The Round Tablette Founding Editor: James W
The Round Tablette Founding Editor: James W. Gerber, MD (1951–2009) 9 February 2012 location, fuel status, etc. in every message. 25:07 Volume 20 Number 7 Given the volume of the messages, the RN Published by WW II History Round Table presumed they contained information Edited by Dr. Joe Fitzharris helpful to the Allied cause. The British www.mn-ww2roundtable.org project, based at Bletchley Park, utilized Thursday, 9 February 2012 highly skilled engineers, physicists, mathematicians, and statisticians, and Welcome to the February meeting of developed calculating machines, called the Harold C. Deutsch World War II “bombes,” for this work. These were highly History Round Table. Tonight, our topic specialized devices for code-breaking, and is the importance of code-breaking for the like most early “computers,” were tailored development of computers, particularly the to specific tasks. Success meant knowing computer industry in Minnesota. Pioneer where U-boats were – convoys could be re- members of the electronic computer industry routed around wolfpacks and anti- join our speaker, Colin Burke, to discuss submarine destroyers and destroyer escorts their roles in this industry. could be vectored to attack the wolfpack to the great happiness of Allied mariners. Before World War II began, the Army and Navy were both trying to break Japanese The British had produced several bombes, diplomatic, military, and naval codes. In each more sophisticated, but at ever Europe, the Poles had obtained copy of a increasing cost in resources. Americans, German ENIGMA machine and were trying peripherally involved in this effort prior to to solve its mysteries. They passed both US entry into the 1939-1945 European machine and a copy of their work to British War, now became junior partners in Intelligence shortly before Poland fell to the developing new bombes.
[Show full text]