Bletchley Park helped to reduce the amount of losses in the Atlantic breaking a lot of the German naval codes. The ‘Dolphin’ cipher was broken due to intercepted code books coming in to Bletchley Park. It is possible, though that loss off tonnage in the Atlantic may be due to the fact that the Germans changed position. In December 1942, ‘Shark’ was broken letting the Allies go on the offensive. In the first 5 months, 100 U-Boats were sunk and by May 1942, all of them were withdrawn form the Atlantic.
There were other factors that helped to win the Battle of the Atlantic apart form Bletchley Park. The development of technology was major in this. Technology such as ASDIC/Sonar, ‘hedgehogs’ and depth charges greatly added the Allies. Methods and tactics also helped win the battle. For example, the convoy system, where ships traveled together and also the fact that long range aircrafts were being used for support and as spotters for enemy vessels. German mistakes also played a major part in the outcome of the battle as they changed position to the Mediterranean and they didn’t build enough U-Boats.
The Battle of North Africa was basically just a battle for oil. The Germans were attacking the Allied forces and were fairly successful until 1941 where the Allies gained the upper hand. They forced the Italian forces and the Afrika Corps back and the RAF and Navy were steadily sinking supply ships which halted the Axis’ supplies for almost two months.
In December 1942, the German strength rose in North Africa with the arrival or U-Boats and the Luftwaffe to assist fighting. Bletchley Park was able to supply the Allies with limited battle plans but they weren’t nearly detailed enough and were quickly outdated due to Rommel constantly changing German tactics. Between January and June of 1942, the Germans cracked the US codes that were sent to Egypt. Bletchley Park was also taking up to a week to crack the ‘Chaffinch’ the Afrika Corps’ enigma which gave the Axis the time to push the Allies back. However, by the end of May 1942, the Allies had their breakthrough. ‘Chaffinch’ ciphers were being broken daily, 2 other German Army codes had been broken and the Allies had full access to the Luftwaffe codes.
The Germans attempted a major breakthrough at Alam Halfa. However, the British Eighth Army was ready for them due to information received from Bletchley Park. The Germans gave up after just two days. Bletchley Park also deciphered ‘Scorpion’ Enigma which was the air and ground attack coordination. The growth in mobile Y Stations in North Africa meant troops could find out Rommel’s changes in tactics in real time and be able to act on them.
Victories in North Africa finally persuaded the Army and RAF that Bletchley Park’s work was an extremely powerful weapon against the Germans and could definitely be used to end the war in the Allies’ favour.
Advances in the war like in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of North Africa allowed the plan of D Day to be brought forward form 1946 to the 6th June 1944. In May 1944, the Allies discovered that the Germans had found out about the attack on Normandy but they thought this was just a decoy for an attack on Calais. The Allies were thrilled by this news. The attack on Calais was in fact a diversion for the attack on Normandy. The Allies knew they could use this to their advantage and played on this right up until D Day itself.
Bletchley Park provided information about the size and location of 56 out of 59 German units in France. There were a few codes that were lost or mistranslated so there were just a few units that were not known about. After D Day, not all messages could be decoded due to the sheer amount that were coming in, but Bletchley Park was able to give advance warning on two counter attacks on the 10th and 12th of June. Although Bletchley Park didn’t create total victory, it aided the Allies greatly and helped the war end much sooner than it was going to.
Bletchley Park’s was not also taken on board. There were some instances where warnings given by Bletchley Park were plainly ignored; for example, the HMS Glorious on 1940. There was a build-up of messages being sent by the Germans which gave Bletchley Park the impression that something was going to happen soon. The OIC was warned to tell the home fleet of messages suggesting that German warships were about to sail to the Atlantic. The message was ignored because Bletchley Park were acting on a hunch and the OIC didn’t want to look stupid by moving their ships for no apparent reason. The HMS Glorious and its two escorts, the HMS Acasta and the HMS Ardent were completely destroyed on their return from Norway and 1500 men were lost. This shows that although Bletchley Park’s work was very important to the outcome of the war, there were other reasons for the Allied victory.
