How Hitler was Fooled

A document has come to light at Bletchley Park showing how Hitler had been convinced that the Allies would invade in the Calais region in 1944. He then ordered his troops to concentrate their defences there, allowing the D-Day landings to go ahead on 6 June with less resistance than they would otherwise have met. The story of how he was fooled is fascinating, and involves a Spanish double agent called Juan Pujol Garcia, known by his codename of Garbo. This "balding, boring, unsmiling little man" convinced the Germans that he was passing on genuine British intelligence. Indeed, much of the time he was in order to strengthen his cover, but when it came to crucial information such as this he was able to completely deceive them. He eventually gave advance warning of the actual landing sites, but too late for the Germans to deal with it, and then followed it up with red herrings designed to convince them that further, heavier attacks would take place elsewhere in France later on.

German intelligence, sent in the Enigma code, was then deciphered by the team of up to 10,000 people working at Bletchley Park, and this particular document gave absolute proof that Hitler had been fooled. "It was like turning up a crock of gold," said Peter Wescombe, who used to work there. "It was absolutely wonderful."

You can find out more about Bletchley Park at their website, and on this BBC page which includes videos of how the Enigma machines work and how they were decoded by Alan Turing and his team of "unarmed intellectuals".

PS: Here are some of the other interesting documents that have been recently revealed.

How Wrong Can You Be?

The twentieth century saw technological, political and social change at a rate far quicker than ever before. Whilst in hindsight, some of the events and developments may today appear to have been inevitable; history has shown that on many occasions, influential and powerful leaders and experts often had little idea of just how drastically their world was to change.

Politically, the United Kingdom, and more widely, the world, would now be a very different place had the predictions of Margaret Thatcher and Neville Chamberlain been correct. Speaking in 1974, Thatcher declared that it would be “years -- not in my time -- before a woman will become Prime Minister”. In fact it would be only five years, and she would be in office – a momentous, although often controversial premiership that has shaped the way much of the British public views politics. On the 30th September 1938, Neville Chamberlain, the then Prime Minister, made a statement, which was to be completely wrong little less than a year later when Britain declared war on Germany. Showing just how unexpected war was, he boldly declared that he believed it “is peace for our time”. Unfortunately, Britain found itself fighting arguably the world’s most tyrannical ruler, Adolf Hitler.

Political change, although often drastic, is often much harder to pre-empt and a major event can happen without much prior warning. In many ways, it is the inaccurate social and technological predictions that are most telling about how rapidly change was taking place. “We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out” was the verdict on the Beatles given by Decca Recording Co. Without realising, they had just rejected the biggest boy band of all time.

In regards to computing, computer manufacturer, IBM, has seriously underestimated the role that computers were to play in modern life not only once, but twice. In 1943, the company’s chairman, Thomas Watson said; “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers". This was followed in 1968 with, "But what ... is it good for?" by an engineer in regards to the microchip – a device heralded by Robert Winston as one of the ten biggest breakthroughs on his programme, ‘How Science Changed Our World’. It is yet to be seen whether our present day anticipation of the future will be any more accurate, but similar quotations and thoughts that have already been proven to be incorrect can be viewed on http://www.thatsweird.net/facts13.shtm.

Many thanks to SF for this post.

Oliver Stone on Stalin

Oliver Stone, the film-maker behind JFK, Platoon, and W, is making a 10 hour series on the history of the Twentieth Century for American television. He is no stranger to controversy and has stated that this will correct the "inaccuracies and biases" that exist in conventional history teaching. He considers Hitler, for example, to be "an easy scapegoat throughout history" and that Stalin's role also needs to be reevaluated as "He fought the German war machine more than any person." More on his plans here.

More on the wall

Here is a Berlin Wall quiz, courtesy of German magazine "Der Spiegel". There is also an interesting interview with Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jäger, the first border guard to allow East Germans to cross into the west. He explains why he made that decision, revealing the chaos and confusion of the East German government that evening.

Der Spiegel also takes a closer look at the significance of 9 November in German history, which also marks 1918 German Revolution which brought down the Kaiser, Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, and Kristallnacht in 1938.

PS: 9 November was also the date of the execution Robert Blum, one of the leaders of the 1848 Revolution in Germany, and was the date of the foundation of the SS in 1925. It is therefore referred to in Germany as the "Day of Fate" (Schicksalstag)

PPS: Here's Pravda's take on the anniversary. Apparently the fall of the wall triggered "the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th Century"...