Non-motoring > A humble and modest man speaks..... Miscellaneous
Thread Author: R.P. Replies: 12

 A humble and modest man speaks..... - R.P.
news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9480000/9480048.stm
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - zippy
Thank goodness for these brave souls who were called up from happy civvy lives to fight to protect us!

Finding the device may have shortend the war by two years. In two extra years there would have been jet fighters and atom bombs. That is a very frightening thought!
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Zero

>> Finding the device may have shortend the war by two years. In two extra years
>> there would have been jet fighters and atom bombs. That is a very frightening thought!

You have to bear in mind, it was the Navy code that they captured, The Wermacht code had already been broken. We wouldn't have made it through to jet fighters and atomic bombs, as we were about 6 months away from capitulating by early 1943 due to the Battle of the Atlantik. It was breaking the navy code that enabled us to defeat the wolfpacks.


I have thus-far refused to watch U-571 where the yanks claim they took the enigma code.
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Focusless
>> I have thus-far refused to watch U-571 where the yanks claim they took the enigma
>> code.

But it has Jon Bon Jovi in it.
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Perky Penguin
And they might have belonged to the Germans too! We have much to be grateful for after all these years. The atom bomb went from an idea on a scribble pad to something that went bang in less than 6 years. Plus they developed two bombs, the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were different. Makes our timescale for the introduction of the Typhoon into service look a bit lame!
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Mon 9 May 11 at 20:36
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - WillDeBeest
There's some stuff in my bathroom that claims to reduce timescale.
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Zero
Klingon?
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Londoner
We should not forget another heroic action, in which code books and documents were recovered from U559.

Two brave men died recovering these documents when the submarine sank suddenly.

PS I am not anti-American, by any means, but their habit of rewriting the war to glorify themselves absolutely stinks.
Last edited by: Londoner on Mon 9 May 11 at 23:02
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Leif
Do bear in mind that we used to say that Turing cracked the Enigma, whereas the reality is that some Poles were the first to crack the codes, and they passed on the information to the UK. And as mentioned here, without captured code books Turing would have been lost, a great man though he was.

Londoner said:
>> PS I am not anti-American, by any means, but their habit of rewriting the war
>> to glorify themselves absolutely stinks.

Yes, though it is really Hollywood we should blame. Their films may well make a lot of money, but they are very flimsy in terms of realism, accuracy etc.
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Bigtee
I have thus-far refused to watch U-571 where the yanks claim they took the enigma code.


A good film one engine not working on sub and underwater shot shows both screws turning!! Flippin yanks can't get owt right.
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Mapmaker
Thank you, PU, absolutely fascinating to hear him.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-13334509 for those not listening.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Tue 10 May 11 at 10:42
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - Zero
Bad picture on the web site tho, thats a 3 rotor Army Enigma, the navy used the 4 rotor version, much harder to break, which is why the capture was so key.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 10 May 11 at 10:54
 A humble and modest man speaks..... - L'escargot
There was a TV programme recently about the Enigma machines. Apparently they were constantly updated and made more complex ~ there wasn't just one version. The Poles started work on cracking the machines long before work started at Bletchley Park. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine
Latest Forum Posts