U-110 and the Enigma Cipher Machine

[Tiki Tom]

Sadly, another WWII veteran of distinction has passed away. Lieutenant Commander David Balme has died at the age of 95. Lieutenant Commander Balme was the man who boarded U-110 and captured its Enigma Cipher Machine and ---most importantly--- an envelope containing the June 1941 Enigma settings that allowed the code to be cracked. To me, it is almost unimaginable that the U-Boat Captain did not take care to destroy that critical envelope. I guess that sometimes the outcomes of great events do indeed hang on small human errors, oversights, or (conversely) on sudden individual flashes of insight. Later, Churchill said that the breaking of the code shortened the war by two years.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tributes-paid-world-war-two-7122436

 

[Bolero]

Maybe leaving the codes behind for discovery wasn't an error but rather an overt act by a right thinking German officer...that knew he was essentially forced to carry out a maniacs (Hitler) orders to sink & kill as many unarmed non military cargo ships as possible.