FIELD POST

Balme’s Enigma Grab – Heroism in Perspective

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Dear Sirs, Sadly, I must disagree with my old friend Captain Peter Hore in his lead article in the November issue. The boarding of U-110 was an exceptionally brave achievement that cannot be belittled in its own terms, however, it was not a major codebreaking breakthrough.

British cryptanalysts had been given the wiring from Enigma by the Poles before the war, and Alan Turing had already designed his electromechanical ‘Bombe’ that simulated Enigma to find its settings, and this had been made more effective in 1940 by Gordon Welchman.

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