Yet, another WWII question

[Hagar]

I'm aware that the folks at Bletchly park were very good at their business of reading German codes, but that doesn't mean the Japanese weren't sending their info to Tokyo and the allies weren't reading those messages.

I don't know the facts in this specific case as I'd not heard of it before but it's quite likely that those messages you refer to were passed direct to the Japanese section at Bletchley Park for deciphering. As I pointed out earlier, this included a large American contingent. I only discovered this during my recent visit as it was never common knowledge. Everything done at Bletchley during WWII was classified as Top Secret & some still is today. Lack of knowledge of what was actually achieved there (like the development of the first electronic computer) has led to many misconceptions since the war. All equipment & documents were destroyed soon after the end of WWII to prevent it falling into the hands of a potential enemy. I don't expect this is unique by any means & there are some things that will never be revealed, at least during my lifetime.

[Woodlouse2002]

[quote]


You're free to be sceptical, but scepticism doesn't change the facts.

[Hagar]

It is true that there was an american team at Bletchley Park. This was no doubt a move to encourage the allies to share their intelligence as the British could easily have kept what they were doing to themselves.

Woody. I should remind you that this was a combined operation. The invasion & liberation of Europe would have been impossible without the considerable contribution of American forces & equipment and I imagine intelligence. It's quite natural that any intelligence would be passed on to the appropriate area without worrying if this happened to be American or British or even Russian if affected them. It's also quite likely that those Japanese messages were deciphered at Bletchley Park as this was in the area involved & also the centre of Allied codebreaking throughout WWII. The intelligence belonged to the Allied effort & not one country & I suspect it was all passed through the same chain of command to whoever was responsible for distributing it.

I realise that inter-service rivalry caused a lot of problems during WWII & have no doubt this also applied to international cooperation but it would have been so much easier without these petty squabbles. We were all on the same side.

[Woodlouse2002]

Woody. I should remind you that this was a combined operation. The invasion & liberation of Europe would have been impossible without the considerable contribution of American forces & equipment and I imagine intelligence. It's quite natural that any intelligence would be passed on to the appropriate area without worrying if this happened to be American or British. It's also quite likely that those Japanese messages were deciphered at Bletchley Park as this was in the area involved & also the centre of Allied codebreaking throughout WWII.

I realise that inter-service rivalry caused a lot of problems during WWII & have no doubt this also applied to international cooperation but it would have been so much easier without these petty squabbles. We were all on the same side.

I am fully aware of that but countries are bound to keep secrets from their allies even in a war that depends on full cooperation.  All I was saying was that the Americans came to Bletchley partle because they wanted in on the act and also as a gesture of trust as their efforts at breaking the German codes hadn't amounted to nearly as much success as the British.

[Hagar]

[quote]I am fully aware of that but countries are bound to keep secrets from their allies even in a war that depends on full cooperation.

[myshelf]

just as a reminder:

the actual breakthrough in breaking the enigma code came from the polish, who were first evacuated to france after the war broke out, and then on to england.

they brought with them the prototype of the "bomba", the machine that was reproduced many times and stationed in bletchley park to be used to break the daily changing keys.

[Hagar]

just as a reminder:

the actual breakthrough in breaking the enigma code came from the polish, who were first evacuated to france after the war broke out, and then on to england.

they brought with them the prototype of the "bomba", the machine that was reproduced many times and stationed in bletchley park to be used to break the daily changing keys.

Indeed & this is often forgotten or not realised.

It's also not commonly known that the British & other governments were offered the Enigma machine soon after it was first invented but turned it down as they saw no practical use for it. It was originally intended for commercial use against industrial espionage & available to any large company. Only the Germans took advantage of it for military use.