Enigma: The Battle for the Code

415 Pages·2004·20.991 MB·English

by  Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

Contents
List of illustrations vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction I
Prologue 9
I The Betrayal 15
Belgium and Germany, 1931
2 The Leak 21
Poland, Belgium and Germany, 1929-38
3 An Inspired Guess 31
Poland, 1932
4 A Terrible Mistake 39
Poland, 1933-9
5 Flight
Germany, Poland and England, 1939-40
6 The First Capture 59
Scotland, 1940
7 Mission Impossible
Norway and Bletchley Park, 1940
8 Keeping the Enigma Secret 79
France and Bletchley Park, May-September 1940
9 Deadlock 92
Bletchley Park, August-October, 1940
10 The Italian Affair 102
Bletchley Park and the Mediterranean, March 1941
lIThe End of the Beginning II6
Norway, March 1941
12 Breakthrough 122
North of Iceland, May 1941
v
CONTENTS
13 Operation Primrose 131
The Atlantic, May 1941
14 The Knock-Out Blow 145
North of Iceland, June 1941
15 Suspicion 154
Bletchley Park, the Atlantic and Berlin, May-October 1941
16 A Two-Edged Sword 166
The Atlantic and the Cape Verde Islands, September 1941
17 Living Dangerously 175
The South Atlantic and Norway, November 1941-March 1942
18 The Hunt for the Bigram Tables 185
Bletchley Park and Norway, December 1941
19 Black Out 198
The Barents Sea, Bletchiey Park and the Admiralty, February-July 1942
20 Breaking the Deadlock 215
The Mediterranean and Bletchley Park, October-December 1942
2 I The Turning Point 225
South of France, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic,
November 1942-September 1943
22 Trapped 237
South of France, November 1942-March 1943
23 The Arrest 244
Berlin, March-September 1943
24 Sinking the Scharnhorst 249
The Barents Sea, December 1943
25 Operation Covered 257
Paris, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, August 1943-March 1944
26 The Last Hiccough 271
Germany, France and the South Atlantic, March-June 1944
Epilogue - Where did they go? 288
Chronology 294
Appendix 1 The Characteristic Method and the Bomby 305
Appendix 2 The Bombe 310
Appendix 3 Naval Enigma 323
Appendix 4 Cillis 336
Appendix 5 Rodding 339
Appendix 6 Naval Enigma Offizier 350
Notes 357
Bibliography 390
Index 393
vi
Illustrations
All photographs were printed from originals by Steve Aldridge and Emma Hunt
at Sky Photographic Services, London. The picture source is given in brackets.
Hans Thilo and Charlotte Schmidt (supplied by their daughter Gisela)
Rodolphe Lemoine (Colonel Paul Paillole)
Guy Schlesser and his father (Jean Sanzey)
Gustave and Mary Bertrand (Monique Isambert and her daughter Fabienne,
hereafter referred to as 'Isambert')
Gwido Langer (Isambert)
Biffy Dunderdale (Biffy Dunderdale's great niece Angela)
Maksyrnilian Ci~zki and others (Isambert)
Henryk Zygalski (Isambert)
Marian and Irena Rejewski (their daughter Janina and grandson Wojtek)
Antoni Palluth and other engineers and codebreakers including Edward Fok
czynski and Kazimierz Gaca (Isambert)
Jerzy R6zycki (Isambert)
Enigma replica (the author took this photograph at the Polish Museum and
Sikorski Institute; the Enigma replica is on loan from the Pilsudski Institute,
London)
Alastair Denniston (his daughter Margaret)
Dilly Knox (Mavis Batey)
Mavis Lever (Mavis Batey, whose maiden name was Lever)
Bletchley Park (Barbara Eachus)
Edward Travis (his grandson Giles Sandeman-Allen)
Alan Thring (his nephew Sir John Dermot Turing)
Hugh Alexander (his son Sir Michael Alexander)
Gordon Welchman (his son Nicholas)
Hitler saluting the crew on U-33 (Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky junior, the son of
U-33 's commander)
U-33 (Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky junior)
Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky shaking hands with Hitler (Hans-Wilhelm von
Dresky junior)
Enigma wheels (the author; photographs taken at Bletchey Park, thanks to
assistance from Tony Sale and John Gallehawk, as were the other photographs
of Enigma apparatus taken at Bletchley Park listed below)
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Polares (Alec Dennis)
Frank Birch (Diana Justus)
Peter Twinn (Peter Twinn)
