killmore Posted March 31, 2000 Share Posted March 31, 2000 My knowledge comes from the movie that was made in Poland. The movie was supposed to be based very strictly on facts. (I saw it many years ago in the 80s - so my memory may be somewhat off). This is what I believe the movie was claiming: In 1939 ENIGMA machine was sent to German embassy in Poland. I am not sure exactly how but Polish Counter Inteligence got its hands on it. When Germany requested the return of the machine the Polish just claimed they never had it. Germany soon after changed the codes so only one message was decoded. After German attack the Enigma decoding team has escaped to England with most of their equipment intact. This way britain got its first ENIGMA machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted March 31, 2000 Share Posted March 31, 2000 Can't speak about the exact facts in that movie, but the underlying story is correct. An Enigma machine (parts of it anyway) were smuggled out of Poland and to Britain. I always thought they got the machine during the first stages of the war in Poland, but I could be mistaken. This really helped the Brits at Bletchly (sp?) Park get started, but it wasn't quite enough. I'm pretty sure the final piece of the puzzle came from the Royal Navy that managed to grab one intact off a German ship (or was it a sub?). Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrapGame Posted March 31, 2000 Share Posted March 31, 2000 Steve - I believe you are correct. I am almost positive it was one of their patrol boats. For some reason E-Class is running through my mind on this one. CrapGame out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sabot Posted March 31, 2000 Share Posted March 31, 2000 Check this site out: http://www.polamjournal.com/library/enigma.html Steve, I remembered reading about the british capturing a u-boat before the crew was able to scuttle it. I believe this is where they got a hold of the final piece to the Enigma puzzle you referred to. Unfortunately i'm at work and my book is home so i can't refer to it. Can someone confirm this for me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sabot Posted April 1, 2000 Share Posted April 1, 2000 Well, If you can't refer to the book, you can always refer to the 'net (on company time no less!) http://uboat.net/technical/enigma.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazooka10165 Posted April 1, 2000 Share Posted April 1, 2000 I believe that a working enigma was captured from a sub that had grounded on a reef near one of the islands off the northern coast of England or Scotland. For a very entertaining piece of historical fiction about Enigma, Bletchley Park and WWII encryption in general, I highly recommend Cryptonomicom by Neal Stephenson. [This message has been edited by bazooka10165 (edited 03-31-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tss Posted April 2, 2000 Share Posted April 2, 2000 Yes, Poles were the first ones to crack enigma. To be more precise, it was cracked by young mathematician Marian Rejewski in early 30's. His job was made possible by a disgruntled German spy who sold the details of Enigma to the French who gave them to the Poles. The early German message policy made cracking relatively easy; Enigma messages had two keys, a session key that was used to encode the message and a master key that was used to encrypt the session key. Until 1938 Germans started all their messages with duplicated session key. So, the cryptanalyst knew that every message he saw begun with something like: ABCABC. To crack Enigma Rejewski manufactured "The Bombe" which was an analog computer that was used to find the master key. In 1938 Germans modified the Enigma by adding more rotors and Rejewski couldn't crack the messages anymore. The Poles couldn't build a new Bombe to crack the new Enigma before the war started but they gave their know-how to the French and later to the British who some time after managed to crack the new Enigma. - Tommi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen. Sosaboski Posted April 2, 2000 Share Posted April 2, 2000 Makes me feel good . ------------------ Sosabowski, 1st Pol. Abn. Yes, I know my name is spelled wrong as a member! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAEZ Posted April 2, 2000 Share Posted April 2, 2000 The final piece for enigma was found on a sub it was a code written in waterproof ink It was left on the sub by mistake The officer in charge, he return to the sub but picked up a diary instead of the code. This help for a while since the germans changed their code again [This message has been edited by PAEZ (edited 04-04-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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