AN ACTUAL Enigma code machine was the star turn of a history meeting in Wem discussing the codebreakers of the Second World War.

At Wem Civic’s July meeting, around 50 people had the chance to see and operate an Enigma coding machine which were used extensively by Nazi Germany during the war to transmit messages.

The ‘breaking’ of these machines has been the subject of many books, documentaries, and films – most notably, ‘The Imitation Game’ starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing.

OTHER NEWS: 

A spokesman for Wem Civic Society said the night proved to be fascinating for members.

They said: “Howard Craston introduced the evening by providing the background to ‘Codebreaking during WWII’.

“Development of coding machines was carried out by many armies to speed up messaging from the ponderous manual coding and then transmission often via morse code, then the decoding.

“There followed the battle to ‘break’ those coding machines.

“Polish mathematicians were the first to break German codes, all of which were generated by Enigma machines.

“They escaped when Poland was invaded by Germany, and eventually they came to Britain and were posted to Bletchley Park to join the battle to ‘break’ Enigma’.

“After Howard’s talk, he introduced his own guest – Dr Mark Baldwin, who had brought with him an Enigma machine, which he allowed members of the society to operate.”

The machine had three rotors while naval versions had four and the position of the rotors was set throughout the German territories at midnight.

The spokesman added: “The change rendered any attempt to break the code in the previous 24 hours fruitless.

“As text is entered, the rotors move and encipher the test; each keypress shifts the rotors to allow a different connection for the next letter.

“For example, the entry ACHTUNG would become VCTMEWI and this would be sent in Morse code to a receiving station.

Get in touch

Share your views on this story by sending a letter to the editor. To get in touch email news@whitchurchherald.co.uk, or fill in the form on this section of our website.

“At the other end, the rotors would have the same setting and the incoming message would be translated to its original form.

“There was a short conventional codebreaking exercise during the refreshments.”

There is no August meeting but the society kicks off again in September with two heritage events on Saturday, August 14 morning with displays, a guided walk and a talk in Wem Town Hall, and Friday, August 20 – an evening of Tudor food.