There were also problems with messages; messages were being constantly lost because of changes to the Enigma device. An example of this was Shark, the 4 wheeled Naval Enigma, and this new Enigma caused an increase in the number of British Naval convoys being sunk by German U Boats. Another problem was the fact that decoding messages took time and sometimes the information was supplied to late and the information became useless. An example of this was North Africa in January 1942 when the information supplied by Station X was supplied a week after it was transmitted, this was usually to late to be of any use.
There was also the fact that although they were able to supply information about the Germans movements they never actually thought and there information usually did not do the Allies any good during the war. An example of this was in Crete in May 20th 1941. Station X was able to provide information about the use of Paratroopers at Crete; the defenders picked these of easily. Unfortunately the British garrison was badly outnumbered and forced to retreat.
The more influential events that occurred during the war were;
The Battle of the Atlantic I believe was Station X’s greatest achievement. The British were very reliant on the convoys that were sent by Allies, Germany realized this and sent German U Boats to sink the convoys and therefore strangle Britain and win the war. When this occurred Station X focused all of its attention on cracking Dolphin, the first German Naval code, when it was cracked the amount of shipping destroyed went from 282,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes to 62,000 tonnes. At this point the German U Boats were withdrawn to the Mediterranean to protect German supplies going to North Africa. Later on in the war the introduction of Shark led to the second battle of the Atlantic, this increased the amount of shipping destroyed to 1,250,000 Tonnes in the first 3 months. When shark was finally cracked in 1942 swung the battle in favour of the Allies as more than 100 U Boats were sunk in 1943.
The next most influential achievement was in North Africa in 1942. Although Station X was not much help at the beginning at Jun 1942 Station X was able to inform the Allies that the Germans were about to make a major breakthrough at Alam Halfa in August, when this attempt was made the British 8th Army was waiting for them. As this was occurring German supply convoys were being destroyed thanks to information provided by Station X, 33% of ships were sunk in August and 45% of ships were sunk in October. Due to their lack of resources the Allies were able to win a decisive victory at El Alemein. The final blow to the Germans came when Station X informed the Allies, that the final attack was planned for the 6th March 1943 at Medenine. The British were told that the Germans had 160 tanks and 200 guns, so they dug in and when the Germans arrived they were facing 820 guns and 400 tanks, victory was swift. Fighting continued in North Africa for 2 months but the Allies were in total control thanks to Station X.
The Final achievement was the Battle of Matapan. This occurred in early 1941 and Station X discovered that the Italians were going to invade Yugoslavia and later that German forces were being sent to back up the Italians. Station X tipped of Admiral Cunningham and he was able to sink 3 heavy cruisers and 2 destroyers with no British losses.
In conclusion I believe that Station X did play a major role in the outcome of the war because if Station X had not intervened at the Battle of the Atlantic then Britain would have been slowly strangled and would have lost the war.
Matthew Casey 5 More Page of
