The Enigma machine was invented shortly after World War One by a German engineer called Arthur Scherbius (IWM 2018). The Enigma machine was used to encrypt strategic messages before and during World War Two (WW2)(Britannica 2020). The Germans thought this machine was unbreakable since it had 103 sextillion possible settings until Polish mathematicians had broken the code (Bletchley Park 2020). However, the Enigma machine had its flaws such as a letter could not be encrypted to have the same letter, for example, 'A' cannot be 'A' (Science Museum 2019).
The Enigma machine worked by pressing a key on the keyboard which is then encrypted by the light board. An electrical signal is sent from the key to the plugboard at the front of the machine around the 3, or sometimes 4, rotors at the back of the machine and lights up the encoded letter at the light board. This meant that the letter had many different paths through the machine so it could light up as several different letters except itself. The Germans used daily session sheets which described how the machine should be set up. This showed the positions of the plugboard at the front and the rotors at the back. The Germans would change this every day so the code would not be deciphered and it would be hard to leak the valuable information (Science Museum 2019).
The machine was used by the Germans to encrypt and decrypt important messages. British codebreakers intercepted these messages and decrypted them. The types of messages the Nazis passed were about future attacks (BBC 2020). The importance of the Enigma machine was breaking Enigma codes used by German U-boats which would not have been possible without the machine. German U-boats were the greatest threat to the Allied forces since they attacked their ships in the North Atlantic Ocean. If the Allies could find out where the U-boats were, they could direct their ships carrying crucial supplies from the North Atlantic Ocean away from the U-boats (BBC 2011).
The machine was so important to the German that some Nazis were disguised as British agents and would capture the German messages and change them so they could confuse the codebreakers. The Allies used useful information so they could end WW2 faster (BBC 2020) including military operations such as D-day (BBC 2017). British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made sure that there were enough resources for the codebreakers stating “Make sure they have all they want on extreme priority and report to me that this had been done” (BBC 2011). This shows the significance of the codebreakers job because they could have any of the equipment they needed and complete the job despite all the shortages in the country.
In conclusion, the Enigma machine was used by the Nazis to encrypt military messages. The British deciphered the messages to German U-boats so the Allied ships full of crucial supplies from the North Atlantic Ocean would not sink. The significance of the codebreakers job was to make sure that the War would end faster.
References
Britannica (2020) Enigma german code device, viewed 19/05/2020 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Enigma-German-code-device
Imperial War Museum (2018) How Alan Turing cracked the enigma code, viewed 28/05/2020 https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-alan-turing-cracked-the-enigma-code
Bletchley Park (2020) Enigma, viewed 20/05/2020 https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/the-challenge/enigma
Crypto Museum(2019) Enigma History, viewed 25/05/2020 https://cryptomuseum.com/crypto/enigma/hist.htm
BBC (2020) History KS2: Codebreaking during World War Two- Video, viewed 20/05/2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks2-codebreaking-in-world-war-two/zdq2jhv
BBC (2011) History Breaking Germany’s Enigma Code, viewed 28/05/2020 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/enigma_01.shtml
Science Museum (2019) How did the enigma machine work? - Youtube, viewed 25/05/2020https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CspaXNkC2ec
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