Start Date
5-3-2024 9:20 AM
End Date
5-3-2024 10:30 AM
Disciplines
History
Subjects
World War II, Cryptography, Alan Turing (1912-1954), Electronic intelligence, Enigma cipher system, ULTRA (Intelligence system)
Abstract
During World War II, one of the most prominent unsung heroes were the Allied codebreakers of Ultra who, under the thick blanket of absolute secrecy, worked tirelessly throughout the war to decrypt the German Enigma cipher. Efforts to break the Enigma cipher were underway since the beginning of the war but yielded little success until 1943 and Alan Turing’s Bombe. After this point, Allied forces were able to more effectively combat Axis forces, especially German U-boats in the Atlantic ocean, while keeping the whole operation under wraps to avoid suspicion and changing of the code. This paper explores how Ultra’s efforts were a key part of the Allies’s overall victory in the war, due to their effects on Allied performance in the later years of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Keywords: World War II, Cryptography, Enigma, Cipher, Bletchley Park, Alan Turing
Part of the Panel: Hidden Histories during WWII
Moderator: Professor Richard Beyler
Creative Commons License or Rights Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42097
Included in
A Matter of Ultra Importance: How Ultra’s Decryption of Enigma Impacted the Outcome of World War II
During World War II, one of the most prominent unsung heroes were the Allied codebreakers of Ultra who, under the thick blanket of absolute secrecy, worked tirelessly throughout the war to decrypt the German Enigma cipher. Efforts to break the Enigma cipher were underway since the beginning of the war but yielded little success until 1943 and Alan Turing’s Bombe. After this point, Allied forces were able to more effectively combat Axis forces, especially German U-boats in the Atlantic ocean, while keeping the whole operation under wraps to avoid suspicion and changing of the code. This paper explores how Ultra’s efforts were a key part of the Allies’s overall victory in the war, due to their effects on Allied performance in the later years of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Keywords: World War II, Cryptography, Enigma, Cipher, Bletchley Park, Alan Turing
Part of the Panel: Hidden Histories during WWII
Moderator: Professor Richard Beyler