Three-Rotor Enigma Cipher Machine
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An incredible three-rotor Enigma machine used by German forces during World War II
Key Features
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- An incredible three-rotor Enigma machine used by German forces during World War II
- Examples of Enigma machines are exceptionally rare and almost all known models are in museums
- Historians believe that breaking the Enigma code by the Allies shortened the war by two years
- This fascinating mechanism is capable of coding 15 billion possibilites for each character
- Examples of Enigma machines are exceptionally rare and almost all known models are in museums
- Circa 1939
- 11" wide x 13 3/4" deep x 6" high
Item Details
- Width:
11" Inches - Height:
6" Inches - Depth:
13 3/4" Inches - Period:
20th Century - Origin:
Other Europe
This highly important three-rotor Enigma deciphering machine was used by the German Army during World War II. This machine, manufactured in Berlin, features three moving code rotors and a Steckerbrett, or plug board. It has been calculated that the 3-rotor ENIGMA, with plugboard in use, made possible a total of 15 billion possible readings for each character. Examples of Enigma machines are exceptionally rare and almost all known models are in museums. An incredibly significant piece of world history, this machine is in exceptional working condition.
Dated 1939
11" wide x 13 3/4" deep x 6" high
The Enigma machine was an advanced electro-mechanical cipher machine developed in Germany after World War I. The machine, called the "M" machine by the Germans, was used by all branches of the German military as their main device for secure wireless communications until the end of World War II. Several types of the Enigma machines were developed before and during World War II, each more complex and harder to code break than its predecessors. In addition to the complexity of the Enigma machine itself, its operating procedures became increasingly complex, as the German military wanted to make Enigma communications harder to code break.
The effort to crack the codes generated by an Enigma was an international affair. In 1929, the Poles intercepted an Enigma machine being shipped from Berlin, mistakenly not protected as diplomatic baggage. The Poles were able to determine the wiring of the rotors then in use by the German Army and used them to decrypt a large portion of German Army traffic for much of the 1930s.
In 1939, the German Army increased the complexity of their Enigmas. The Poles, realizing time was running out before the Germans invaded, decided in mid-1939 to share their work, and passed to the French and the British some of their ersatz 'Enigmas' information. The information was shipped to France in diplomatic baggage; the British share went on to Bletchley Park, where the British secret service had installed its Code and Cipher School for the purpose of breaking the Germans' message traffic. There, British mathematicians and cryptographers, chess players, bridge players, and crossword puzzle fans, among them Alan Turing, managed to conquer the problems presented by the many German Enigma variations, and found means of cracking them. This critical intelligence gathering was soon garnered with the code name ULTRA, with some historians crediting the operation with shortening the war by at least two years.
Dated 1939
11" wide x 13 3/4" deep x 6" high
The Enigma machine was an advanced electro-mechanical cipher machine developed in Germany after World War I. The machine, called the "M" machine by the Germans, was used by all branches of the German military as their main device for secure wireless communications until the end of World War II. Several types of the Enigma machines were developed before and during World War II, each more complex and harder to code break than its predecessors. In addition to the complexity of the Enigma machine itself, its operating procedures became increasingly complex, as the German military wanted to make Enigma communications harder to code break.
The effort to crack the codes generated by an Enigma was an international affair. In 1929, the Poles intercepted an Enigma machine being shipped from Berlin, mistakenly not protected as diplomatic baggage. The Poles were able to determine the wiring of the rotors then in use by the German Army and used them to decrypt a large portion of German Army traffic for much of the 1930s.
In 1939, the German Army increased the complexity of their Enigmas. The Poles, realizing time was running out before the Germans invaded, decided in mid-1939 to share their work, and passed to the French and the British some of their ersatz 'Enigmas' information. The information was shipped to France in diplomatic baggage; the British share went on to Bletchley Park, where the British secret service had installed its Code and Cipher School for the purpose of breaking the Germans' message traffic. There, British mathematicians and cryptographers, chess players, bridge players, and crossword puzzle fans, among them Alan Turing, managed to conquer the problems presented by the many German Enigma variations, and found means of cracking them. This critical intelligence gathering was soon garnered with the code name ULTRA, with some historians crediting the operation with shortening the war by at least two years.
