Enigma: the Spanish connection

Nearly everyone now-a-days has heard of the Enigma machine that encrypted the German intelligence messages during World War II. This is partly due to the success of films like Michaels Apted’s Enigma released in 2001. It told the story of how the British captured a German U-boat together with an Enigma machine and the current code book. It was followed by the film The Imitation Game in 2014 which focused on the part that Alan Turing, interpreted by Benedict Cumberbatch, played in breaking the Enigma code at Bletchley Park.

Actually, many people were involved in the deciphering of Enigma. The Polish had succeeded in cracking a simplified Enigma code but then Poland was invaded and the Polish agents passed their information onto the French Resistance, who in turn passed it onto the British Intelligence. At Bletchley Park there were more than 8000 people involved in deciphering German messages.

What is amazing to me is that the secret that the code had been cracked by the British was kept for so long. It was 1975 when the information was finally released to the public. The question is –Why did the British government hide this information for over 30 years?

This enigma was partly answered when 26 Enigma machines were discovered in a secret room in Madrid. Felix Sanz, director of Spain’s Intelligence Service revealed that these machines had been used by Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War. They were bought from Germany and both Hitler and Franco were concerned that the machines should not fall into the wrong hands. The Republicans, the communists or even worse the British spies who were in Spain were eager to obtain one. The machines were in use right up until the 1950s in various Spanish embassies throughout the world. This might well be one of the reasons why the British government were keen to keep the cracking of Enigma a secret.

In 2011, Spain gifted two Enigma machines to Britain, which can be seen at the museum at Bletchley Park. Spain received some historic military items in exchange; 2 of the 26 Enigma machines together with the gifts from Britain can be seen on display at the Spanish Army Museum at the Alcazar in Toledo. 

Mr Sanz gratefully accepted the present from Britain and in his speech said, "In today's world it is impossible to work alone. You need friends and allies. I knock at the door of the British intelligence and I always get a response. And I hope on the occasion where the British services knock at my door, when they leave my house they leave with a sense they have been helped also."

It’s good to see the two nations working together, however, it’s not hard to deduce that the British Intelligence were listening in on messages sent from Madrid to its embassies using the Enigma machines, during the Franco regime. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the British government kept the cracking of the code secret for so long!