gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park

OBITUARY : Christine Brooke-Rose

Martin Postranecky — 2012-04-27T15:38:26

Thursday April 26, 2012

OBITUARY : Christine Brooke-Rose
--------------------------------

Christine Brooke-Rose, who has died aged 89, began her career as an author
conventionally enough in the 1950s by writing four accomplished but
orthodox novels; but in 1964, following a serious illness, she published
Out, an experimental novel of the sort unlikely to feature in any WH Smith
summer promotion..../snip/


...At the age of 18 Christine joined the WAAF and, due to her language
skills, soon found herself transferred to Bletchley Park to translate
transcriptions of decoded German messages. In a fictionalised memoir,
Remake (1996), she evoked her growing fascination with language and the
way it conveyed the alien nature of the enemy viewpoint :
"Einsatzbereitsschaftbericht, Einsatzmeldung, Einsatzbefehl, from Keitel
to Kesselring, from Kesselring to Rommel ... the otherness of the other
learned young."

Christine Brooke-Rose had arrived at Bletchley with only a school
certificate, but the experience of working

lan Turing papers on code breaking released by GCHQ

Martin Postranecky — 2012-04-19T19:12:07

19 April 2012

Alan Turing papers on code breaking released by GCHQ
----------------------------------------------------

By Chris Vallance BBC News

Two 70-year-old papers by Alan Turing on the theory of code breaking have
been released by the government's communications headquarters, GCHQ.

It is believed Turing wrote the papers while at Bletchley Park working on
breaking German Enigma codes.

A GCHQ mathematician said the fact that the contents had been restricted
"shows what a tremendous importance it has in the foundations of our
subject".

It comes amid celebrations to mark the centenary of Turing's birth.

The two papers are now available to view at the National Archives at Kew,
west London.

GCHQ was able to approximately date the papers because in one example
Turing had made reference to Hitler's age..../snip/


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17771962

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59745000/jpg/_59745028_turing.jpg

http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z6326724459&z=1250248780

OBITUARY : Jean Gerard Leigh ( not exactly B.P. related, but interesting nevertheless...)

Martin Postranecky — 2012-04-06T17:08:10

Friday 06 Apr 2012

OBITUARY : Jean Gerard Leigh
----------------------------

Jean Gerard Leigh, who has died aged 88, was the woman whose photograph
was used to help trick the Germans into falling for one of the greatest
deceptions of the Second World War.

Operation Mincemeat, which was to inspire a film called 'The Man Who Never
Was' in the 1950s, was devised in the spring of 1943 by two intelligence
officers, Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 and Commander Ewen Montagu of Naval
Intelligence. With Churchill planning to invade Italy through Sicily, a
ruse was required to make the Germans believe that the attack would take
place elsewhere.

Cholmondeley and Montagu devised the idea of planting false papers on an
"officer" and making it look as if he had died in a plane crash at sea.
Through the London coroner, they obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a
down-and-out who had killed himself by drinking rat poison. The body was
kept in cold storage while the plotters devised a cover story.
The body was given milit

Christy Campbell unearthed an intimate link to Bletchley Park

Martin Postranecky — 2012-04-06T16:58:30

01 Apr 2012

Christy Campbell : a Page in the Life
-------------------------------------

Christy Campbell unearthed an intimate link to Bletchley Park while 
researching his new book, he tells Keith Lowe

By Keith Lowe

I meet Christy Campbell beside a derelict building, tucked away from the 
main road. It is one of those bright spring mornings where the endless 
blue of the sky is broken only by a few vapour trails - but even the 
freshness of the day cannot disguise the atmosphere of decay around us. We 
walk past a succession of buildings, all flaking paint and mottled 
brickwork. Suddenly, almost miraculously, we find ourselves standing 
before a small Victorian stately home. In such a context, dwarfed by acres 
of disused Forties architecture, it looks bizarre, like the setting for an 
episode of Doctor Who. It is, in fact, the manor house at Bletchley Park, 
the centre of Britain's wartime code breaking effort.

