ENIGMA Machines

[maple_leaf_eh]

Poland lies between two really despicable neighbours and two variable friends (Germany and Russia [give or take a few republics], and Austro-Hungary and Scandinavia). It is their lot in life - so much that LOT is the national airline. The know more about their region than most of us know about our pockets. They have naturally decided who their true friends are; and they have chosen to share some of what they know with the British. These relationships go back many decades, predating WWII. Apparently very early in the war, they captured an ENIGMA and knew that it could not be used to its fullest advantage in Poland. Hence their sharing it with the British.

[Dennis Gelean (RIP)]

What was in the CMP Computor trucks (correct ww2 spelling)
I have seen references to women as computors, but would you need a big CMP to carry them. They worked on artillery and air force calculations.
So much to learn.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Bruce.

I did a bit of internet reading last night and found the following site where a collection of ENIGMA and NEMA prices were posted.

http://www.eclipse.net/~dhamer/enigma_p.htm

Sure wish I had some spare cash around when the NEMAs first came out, particularly the earlier model which was a near clone of the originals used in Germany during the war.

David

[Mike Cecil]

Gents,

A little known fact: at war's end, many captured/'forfeited' Enigma machines (3 rotor) were distributed by the Brits to countries like Australia for signals encoding-decoding in the years just post-war. Australia's intelligence community (the pre-decessors of DSD: Defence Signals Directorate) received several (numbers are fuzzy) and used them for several years, mostly for diplomatic signals traffic (since only the 'good guys' had the means to break the code).

When the organisation moved to Canberra from Melbourne many years ago, the bulk of them were broken up and destroyed. Two survived - they were incomplete/broken and in the back of a storage cupboard, and escaped the breakers hammers. They are still owned by DSD. One is on display in their foyer (secure area: no public access) and the other is on long-term loan to the AWM, and on display in the WW2 gallery.

There is also an Enigma machine at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, but I don't know its source: it was not acquired from DSD.

Mike C

[Bruce MacMillan]

Here was a pre war Enigma G that just closed. It looks like somebody made a deal behind the scene as the item was withdrawn.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/RRR-Original-...item35b53e8d1b

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

The General Post Office was a Government department under the Postmaster-General, a Cabinet minister, [employees were civil servants technically until 1969] that was responsible for the mails as well as telephones and telegraphs except for the City of Kingston-upon-Hull, having taken over all private exchanges. They had an experimental workshop/depot in south-east London that contributed to the building of Colossus, the world's first electronic computer that was used by Bletchley Park. They were obviously experienced with valves and circuits.

I think an example of an Enigma machine was first supplied by the Poles as the war started. It was the capture of a German naval Enigma with its extra rotor[s] that was so dramatic for the course of the war at sea.

[Jon Skagfeld]

My claim to fame in this link is that I was born in Luton...my birth certificate lists a maternity home in Battlesden.

Bletchley is a bit west of there.

Perhaps, by osmosis, that's where I where I derive my thirst for knowledge about all things WW11 in war time Britain.