U Boat Captured Enigma Machine

German submarine u 110 was a type ixb u boat of nazi germany s kriegsmarine that operated during world war ii she was captured by the royal navy on 9 may 1941 and provided a number of secret cipher documents to the british.

U boat captured enigma machine.

The unsung hero of the u 110 enigma capture was telegraphist alan osborne long r n. Navy captured a u boat and retrieved the enigma machines. But also with the desire to capture a u boat and its codebooks. From that moment the naval enigma code used by the u boats in the.

The enigma machine did not actually send the messages. U 110 s capture later given the code name operation primrose was one of the biggest secrets of the war remaining so for seven months. The recovery was one of several such events e g the earlier capture of u 110 that inspired the fictional account of the submarine capture in the 2000 film u 571. Ww2 hero who stormed nazi u boat to capture top secret enigma machine dies a hero veteran who helped shorten the second world war has died aged 95.

The day after the boat was captured someone realized that the allies already had the most important part of u 110 namely the secret documents and enigma machine and that the germans might find out that the british had the boat soon and assuming the worst change all codes and cipher system. Long was a member of h m s. He had the presence of mind to put a couple of tools in his pockets so when he got into the w t compartment he was able to unscrew the machine from the desk and place it with all the associated key lists and other publications in a canvas bag and pass. U 570 was the first and only u boat to be captured by an aircraft.

Britain s first big breakthrough in cracking the more complex kriegsmarine enigma code occurred following the capture of u 110 and the successful seizing of its enigma machine and codebooks in may 1941. The boat accidentally sank when being towed to. The incredible tale of u 110 is told through rare archival footage and photos captured documents and interviews with german and british sailors. Three months later bletchley park got another break.

The first enemy capture since the war of 1812.