Google donates £500,000 to restore derelict huts where British mathematicians cracked the Nazi Enigma code

Site cracked 3,000 German messages a day

Said to have shortened World War II by two years

Huts currently stand derelict

Site is 'birthplace of the computer age'

The huts at Bletchley Park were where British mathematicians worked in secret to crack Germany's Enigma code, using desks, blackboards, and feeding their results through primitive mechanical computers that are the grandfathers of the machines we use today.

Many historians say that the efforts of the Bletchley Park codebreakers shortened the war by up to two years - ending the loss of Allied lives. But one hut currently stands derelict and others are in need of restoration.

The Bletchley Park Trust today received a donation of £550,000 from search giant Google - helping to tip the site towards the £4.6 million 'match' fund it needs to receive National Lottery funding.

Working in utmost secrecy, codebreakers at Bletchley Park cracked Germany's 'unbreakable' Enigma code - and being able to 'listen in' on Nazi communications helped to shorted World War II

The World War II Enigma decoding machine at Bletchley Park: The Nissen huts were filled with young workers intercepting and decoding German transmissions

Peter Barron, Director of External Relations for Google, said, ' The Bletchley Park Trust has been doing great work to honour Alan Turing and the codebreakers who helped shorten World War II and to educate the next generation about the history of modern computing.'

Manchester don Turing devised an 'electromechanical' machine that could break the code used by the German Navy.



He is widely seen as the father of modern computing - but was persecuted for his homosexuality, and committed suicide in 1954 by eating a cyanide-laced apple.

'The huts were very basic, filled with desks, blackboards - and felt university-like,' says Sinclair McKay, author of The Secret Life of Bletchley Park. 'The huts were where all the amazing flashing moments of insight happened, though - often with no machinery whatsoever.'

Huts at Bletchley Park were where many of the moments of inspiration occurred that led to Britain cracking the German Enigma code - but today one of the main huts stands derelict and two are in need of restoration





Alan Turing is widely seen as the father of modern computing - but was persecuted for his homosexuality, and committed suicide in 1954 by eating a cyanide-laced apple

'Bletchley Park was the dawn of the computer age. It's an amazing insight into how computing began - in rooms filled with desks and paper and blackboards. That's why this restoration is crucial'

Those huts were terribly cold in winter - most people wore mittens. They had sqeaky lino, and dozens of people worked side by side on desks. Messages were passed between huts down a tunnel on a tray pushed along with a broom handle.

'It was run by MI6 - but actually the people working inside those huts were civilians,' says McKay. 'Many were mathematicians drawn from universities. They would get their summons, but instead of reporting for the front line, they would report for duty at Bletchley Park.

'Bletchley Park was the dawn of computer age,' says McKay, 'For young people especially, it's an amazing insight into how the Nazis were outwitted and how computing began - in rooms filled with desks, and paper and blackboards, without a machine in sight. That's why this restoration is crucial.'

The Abwehr Enigma decoding machine at Bletchley Park: The electromechanical methods of 'cryptanalysis' developed by the team at Bletchley Park led to the computer age

Jean Valentine operated one of Alan Turing's Bombe machines used to crack the German Enigma code - the machines broke 3,000 enemy messages a day and are said to have shortened the war by two years

'Google’s backing draws the Bletchley Park Trust nearer to its goal of developing the site, both to educate and inspire generations to come and as a permanent testament to the brilliant people who worked there,' said the Trust this week.



'Once the remaining funding is in place the Trust will get underway with the restoration of iconic codebreaking huts 1, 3 and 6 and create a world-class visitor centre and exhibition in the currently derelict Block C.'



Simon Greenish, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust, said, 'We are tremendously grateful to Google for bringing us considerably closer to achieving our development aims.

