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From: weemba@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P. Wiener)
Newsgroups: net.crypt,net.politics
Subject: Re: Enigma and the Eastern Front again
Message-ID: <11980@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sun, 23-Feb-86 06:05:24 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11980
Posted: Sun Feb 23 06:05:24 1986
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In article <586@cheviot.uucp> brian@cheviot.newcastle.ac.uk (Brian Randell) writes:
>As a recent subscriber to net.crypt, I have found the correspondence about
>the impact of ULTRA very interesting, and hope it continues on the net, rather
>than via email. My own assumption has been that the best source of published
>information on this topic is the now almost complete series of volumes
>"British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its influence on strategy
>and operations" by F. H. Hinsley et al (HMSO, London, 1979 et seq).
>The most recent volume, for example, starts to reveal what was obtained from
>Enigma decrypts, via bombes, and what was obtained of more strategic importance
>from Fish decrypts, via the Collossi. I would be interested to learn how
>these volumes are now regarded, and what assessments there have been regarding
>their accuracy.

A recent book, Nigel West _MI6_, cites in his introduction one example
where the series is (apparently deliberately) understating what happened.

Tom, you may want to go look at this book and its chapter on Scandinavia.
There is one (one!) paragraph that says the British passed Enigma secrets
to the Soviet Union starting in summer 1943.  Absolutely no details or
references are given.  He also says the attempts to hide the true source,
despite broad hints that they knew where it came from, were probably
amusing to the Soviets, as they had already penetrated MI6.  As I was
under the impression that it was MI5 that was penetrated, I wonder where
his information comes from.

Also, Tom expressed doubts about the Red Orchestra.  From D Kahn _The
Codebreakers_:

    Of all Soviet networks during the war, by far the most
    important was the Swiss.  It owed its supremacy in part
    to its location in neutral Switzerland, where it oper-
    ated for a long time out of reach of the German Abwehr,
    and in part to having in the network the agent codenamed
    LUCY....  This was Rudolf Roessler....  His sources appear
    to have been ten WWI companions,... five of whom became
    generals and served at least part of the time in OKW.
    ...
    Roessler provided the Russian general staff with nothing
    less than the day-to-day German order of battle.  Foote,
    in fact, believes that "Moscow very largely fought the
    war on Lucy's messages."
    ...
    [The ring was broken up in October 1943.]

Kahn cites Alexander Foote _Handbook for Spies_.  Foote, in turn, was the
chief radioman in the Swiss ring.

ucbvax!brahms!weemba	Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720