I wish you had told me this before

It is 1942 during the Second World War. The United Kingdom is listening to the Germans’ messages to their U Boat Fleet. Another message arrived. Julie printed it and put it into the in-tray. The message was picked up by Joseph, who read it and then tried to convert it using the latest codes that they had. It looked like a weather forecast that was transmitted by the German U Boats to their headquarters. The headquarters, then using all the reports, gave the local weather forecast to the U Boat Fleet.

The weather forecasts had helped the British to decipher the German code they were using. A destroyer had hit a U Boat, and before it had sunk, two brave seamen went on board and grabbed the codebooks and their Enigma machine; this was a find that changed the course of the war. The British could now decipher what the Germans were transmitting to their U Boats; using this data, the convoys sailing over the Atlantic could be re-routed away from the U Boat packs hunting them.

Joseph looked at the message and tried to decipher it. What came out did not make sense. Joseph tried it again, and the same message appeared. Joseph got up and went to his manager to ask for assistance.

‘Ian, I can’t decipher this message; it looks like a weather forecast,’ asked Joseph.

‘Let me see, please,’ said Ian looking at the message and the deciphered message.

‘This is simple,’ said Ian, ‘The Germans changed the codes, and we worked out the new codes; I forgot to tell you about it.’

Joseph smiled and took the new codebook, ‘I wish you had told me this before.’