-=> MILES MAXTED wrote to DAVID WILLIAMS <=-

 MM> G'morning David,

 -> NOVA did an episode on these machines and how they broke the codes.

 MM> This is Colossus built at Bletchley Park ?

 DW> It also helped that there was an extremely bored German radio operator,
 DW> in an outpost in the Sahara desert, who every day sent the message "All
 DW> quiet. Nothing to report." (in German, of course) encrypted with that
 DW> day's Enigma code. Once the Brits had caught on that this same message
 DW> was sent every day, they were able to crack the daily codes much more
 DW> easily.

 MM> Just being able to identify the operator by such mannerisms
 MM> supplying Signals Intelligence with untold info...

Another code breaker favorite was a German enigma operator
who insisted on swearing routinely.
One German operator sent two nearly identical messages without 
resetting the encoding wheels, that was a huge break.

The German receiving station reported the first message
garbled but the British snagged both copies intact.

 DW> I actually know an 85-year old German, who now lives here in Toronto,
 DW> who was the radio operator at Rommel's headquarters in the desert. I
 DW> have often wondered if *he* was the one who kept sending that message,
 DW> or if he knew who was. But his English is bad, and his hearing is
 DW> worse. Asking him and eliciting a reply could take days!

 MM> But getting his tale up on the `net would be most worthwhile !
 
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