Singapore Slings Over Here
Singapore 1941
Harry and Julie spent their time between the various hospitals and health clinics. Being the senior surgeons on the island required them to practise general as well as plastic surgery. Although they were not required to reconstruct faces after horrific war injuries they did perform some critical procedures. These were usually as a result of accidents on the wharves and plantations.
As part of their responsibilities, trips to Malaya and Hong Kong were undertaken twice a year. This they both enjoyed, not just for medical reasons, but also because it gave them an opportunity to meet with expatriates from various parts of the world. There were doctors from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, all working to improve the health of their patients.
Conversations over a gin and tonic invariably would include the Japanese threat although most believed Churchill and felt safe in their British utopia.
Julie’s brother Jack wasn’t enjoying the same relaxed lifestyle in England. There was a serious war going on.
London May1941
Jack Doherty was sitting at his desk in the American Headquarters in London. He had recently been promoted to a One Star General and as a result, commanded his own office with a briefing room attached - not quite the command he had hoped for.
Jack’s career in the Marines had centred on intelligence; he knew the importance of information and the power it could give. A war could be won or lost based on the level of intelligence each side could accumulate on their enemy’s movements or plans.
He received a telephone call from Gene Lutze, the Under Secretary of the Navy and his mother’s second husband.
‘Jack, it’s Gene. Are you alone?’
‘Is your telephone line secure?
‘Yes Gene. Why do you ask?’
‘I’ve got some very confidential news. Could turn the course of the war.’
‘My God! What is it?’
‘One of the Enigma machines used by the German Navy has been acquired from a captured U-Boat. If we can determine how it works we will be able to decipher the coded messages being sent. We believe the Polish and British are close to breaking the code on the primary Enigma. If we can break both, it would put us in a very strong position. The British command has requested your involvement and I have agreed. I want you to move to Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire - by the end of this week.’
‘Yes sir. Who do I pass on working files to while I’m gone?’
‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll appoint someone worthy and capable to continue your work. You could well be back in your office before you know it.’
‘Gene, where will I sit as far as level of command?’
‘You will remain reporting to me but the British officer heading up the operation is Commander Alastair Denniston. He’s the number one British code-breaker. He heads up the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). The British certainly come up with some strange names.’
‘You mentioned the Polish - how come they are involved?’
‘The Germans, specifically Albert Scherbius, invented the Enigma back in 1919. It was patented and further developed by the company Gewerkschaft Securitas after they purchased the patents from Scherbius. The German armed forces initially rejected Enigma but eventually saw merit in adopting it for encrypting messages.
‘The Polish customs service discovered one being smuggled into the German Embassy in Warsaw. They embarked on a program of re-engineering to determine how the machine worked. Determining the exact wiring of each of the three rotors became the Polish cryptanalysts’ first task. To accomplish this, Poland’s cypher bureau tested and hired three mathematicians in 1932: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki, and Henryk Zygalski. They painstakingly analysed the intercepted encrypted messages searching for clues. Rejewski eventually determined a mathematical equation that could determine the wiring connections. However, the equation had too many unknown variables. He was able to finally make the initial breaks into the wiring sequence only with the aid of a German traitor.’
‘So how did the British get involved, Gene?’
‘On 25th July 1939, in Warsaw, the Poles initiated French and British military intelligence representatives into their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment, including the Zygalski sheets and the cryptologic bombe, and promised each delegation a Polish-reconstructed Enigma machine. Without these gifts of techniques and technology from Polish military intelligence, decryption of German Enigma messages at Bletchley Park would not have been possible.
‘Well, it sounds like an incredible project sir. I hope I can make a contribution. I am sure once I am ensconced at Bletchley Park I will have a better understanding of the challenges ahead.’