aircraft and antitank strategies against the Allies, as well as troop movements and planned offensives. Experts have suggested that the codebreakers at Bletchley Park may have shortened the war by as much as two years.
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