What is an Enigma machine?
Q: What is an Enigma machine?
A: The Enigma machine is a cypher machine created for Germany by Arthur Scherbius during World War I. It is a way of changing the letters of a message so that it appears to be scrambled letters (or, random letters). Each time a letter is typed, it appears as another letter in the alphabet and the choices are not random but decided by a series of rotors which are set each day to a different starting set-up.
Q: Who first broke German military messages done on the Enigma machine?
A: The Polish Cipher Bureau were the first to break German military messages done on the Enigma machine, beginning in December 1932.
Q: How did British codebreakers solve vast numbers of messages from Enigma?
A: British codebreakers solved vast numbers of messages from Enigma by making technical improvements and giving plaintext information to military staff. This was called "Ultra" by the British and was very helpful for Allied war efforts.
Q: What mistakes did German operators make that helped cryptanalysis of Luftwaffe Enigmas?
A: Mistakes made by German operators helped cryptanalysis of Luftwaffe Enigmas.
Q: How did British capture key tables and machines from German submarines help cracking Navy ones?
A: The British capture of key tables and machines from German submarines helped in cracking Navy ones as they provided additional information about how these systems worked.
Q: When did Queen Elizabeth II visit Bletchley Park?
A: Queen Elizabeth II visited Bletchley Park on 15th July 2011 to pay tribute to those who worked there since they cut short the war by breaking Nazi Germany's cyphers.
