Hut 8

{{Short description|Section of Bletchley Park codebreaking station, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} [[File:"Hut 8", Bletchley Park - geograph.org.uk - 1592862.jpg|thumb|Hut 8]] {{EnigmaSeries}} '''Hut 8''' was a section in the [[Government Code and Cypher School]] (GC&CS) at [[Bletchley Park]] (the British [[World War II]] [[codebreaking]] station, located in [[Buckinghamshire]]) tasked with solving German naval ([[Kriegsmarine]]) [[Enigma machine|Enigma]] messages. The section was led initially by [[Alan Turing]]. He was succeeded in November 1942 by his deputy, [[Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander|Hugh Alexander]]. Patrick Mahon succeeded Alexander in September 1944.<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref>

Hut 8 was partnered with [[Hut 4]], which handled the translation and intelligence analysis of the raw decrypts provided by Hut 8.

Located initially in one of the original single-story wooden huts, the name "Hut 8" was retained when Huts 3, 6 & 8 moved to a new brick building, Block D, in February 1943.<ref>[[Asa Briggs]] (2011), ''Secret Days: Code-breaking in Bletchley Park'', London: Frontline Books, p. 70 {{ISBN|978-1-84832-615-6}}</ref>

After 2005, the first Hut 8 was restored to its wartime condition, and it now houses the "{{HMS|Petard|G56|6}} Exhibition".<ref>{{cite magazine | title=Hut 8 Open Again | magazine=Radio and Communications Monitoring Monthly |date=April 2008 | volume=3 | issue=4 | issn=1749-7809 | page=12 }}</ref>

==Operation== In 1940, a few breaks were made into the naval "Dolphin" code, but [[Luftwaffe]] messages were the first to be read in quantity.<ref>''Secret Days: Code-breaking in Bletchley Park'' by [[Asa Briggs]] (2011, Frontline Books, London) p 75 {{ISBN|978-1-84832-615-6}}</ref> The German navy had much tighter procedures, and the capture of code books was needed (see {{format link|Battle of the Atlantic#Enigma cipher}}) before they could be broken. In February 1942, the German navy introduced "Triton", a version of Enigma with a fourth rotor for messages to and from Atlantic U-boats; these became unreadable for a period of ten months during a crucial period (see [[Battle of the Atlantic#Enigma in 1942|Enigma in 1942]]).

Britain produced modified [[bombe]]s, but it was the success of the [[Bombe#US Navy Bombe|US Navy bombe]] that was the main source of reading messages from this version of Enigma for the rest of the war.{{Citation needed|reason=Unusual that this "fact" has never been mentioned in any documentary before if it is true|date=September 2013}} Messages were sent to and from across the Atlantic by enciphered teleprinter links.

==Personnel== In addition to the [[cryptanalysts]], around 130 women worked in Hut 8 and provided essential clerical support including punching holes into the [[Banburismus|Banbury sheets]]. Hut 8 relied on [[Women's Royal Naval Service|Wrens]] to run the [[Bombe|bombes]] housed elsewhere at Bletchley.<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref>

=== Code breakers === * [[Alan Turing]] * [[Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander]] * [[Michael Arbuthnot Ashcroft]]<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> * [[Joan Clarke]]<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> * [[Joseph Gillis]]<ref>''Breaking Teleprinter Ciphers at Bletchley Park'', Biographical Notes (2015, Wiley-IEEE) p 547 {{ISBN|978-0470465899}}</ref> * [[Harry Golombek]] * [[I. J. Good]] * [[Peter Hilton]], January 1942 to late 1942 * [[Rosalind Hudson]] * Charlie Bierman * F Anthony Kendrick<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> * [[Leslie Lambert]] (aka "A. J. Alan") * Patrick Mahon<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> * [[Rolf Noskwith]]<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> * Richard Pendered<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> *[[John H. Plumb]], moved from [[Hut 3]]; (later a historian) <ref>Briggs (2011) p.52</ref> * [[Shaun Wylie]]<ref name ="codebreakers.hut8">{{Harvnb|Noskwith|2011}}</ref> * [[Leslie Yoxall]] devised ''Yoxallismus'' technique * [[Judith Irene Bloomfield]]

==See also== * [[Action This Day (memo)]] * [[Banburismus]] * [[Hut 4]] * [[Hut 6]] * [[Cryptanalysis of the Enigma]] * [[Bletchley_Park#Huts|Huts at Bletchley Park]] * [[B-Dienst]] * [[OP-20-G]]

==References== {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} * {{Citation | last = Alexander | first = C. Hugh O'D. | author-link = Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander | date = c. 1945 | title = Cryptographic History of Work on the German Naval Enigma | url = http://www.ellsbury.com/gne/gne-000.htm | publisher=The National Archives, Kew, Reference HW 25/1}} * {{Citation | last = Mahon | first = A.P. | title = The History of Hut Eight 1939 - 1945 | publisher = UK National Archives Reference HW 25/2 | year = 1945 | url = http://www.ellsbury.com/hut8/hut8-000.htm | access-date = 10 December 2009 }} * Rolf Noskwith, ''Hut 8 from the Inside'' - pages 197-210 of ''Action this Day'', edited by Michael Smith & Ralph Erskine (2001, Bantam London) {{ISBN|0-593-04910-1}} * {{cite book |last=Noskwith |first=Rolf |author-link=Rolf Noskwith |editor-first=Ralph |editor-last=Erskine |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-link=Michael Smith (newspaper reporter) |title=The Bletchley Park Codebreakers |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2011 |pages=184–194 |chapter=Chapter 12: Hut 8 From the Inside |isbn=978-1849540780 }} (Updated and extended version of ''Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer'' Bantam Press 2001)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hut 08}} [[Category:Cryptography organizations]] [[Category:Bletchley Park]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes]]