Codebreakers: The Story of Enigma

Description

WWII, Bletchley Park, Alan Turing.  Codebreakers: The Story of Enigma, presented by Dr Mark Baldwin.

This is the story of the second World War's Allied Codebreakers, who deciphered a vast number of German secret messages and used the intelligence gained to hasten Allied victory.

The Germans had entrusted their secret communications to an ingenious ciphering machine, the Enigma, which was portable, easily operated, and could be set up in millions of ways.  By cracking the codes, the Allies gained invaluable information about troop and aircraft dispositions, orders of battle, U-boat movements, technical development, military intentions and tank and artillery strengths.  It is thought that the intelligence gained from Enigma shortened the war by approximately 2 years.

The show is followed by an opportunity for questions, and then a hands-on demonstration of one of the very few surviving Enigma machines.