The Krebs (Eric Tubman)
Harry Hinsley (his son Hugo)
The Lauenburg (Sir Ludovic Kennedy and the Imperial War Museum)
The Lauenburg's captured crew (Sir Ludovic Kennedy and the Imperial War
Museum)
Fritz-Julius Lemp (Herbert Langsch)
U-r IO (Sir Barry Sheen)
Allon Bacon (the Bacon family)
David Balme (David Balme)
Enigma machines (the author; photographs taken at Bletchley Park)
Rolf Noskwith (Rolf Noskwith)
Leslie Yoxall(Leslie Yoxall)
Jack Good (Professor Jack Good)
The Geier and the Ashanti (Reg Swann)
Norman Denning (his daughter Jill)
Mark Thornton (Robert de Pass)
William Prendergast (Robert de Pass)
U-55 9 's conning tower (Robert de Pass)
Tony Fasson (his sister Sheena d' Anyers Willis and Stephen Wood, Keeper of the
Scottish United Services Museum)
Len Lacroix (Ken Lacroix)
Friedrich BUrgel(Friedrich BUrgel)
U-744 (Lorne Edwards)
U-505 (Wayne Pickels)
Paul Paillole and General Eisenhower (Paul Paillole)
viii
Acknowledgements
This book would never have been written had it not been for the
publication of Robert Harris's novel Enigma, and the West End pro
duction, and TV adaptation, of Hugh Whitemore's play Breaking The
Code. These two dramas, which are both based on what happened at
Bletchley Park during the Second World War, not only fascinated me,
but popularized the Enigma story, and showed that there was a
market for more books on the subject.
Three historians have also been an inspiration: firstly, the late Sir
Harry Hinsley, who not only played such an important part in the
breaking of the Naval Enigma, but who also masterminded the pro
duction of, and co-wrote, the official five volume history British
Intelligence in the Second World War. Critics of these volumes
complain that they are full of useful facts, but fail to describe the
colourful characters who took part in the exciting events described.
However Sir Harry more than made up for that when he was inter
viewed by me, generously holding nothing back for his own private
use, even though he was in the process of writing his autobiography.
Secondly, I am indebted to David Kahn, whose Seizing The Enigma
is the best history book about the Naval Enigma captures to date. He
also gave me any help he could when I was searching for Germans
who were on captured German ships and U-boats. Thirdly, I would
not have been able to find so many previously unpublished sources
for this book had it not been for the help of Ralph Erskine, a retired
solicitor, who has become the leading expert on the Naval Enigma.
The three historians mentioned above only represent the tip of the
iceberg. The following historians have been just as generous with
their time and expertise: Ralph Bennett, the writer of several books
about Ultra, including Behind The Battle, the late Clay Blair, whose
ix
ACKNOWLED GEMENTS
two volume Hitler's U-Boat War has raised the standard of dramatic
writing in books about V-boats to new heights, Gilbert Bloch, the
French expert on Enigma, Alec Douglas, the writer of the official
history of the Canadian Navy during the Second World War, Captain
Bernard Edwards, an expert on convoy victims, the Polish Enigma
experts Jozef Garlinski and Wladyslaw Kozaczuk (the writer of
Enigma: How the German Cipher Machine Was Broken, and How It
Was Read By the Allies in World War Two). Also, Timothy Mulligan,
the archivist and historian who works at the National Archives
in Washington, Dr Axel Niestle and Professor Jiirgen Rohwer, the
German V-boat specialists, Dr Berthold Sander-Nagashima, a his
torian at the Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Professor
Alberto Santoni, the Italian expert on Enigma intelligence, Roger
Sarty, Director of Historical Research at the Canadian War Museum,
Hugh Skillen, the organiser of Enigma Symposiums, Professor Jean
Stengers, an expert on the French and Polish contributions in the
Enigma story, Alan Stripp, one of Sir Harry Hinsley's co-editors of
Codebreakers, the first book in which a collection of cryptographers
explained how the Enigma code was broken, and Dr Yves Tremblay
and Jean Morin, from the Directorate of History and Heritage,
National Defence, in Canada.