"It's amazing to think that a place like this prevented us from losing the 
war," says Cam

Re: BLETCHLEYPARK Digest - 10 Mar 2012 to 23 Mar 2012 (#2012-12)

John Jackson — 2012-03-24T09:04:10

For a detailed report on the Spanish Enigma see Cryptologia, Vol 34, Issue
4, October 2010
Spanish Enigma: A History of the Enigma in Spain by Jose Ramon Fuensanta,
Francisco Javier Lopez-Brea Espiau and Frode Weierud.
Regards
John Jackson

-----Original Message-----
From: Bletchley Park discussion [mailto:BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org] On
Behalf Of BLETCHLEYPARK automatic digest system
Sent: 24 March 2012 05:01
To: BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org
Subject: BLETCHLEYPARK Digest - 10 Mar 2012 to 23 Mar 2012 (#2012-12)

There is 1 message totalling 46 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code (fwd)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:25:43 +0000
From:    Martin Postranecky <mp-/9YJdTTY0pwcGMUv0VjUrg< at >public.gmane.org>
Subject: The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code (fwd)

23 March 2012

The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code
----------------

The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code (fwd)

Martin Postranecky — 2012-03-23T18:25:43

23 March 2012

The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code
--------------------------------------------

By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News

A pair of rare Enigma machines used in the Spanish Civil War have been 
given to the head of GCHQ, Britain's communications intelligence agency. 
The machines - only recently discovered in Spain - fill in a missing 
chapter in the history of British code-breaking, paving the way for 
crucial successes in World War II.

A row of senior Spanish military and intelligence officers stand upright 
in a line in front of a long elegant table in the country's Army Museum in 
Toledo. In front of them are two modest, slightly battered wooden boxes 
that are the subject of the day's unusual and high-powered gathering.

Inside they contain a key part of Britain's code-breaking history.

With their lids open, the distinctive black and white keypad and rotors of 
an Enigma machine used to encrypt communications can be seen...../snip/


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazin

The Delilah Secure Speech System (fwd)

Martin Postranecky — 2012-03-10T18:57:32

The Delilah Secure Speech System
--------------------------------

by John Graham-Cumming on 3/6/12

http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/delilah-secure-speech-system.html


Part of the new exhibit being unveiled at Bletchley Park is the Delilah
Secure Speech system that Alan Turing developed during the Second World
War. Details of the system are in Andrew Hodges' excellent biography of
Turing and have recently been placed in the National Archives ( references
FO 850/256 and HW 25/36 for people who want to go an see them for
themselves ).

Delilah was intended to be fairly portable ( unlike SIGSALY ) and usable
in the field (such as in a tank) and allow secure speech communication
between people over radio or telephone.

A team at Bletchley Park has been working to rebuild Delilah from the
report ( with some assistance from GCHQ ) and I was able to see and
photograph the reconstructed machine. Here are some pictures :

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wGQGRzPW7rQ/T1Xzac6YpxI/AAAAAAAABLc/hTl0T9S73bU/s1600/IMG_3183.JPG
http:/

Turing exhibition opening (fwd)

Martin Postranecky — 2012-03-10T18:20:30

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/06/alan-turing-exhibition-enigma-codebreaker

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-17262062

http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z6042322467&z=1250248769


and as received from Christopher Tarry...:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 14:21:55
From: christopher tarry <c.w.tarry-FhtRXb7CoQBt1OO0OYaSVA< at >public.gmane.org>
To: Martin Postranecky <mp-/9YJdTTY0pwcGMUv0VjUrg< at >public.gmane.org>
Subject: Turing exhibition opening

Martin,

If you are collating reports of yesterday's (5th March)
Alan Turing exhibition opening at Bletchley Park,
this site gives a comprehensive overview:

www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/06/new_turing_exhibition_bletchley_park/

and, unlike some of the other press reports, mentions
the "Delilah" speech scrambling equipment with which Turing
was involved.

