Captured! Enigma
codebooks rescued from U-boat
On
the 9th of May, 1941, U-110 had been about to attack an
Allied convoy when it was forced to surface by British ships protecting
the convoy. The German crew surrendered.
| The photograph
on the right shows the boarding party from the destroyer HMS
Bulldog, rowing out to the half-submerged U-boat. (U-110
later sank while being towed to a British naval base).
|
 |
The British sailors
climbed into the conning tower and began a search of the deserted
submarine. The bookshelves still contained books of every description
- navigation manuals, seamanship manuals, code books and signal
books. The Bulldog's telegraphist pointed to an interesting
piece of equipment that looked like a typewriter. This, along
with all the books from the shelves, was transferred with utmost
care to HMS Bulldog. It was important that everything was
kept dry as the code books and signal books were printed in ink
that disappeared if they were dropped in seawater.
On Bulldog's
arrival back in Britain they were met by a representative from
Bletchley Park, who photographed every page of every book. The
'interesting piece of equipment' turned out to be an Enigma machine,
and the books contained the Enigma codes being used by the German
navy.
This
British Naval message dated 10th May reads: "a) Capture
of U Boat 110 is to be referred to as operation Primrose. b) Operation
Primrose is to be treated with greatest secrecy and few people
allowed to know as possible..."
The British were
anxious to make sure that the Germans did not find out that U-110
and its codebooks had been captured. All the sailors who took
part in the operation were sworn to secrecy. If the Germans had
found out, they would almost certainly have changed their codes.
Colossus - find out about the world's first programmable
electronic digital computer.