I am equally indebted to the following historians, librarians and
editors who assisted me or have permitted me to use their collections:
Professor Andrzey Ajenkiel of Wujskuwy Institut Histuryczny,
Warsaw, Axel Betten and Herr Kuhmeyer of Deutsche Dienstelle
Wehrmacht Auskunft Stelle, Berlin, Margaret Bidmead of the Royal
Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, David Brown and Jock Gardiner,
historians, Kate Tildesley and Bob Coppock, foreign document cur
ators, and Jenny Rate, Admiralty Librarian at the Naval Historical
Branch of the Ministry of Defence, Helmut Doringhoff of Bun
desarchiv MilWirarchiv in Freiburg, Germany, Michael Gray, an
editor at Navy News, Jenny Hill at the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, Volker Hogrebe of Verbandzeitschaft des Deutschen Mar
inebundes, Grzegorz Kowalski of Centralne Archiwum Wojskowe,
in Poland, Christine Lecuyer at the Department of Veterans Affairs,
Canada, David Prior at the House of Lords Record Office, Hans
Jiirgen Schneider of Verband Deutscher V-Bootfahrer, Claire Sibille
of the Service Historique de I' Armee de Terre at the Ministere de la
Defense in France, Andrzej Suchcitz at the Polish Institute and Sikor
ski Museum in London, John Taylor and William Cunliffe at the
National Archives in Washington. The assistance Horst Bredow gave
x
Acknowledgements
me at the U-boat Archive at Altenbruch, near Cuxhaven in Germany,
and which Graeme Smith gave me at the Naval Manning Agency in
Portsmouth, deserve a special mention; without their help it would
have been impossible to have discovered so much about what hap
pened on board the U-boats which were captured along with their
Enigma codebooks, and aboard the British ships which captured
them.
When I started writing this book, I was not intending to describe
in detail any of the techniques used by the Bletchley Park crypt
ographers to break the code. However I changed my mind after
talking to the following Bletchley Park veterans, whose previously
unpublished accounts represent an important part of the Enigma
history: Professor Jack Good, Rolf Noskwith, Richard Pendered, and
Professor David Rees. I also received assistance from other Bletchley
Park cryptographers including: Mavis and Keith Batey, Derek Taunt,
Peter Twinn and Leslie Yoxall. Much of the detail about codebreaking
techniques which are covered in this book would not have been
included had it not been for the efforts of Sir Michael Alexander,
the son of Bletchley Park cryptographer Hugh Alexander. Others,
including Ralph Erskine, have lobbied the government in an attempt
to persuade them to declassify Hugh Alexander's history of what
went on in Hut 8, the Naval Enigma hut, during the war, but it was
only thanks to Sir Michael's persistence that his father's history was
released in time to be referred to in this book. As readers will see, it
is one of the most important sources I have consulted.
The interviewees and document contributors mentioned in the
Notes relating to each chapter have also made very important con
tributions. Their testimony and documents, in many cases never
previously revealed in a published work, can now be taken into
account whenever history books describe how the Enigma cipher
was broken. I cannot mention them all, but the following were
particularly important: David Balme, the sub-lieutenant who cour
ageously climbed down inside the U-IlO to recover the Enigma
codebooks, Kenneth Lacroix, the only man who climbed down into
the captured U-559 who has lived to tell the tale of what happened
inside, Paul Paillole, the head of French Counter-Intelligence during
the war, who has spoken frankly about how the French helped to
break the Enigma in the first place, and how subsequently their
action gave the Germans the opportunity to find out about the Allies'
Enigma secret, and Gisela Schmidt, who bravely decided to reveal
everything she knew about her father Hans Thilo Schmidt, in spite
xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
of the pain suffered through describing such tragic memories.
