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Breaking this code was a life-or-death matter for the British.  They gathered the brightest mathematicians and puzzle solvers, including, famously, [[Alan Turing]] and Gordon Welchman, into a facility at Bletchley Park.  They built the most sophisticated computing devices that were available at the time, which were electromechanical.  Completely electronic computers would have been enormously faster, but the technology at the time could not provide electronic computers that would have worked reliably enough to do the job.  The computers were called "bombes", and were basically devices to spin Enigma rotors as fast as possible, trying out different keys while working on "cribs".

Breaking this code was a life-or-death matter for the British.  They gathered the brightest mathematicians and puzzle solvers, including, famously, [[Alan Turing]] and Gordon Welchman, into a facility at Bletchley Park.  They built the most sophisticated computing devices that were available at the time, which were electromechanical.  Completely electronic computers would have been enormously faster, but the technology at the time could not provide electronic computers that would have worked reliably enough to do the job.  The computers were called "bombes", and were basically devices to spin Enigma rotors as fast as possible, trying out different keys while working on "cribs".

At the height of the operation, they were routinely solving keys, generally by about noon each day.  They then retroactively decoded that morning's messages, and continued decoding through the day.  They sent huge amounts of data (called "Ultra") to the war department each day.  The Nazis apparently never realized that this was happening.

At the height of the operation, they were routinely solving keys, generally by about noon each day.  They then retroactively decoded that morning's messages, and continued decoding through the day.  They sent huge amounts of data to the war department each day.  The Nazis apparently never realized that this was happening.

The breakthrough enabled the Allies to anticipate German military maneuvers, although sometimes the Allies would allow an attack to occur successfully in order to avoid signaling to the Germans that their code had been broken.  The [[Allied]] code-breaking effort was known as "Ultra", as in "ultra-secret".

The breakthrough enabled the Allies to anticipate German military maneuvers, although sometimes the Allies would allow an attack to occur successfully in order to avoid signaling to the Germans that their code had been broken.  The [[Allied]] code-breaking effort was known as "Ultra", as in "ultra-secret".