Polish Broke German Codes: How Polish Intelligence Solved Riddle of Enigma Machine

One of the secrets about WWII that came to light only in recent years was the success the Allies had in breaking Germany's secret code and reading coded messages. And yet most people are still unaware of the full picture. They believe that the British were the only ones able to accomplish this activity that was key to Allied victory. While their dogged efforts were important, even essential, and worthy of every accolade, they were given all the tools at their disposal by the Poles. Bletchley Park owes its existence to Pyry in Poland.

What follows is material gathered by a Polish historian, Jozef Garlinski, and corroborated by the last living senior cryptanalyst, Marian Rejewski (a he).
The Germans employed an encrypting device called Enigma. Its roots go back to 1919 when a Dutchman, Hugo A. Koch and a German named Arthur Scherbius independently devised secret writing machines. The machines were eventually combined when Scherbius bought Koch's patent. In 1926, the German Navy bought what had become Enigma, and the German Army later followed. Incredibly, the machine was still for sale on the open market and was bought by large companies to protect trade secrets. Also one was sold to the eminent American cryptanalyst William F. Friedman - who later broke Japan's Code Purple, an effort that put him the hospital from the physical and mental strain - however without any breakthrough he never solved the German variations of Enigma.

The Poles had regularly broken German codes until 1926, when they found themselves suddenly mystified. Remember 1926 was the year that the German Navy bought their first Enigma. The Poles started a cryptology course in 1930 in Poznan for 20 of the most gifted mathematics students at the University. The three top graduates formed the core of a Polish intelligence department assigned to solve the riddle of Enigma: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki, and Henryk Zygalski.