I have been helped by the following researchers, and advisers:
Michaela von Buchholtz, Captain Ireneusz Goreczyn, Defence
Attache at the Polish Embassy, Jiirgen Uchtmann, Military Attache
at the German Embassy, Tina and Marina Aurich, Laura Dalla Costa,
Charlotte Gardille, Tina and Pia Gottschaller, Verena Gutscher,
Christa Heimel, Elke Helmts, Christina Hucke, Lesley Hussell,
Sabine von Laufen, Astrid Lehner, Justyna Naglick, Magda Pekalska,
Roland Preuss, Katarzyna Psoda, Tony Sale and John Gallehawk,
from the Bletchley Park Trust, Priska Schmiickle von Minckwitz,
Peter Sheridan, Ulrike Stratmann, Veronika Thieme, Agnieszka
Trzcinska, Daniella Weippert and Iris Widmer. Clive Wolman and
John Standing, the actor, whose real name is Sir John Leon (he has
inherited the title whkh has come down from Sir Herbert Leon!,
told me about Bletchley Park's and the Leon family's history, as did
Penelope Oldham, Veronica Ashbrooke, and Lord Fanshawe.
Peter Wright and Rod Gilchrist, editor and deputy editor of the
Mail On Sunday, showed great patience and flexibility when I took
time off from projects I was working on for them in order to complete
this book.
Lastly I should mention my agent, Mike Shaw from Curtis Brown,
who encouraged me to write this book in the first place, Ion Trewin,
the managing director of Weidenfeld & Nicolson who commissioned
it in spite of the number of books about Enigma written before, and
Benjamin Buchan, my chief editor, who has advised me wisely on
what I should leave out from my first draft, and what I should insert
into my final manuscript. Margaret Body was the copy-editor; her job
would have been even more difficult had it not been for the pains
taking efforts of my wife, Aviva Burnstock, and my parents April and
Stephen Sebag-Montefiore, who kindly waded through my first draft
so they could advise me on what to change.
xii
Introduction
Lots of books have ah:eady been written about Enigma, and they all
have one characteristic in common. They all say that it was thanks
to the brilliant codebreakers at Bletchley Park that Britain managed
to read Nazi Germany's most secret messages. But what has been
written has given a false impression about how the code was really
broken. The codebreakers did of course make a vital contribution.
I
But they would never have achieved what they did if some of the
Enigma codebooks and manuals had not first been captured by spies
and ordinary British seamen who risked, and some times lost, their
lives in the battle' for the code.
The very first capture of Enigma documents occurred long before
the outbreak of the Second World War. Hans Thilo Schmidt, the so
called 'Enigma spy', handed over some Enigma manuals to the French
Secret Service in 1931. Subsequently, after war was declared, more
Enigma codebooks and apparatus were captured in a series of hit and
run raids on German U-boats and trawlers that were carried out by
the British, American and Canadian Navies. It is these 'pinches' - as
they were nicknamed by the Bletchley Park codebreakers - and the
resulting breaking of the all-important Naval Enigma code which
form the core of this book.
The Enigma spy, Hans Thilo Schmidt, has been mentioned in
history books before. Paul Paillole, the head of French Counter
Intelligence during the war, described Schmidt's espionage for the
French Secret Service in his book Notre Espion Chez Hitler which
was published in France in 1985. But more information has become
available since then: Paillole wrote about Schmidt without hearing
the testimonies subsequently provided by British codebreakers.
These accounts make a case for saying that, without Schmidt's assist-
1