Did the code-breakers
and ULTRA help to win the war?
For
many years after the war, the work of the code-breakers remained
a secret. The ULTRA files were locked away.Today more is known
about Enigma and ULTRA. Historians can study the effects they
had on the course of the war. Codebreaking did not win the war,
but it probably helped to shorten it - perhaps by a year or more.
It also contributed to the success of many Allied campaigns from
1941 onwards.
North Africa,
1942
By breaking codes used by Rommel's forces, the Allies could attack
his supply routes, helping to ensure Montgomery's victory in the
Western Desert.
Battle of
the Atlantic, 1940 - 1944
Until convoys were better protected by escort ships and aircraft,
one of the only ways of fighting the U-boat threat was to use
ULTRA to divert ships away from danger.
D-Day, 1944
ULTRA revealed the size and location of German forces in Normandy
before the Allied landings began.
At other times
ULTRA was not used effectively. It did not prevent the Allied
setbacks at Arnhem and the Ardennes in north-west Europe during
the last year of the war.
To prevent the
Germans from suspecting that their codes were being broken, the
Allies sometimes took no action even when they knew their enemy's
plans.
The code-breakers legacy
