Day 17, Tuesday, July 22 - Visit to Bletchley Park

After a later start to the day (breakfast at 8:30) our driver Paul took us to Bletchley Park. This was the top secret site where German codes were broken during World War II.  There were many different sites to go to at Bletchley Park; we went to the mansion and huts 3, 6, and 8.  This park is where some of the earliest types of computers were installed and operated helping the employees decipher the codes.  It is said that the work and progress made at this code breaking center took two whole years off the war against the Axis powers.  This facility was not limited to the British; there were personel from France, Poland, and the United States.  We stood in the rooms in which the well known/seemingly unbreakable Engima Code was deciphered.  Amazingly, the Mansion and farm initially had only a few dozen code breakers.  Within six years later nearly 10,000 employees worked at this top secret location.  After the war the facility was shut-down, many of the code breaking machines were destroyed and the actual role of Bletchley Park in the war effort was not even disclosed and published until the 1970's.  While viewing all of the exhibits in this museum we learned how the Enigma machine worked and how Allies decoded the messages.  Towards the end of the visit we got to see the famous and first computer on this planet, the Colossus.  The machine displayed the latest technology of the era.  Overall it was a great trip and I think we all learned a lot about how we defeated the Germans in World War II. 

Robin Moriarty

The mansion at Bletchley park.

One of the coded message analysis rooms.

Breaking the German Naval coded messages was particularly significant for the allies.

Colossus, an enormous code breaking machine utilizing early computer technology.