Regards,

"NATURE" - Special Turing Anniversary issue

Martin Postranecky — 2012-03-01T18:31:05

NATURE
Volume 482 Number 7386 pp439-562
23 February 2012
doi:10.1038/482455a

The English mathematician Alan Turing was born on 23 June 1912 and died 
tragically aged only 41, yet his influence is still felt in many fields. 
In this issue marking the centenary of Turing's birth, Nature hails him 
as one of the top scientific minds of all time ( see pages 440 and 441 ).
 
Computer specialists and those working in fields that have exploited 
computer science - including Sydney Brenner ( page 461 ) and Henry Markram 
( page 456 ) - explain some aspects of this remarkable legacy.

For more, go to www.nature.com/turing. 

Cover image : Andy Potts; Turing family.


http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7386/index.html

http://www.nature.com/news/turing-at-100-legacy-of-a-universal-mind-1.10065
http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/1.10065!/menu/main/topColumns/topLeftColumn/pdf/482455a.pdf

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7386/full/482459a.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7386/pdf/482459

Enigma Settings Sheets

Philip Marks — 2012-02-25T17:02:25

Responding to some of Craig's follow-up questions from earlier this week:

-----Original Message-----
From: Bletchley Park discussion [mailto:BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org] On
Behalf Of Craig Heath
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 5:20 PM
To: BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org
Subject: Re: [BPARK] Enigma Settings Sheets

<snipped questions>

archives, perhaps from a wartime "pinch"?

I also assume that it came from the BP archives, although I did not
specifically ask him at the time.  I do not know its provenance before that.

there's a digitisation project going on at BP:
living just an hour's drive away
years since I last visited the US National Cryptologic Museum, 

I had to get most of my material the old-fashioned way, poking about in
paper records in the US National Archives.  This was supplemented a great
deal by the generosity of other researchers who are acknowledged in the
article.  Back then, an awful lot of expensive and time-consuming
photocopying was i

Re: Enigma Settings Sheets

Craig Heath — 2012-02-20T22:20:24

Thank you to both Phil and Frode for your excellent answers, it's good to
see that there are experts still on this list!

I find it interesting that our understanding of these settings procedures
seems still largely based on what was pieced together by the attackers at
BP, but that's understandable given the lack of surviving primary sources
from the German side.  There is the material that was collected by US TICOM
immediately after the war, like Frode's Luftwaffe settings sheets, and I
presume the settings sheet provided to Phil by Tony Sale was from the BP
archives, perhaps from a wartime "pinch"?

How does one go about getting access to these primary sources?  I know
there's a digitisation project going on at BP:
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/edu/archives/ , I suppose I should just go
and ask them, as I have the convenience of living just an hour's drive away
:-)  Does anyone know about getting access to the TICOM stuff?  It's many
years since I last visited the US National Cryptologic Museum, do they

Re: Enigma Settings Sheets

Frode Weierud — 2012-02-18T16:19:27

I was silly enough to just paste my Table 1 from Word to my e-mail thinking it would be OK, but I see it all got mangled. Here is what it should look like

Production       Total number           Serial numbers         Model
    Year             of machines
    1934                    401                  M 501 – M 901         M 1
    1935                      60                  M 902 – M 961         M 1a
    1937                    150                  M 962 – M 1111       M 1a
    1938                    310                M 1112 – M 1421       M 2
    1939                    580                M 1422 – M 2001       M 2a, M 3
    1940                    800               M 2002 – M 2801       M 3
    1941                  1011                M 2802 – M 3812       M 4

Table 1. Production of Naval Enigma models from 1934 to 1941.

With respect to the question:
- Was there any particular logic governing when UKWD settings changed?  The
authentic settings sheets seem to have used variously 7, 8

Re: Enigma Settings Sheets

Frode Weierud — 2012-02-18T15:27:50

I might be able to throw some light on the last few questions that Phil could not answer.

Frode Weierud

On 18 Feb 2012, at 14:34, Philip Marks wrote:

Here are some answers to Craig Heath's Enigma questions posted last week.

