Also source B is the only source to tell us when it was produced whereas the others have no dates. This in effect reduces the reliability of all the sources put together.
In conclusion source C does support sources A and B. We are given further support to demonstrate the theory that many members of staff were not informed about events that were happening during and after their work at B.P. The sources tell us many people did not know what was going to happen, what was happening and results of their work at B.P. That shows B. P. had tried as hard as they could not to let their secrets be exposed because it may have fallen in the wrong hands therefore ruining the situation for Britain in the war.
How useful are source D and E in helping you understand how Bletchley Park was able to crack the Enigma Codes?
Source D is a primary source, which is a description of the work involved in Hut 3 written by one of the intelligence staff. The source is very useful in helping us understand how B.P. was able to crack the Enigma Codes. It tells us ‘material’ came from Hut 6 and a great amount was corrupted. This meant it used complex German language or it did not make sense. The ‘Head of the Watch’ (supervisor) would then send the messages to ‘the Watch’ (shift) that seemed to be in top priority to translate in English. The source points out on of Hut 3’s ‘great strenghs’, which was the ‘index’ (like a dictionary or directory). The ‘index’ helped the linguistics be aware of what some of the words or phrases meant which were decoded in earlier messages. In effect this helped the department predict Germany’s next approach.
Source E is an image of an Enigma machine. B.P. used Enigma Machines as a replica of the German machines that were used to code messages. This helped them understand the process of the German coding. On the other hand the machine shows how complicated decoding messages is. The Germans used five wheels of which a different set of three was used each day to code messages. All B.P. knew was each letter never represented itself. However they had soon discovered the middle wheel was never used. In Source E we cannot learn how B.P. was able to crack the Enigma Codes. The source only shows an image of the machine, illustrating how complicated the work involved in B.P. was.
Source D and E are quite useful in helping us understand how B.P. was able to crack the Enigma Codes. Source D is much more useful than Source E for helping us understand the process involved in B.P. However these sources appear to be fairly limited. For us to gain a wider comprehension, it is important that we have access to much more sources.
Use Sources F and G, and your own knowledge, to explain the importance of Bletchley Park to the war effort
Source F is a memo written by (the Prime Minister of Britain during WW2), Winston Churchill. This primary source was sent to the chief of Staff Lord Ismay. The content of the source shows Churchill wanted messages with high priority reported to him immediately. It shows Churchill had strong communications too and from B.P. This source was highly likely to be produced during a battle when it was crucial to decode all messages quickly. There were a number of victories during WW2 with the help of B.P. One possible event referring to this source could be the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941 when B.P. helped defeat German U-boats which were attacking convoys in the Atlantic. The messages decoded by B.P. in the recent events during the war in many cases helped the further events that had occurred.
Source G is a description of the work involved in Hut 6 written by one of the code breakers. The source greatly contrasts with source F. Source G shows how frustrating it was trying to decode the messages. The three wheels on the Enigma Machine sometimes made Hut 6 code breakers work all night due to the number of possible positions for just one letter. The source also suggests that the end result most of the time was not worth their effort because the code breakers never actually found out the results of their messages, ‘and there it is, the Italian, the German, or whatever it is.’ The source however poses a number of questions, as there is no indication what happened after the codes were cracked or whether the messages helped with the war.
In conclusion Source G does not show the importance of B.P. to the war effort. But it does tell us how hard members of Hut 6 worked for B.P. and the difficulty of decoding messages. In some ways Source F shows the importance of B.P. to the war effort. It shows that there was direct communication to and from B.P. and important messages were sent immediately to the PM. This shows B.P. played a crucial part in the war.
The writer of Source I believed that Bletchley Park had a very great impact on the outcome of the Second World War. Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain whether you agree with this view.
Bletchley Park in general appeared to have a great impact on the Second World War but had little impact at the start of the war and towards the end of the war. Evidently it did help the outcome of WW2 but its impact differs from one view to another.
Source I is a primary source and is a description of the work involved in B.P. written by one of the code breakers. It states B.P. had a ‘very great’ impact on WW2 and ‘shortened the war’ period. This view appears to be a bias opinion because the sources main focus is on the successful outcomes of the war and states no drawbacks. It does not give a reasonable justification why the impact of B.P. was in fact ‘very great.’ Many of the other code breakers did not know the effect of their work at B.P., so how can this code breaker be completely sure it had a great impact.
Source A is written by one of the intelligence staff in Hut 3 and contains a description of the work involved for her or him at B.P. The source shows a theme of secrecy within Hut 3 because the work involved at B.P. was too important for even their workers to find out. The workers did not know the importance of their work. The source however fails to provide when it was produced which is very important because it can tell us the time period B.P. had a great impact during the war.
Source C is written by one of the code breakers in Hut 6. It also shows the theme of secrecy because the workers never knew the results of their work. It tells us the code breakers worked hard, to decode messages, suggesting the impact of their work. However the source fails to tells us when it was produced.
Source D is written by one of the workers in the intelligence staff. It is the first source to point out one of Bletchley Park’s great strengths, which was the index. Hut 3 had an ordered system of how to deal with the important messages. Such a system reflects the importance of their work again hinting the impact B.P. had on WW2. Again the date of the source is not given.
Source F also suggests B.P. had a big impact on the Second World War. It is a memo written by the former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which states that everything important should be referred to him immediately. Such strong relations between the P.M. and B.P. shows Churchill relied on B.P. for help in the war thus justifying its impact. Although the date of the source is not given we can easily interpret this source was produced during the war and perhaps in the middle.
Source G is a description of the work at B.P. by one of the code breakers. It states that the code breakers worked very hard even though some of the results of the messages may not be relevant to the situation. Their effort points to the direction of Bletchley Park’s impact on the war. The date of the source is not given so we are not aware when there was an impact.
Source H is a photograph taken in Hut 3. The workers appear very busy reflecting their importance in the war. The stacks of paper files help justify this. A majority of the workers are women. This suggests B.P. may have mainly women working for them and most of the men may have participated their support by fighting in the war.
Source B however is a description of B.P. written by a woman at there in 1939. She described herself in the ‘first wave’ which means she was in the first set of people to work there. B.P. had just developed so obviously it had no impact at the start of the war, in 1939.
Source E is a photograph of an enigma machine. It gives us no evidence that B.P. had an impact on WW2 however it does show us that the code breakers had to work very hard with the machines to decode the messages. It does not tell us if the enigma machine helped B.P. have a big impact on the war.
In conclusion I agree B.P. had an impact on the success of WW2. Members of B.P. united together to help the British, Italians and French. But I do not agree Bletchley Park had a very great impact on the war because others were involved as well. It was the British army, navy and its allies, which mainly helped the defeat of the Second World War. B.P. did help the outcome of the war but only for a short period of time, which was in the middle of the war. However, evidently, it did provide support for many of the battles won during the war.