Phil Marks


-----Original Message-----
From: Bletchley Park discussion [mailto:BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org] On
Behalf Of Craig Heath
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 1:27 PM
To: BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org<mailto:BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org>
Subject: [BPARK] Enigma Settings Sheets


I have a couple of other random Enigma questions as well, so I may as well
ask while I'm here :-)
- What's the difference between an Enigma M2 and M3?


Here is an extract from some of my unpublished studies:
The naval Enigma machines were made in four different models, M 1 to M 4, with M 1 and M 2 also having the sub models, M 1a and M 2a. M 1 to M 3 where 3-wheel Enigma machines, while M 4 was the model number for the 4-wheel E

Enigma Settings Sheets

Philip Marks — 2012-02-18T13:34:58

Here are some answers to Craig Heath's Enigma questions posted last week.

Phil Marks

-----Original Message-----
From: Bletchley Park discussion [mailto:BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org] On
Behalf Of Craig Heath
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 1:27 PM
To: BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/yu4QqHy1JNA< at >public.gmane.org
Subject: [BPARK] Enigma Settings Sheets

<snip>

- Was there any particular logic governing when UKWD settings changed?  The
authentic settings sheets seem to have used variously 7, 8, 9 or 10 day
periods.

Not that I am aware of, other than the general observation I found in some
of the source documents that the Luftwaffe (GAF = German Air Force in GCCS
terms of the time) changed "about every 10 days".  The sample key sheet
shown in my Cryptologia article (originally provided to me by the late Tony
Sale) divides a 31-day month into UKWD periods of 9, 12 and 10 days.  Some
other sheets posted by Frode Weierud at:

http://cryptocellar.web.cern.ch/cryptocellar/Enigma/index.html

sho

Enigma Settings Sheets

Craig Heath — 2012-02-10T18:27:01

Hello Bletchley Park list!  I've been subscribed for a little while so I
hope you don't mind me leaping in...

I see in years past there has been some excellent in-depth discussion on
this list of the Enigma machine, its keys and code-breaking techniques.  Is
it still appropriate to discuss that here?  (If not I'd certainly
appreciate any pointers to appropriate mailing lists or forums.)

I've recently created an Enigma settings generator web page (
http://goo.gl/T80zL ) as I wanted a few things that Dirk Rijmenants'
Windows tool doesn't do (including support for the pluggable reflector,
D).  This is in conjunction with an Android Enigma simulator (
http://goo.gl/EwywN ).  I have read Philip Marks' excellent papers on UKWD,
but I have a few remaining questions:

- Was there any particular logic governing when UKWD settings changed?  The
authentic settings sheets seem to have used variously 7, 8, 9 or 10 day
periods.
- Was there any physical limitation on which pairs of letters could be
plugged together?  The

Sponsor a Valve on Colossus

Martin Postranecky — 2012-02-09T13:59:37

In case you may have not spotted this...:



Sponsor a Valve on Colossus
---------------------------
Please sponsor a valve on Colossus ( from £10 ) and help create a 
marvelous new gallery for the world's first modern computer. Colossus was 
built by Tommy Flowers specifically to help crack the Lorenz codes of 
German High Command during World War II. There were 10 working Colossi and 
each had 2,500 valves that performed the code-cracking calculations. The 
rebuilt and working Colossus will be on permanent display again at TNMOC 
in March. You can sponsor as many pixels as you like and add your logo or 
your name or nickname and url

http://tnmoc.org/36/section.aspx/232

http://www.colossusonline.org/index.php

http://www.colossusonline.org/get_pixels.php

http://www.colossusonline.org/pixel_list.php

Government rejects a pardon for computer genius Alan Turing

Martin Postranecky — 2012-02-08T18:52:29

Wednesday 08 February 2012

Government rejects a pardon for computer genius Alan Turing
-----------------------------------------------------------

Martin Wainwright

But the campaign goes on in his centenary year, with support from all over 
the world. Leading US mathematician calls for 'hullabaloo in the UK' over 
the decision

The government has given an initial rebuff to the campaign for a pardon 
for Alan Turing, the brilliant British 'father of the computer' whose 
career ended in tragedy after a gross indecency conviction at a time when 
gay sex was against the law.

Signatures are gathering on an e-petition for a pardon but the justice 
minister Lord McNally used the precedent argument to discourage the notion 
in the House of Lords..../snip/


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/feb/07/alan-turing-pardon-lord-mcnally-lord-sharkey-computers

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/3735-widespread-celebrations-but-no-pardon-for-turing.html

http://blog.jgc.org/2012/02/uk-government

Alan Turing petition & associated articles in The Guardian...

Martin Postranecky — 2012-01-26T11:41:16

Posted by Martin Wainwright
Monday 5 December 2011
guardian.co.uk 

Pressure grows for a Turing pardon
----------------------------------
Supporters are clicking on a new e-petition for the man whose brilliance 
underlies the laptops, mobiles and computer world which we often take for 
granted

An e-petition to the Government to end the long if now somewhat 
theoretical disgrace of Alan Turing is rapidly gathering signatures after 
only a few days..../snip/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/dec/05/alan-turing-universityofmanchester?intcmp=239

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/23526


Monday 19 December 2011
guardian.co.uk 

Alan Turing : My Favourite Scientist
------------------------------------
Mathematician, master codebreaker and father of computer science, Alan 
Turing was a genius touched by tragedy..../snip/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2011/dec/19/1?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

http://youtu.be/u3Ue7r5Xsyo

http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/conte

from 'MTB 102 Newsletter', Autumn 2011

Martin Postranecky — 2012-01-11T13:46:46

from 'MTB 102 Newsletter', Autumn 2011 :


1-4 September 2011
ADLS ( Association of Dunkirk Little Ships ) Veterans Cruise


.....WW II VETS

On Sunday morning our WW2 guests arrived and were allocated their boats 
for the day. MTB102 usually has Royal Navy Veterans on board, and this 
year they were joined by an ex Wren who spent some of her war at Bletchley 
Park. They all have interesting stories to tell..../snip/


http://www.mtb102.com/NewsletterAutumn2011(A4).pdf

http://www.mtb102.com

Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing

Martin Postranecky — 2012-01-08T20:13:59

Saturday 7 January 2012

Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing
------------------------------------------------------

Derelict block seen as birthplace of modern computer processing gains 
heritage protection

Stephen Bates

To look at, it is a distinctly undistinguished and desolate-looking piece 
of utilitarian 1940s architecture. There is a failed concrete roof, water 
seeping in, pigeons nesting and vegetation growing through the cracks in 
the brickwork.

But in context, the long overlooked and derelict Block C at Bletchley 
Park, the second world war codebreaking headquarters in Buckinghamshire, 
may be one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century and on 
Friday the government gave it Grade II listed status to preserve it for 
posterity.

It joins most other buildings on the site, including the famous wooden 
huts in which scientists, intelligence officers and civil servants, led by 
figures such as Alan Turing, initially worked to break the Nazis' 
supposedly impenetrabl

Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing

Martin Postranecky — 2012-01-08T20:13:59

Saturday 7 January 2012

Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing
------------------------------------------------------

Derelict block seen as birthplace of modern computer processing gains 
heritage protection

Stephen Bates

To look at, it is a distinctly undistinguished and desolate-looking piece 
of utilitarian 1940s architecture. There is a failed concrete roof, water 
seeping in, pigeons nesting and vegetation growing through the cracks in 
the brickwork.

But in context, the long overlooked and derelict Block C at Bletchley 
Park, the second world war codebreaking headquarters in Buckinghamshire, 
may be one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century and on 
Friday the government gave it Grade II listed status to preserve it for 
posterity.

It joins most other buildings on the site, including the famous wooden 
huts in which scientists, intelligence officers and civil servants, led by 
figures such as Alan Turing, initially worked to break the Nazis' 
supposedly impenetrabl