Computers In WW2

In WW2 the germans were communicating with coded messages so that the enemies could not understand their next move. The germans were creating these codes with the enigma machine. 

How it Works

The enigma machine has a keyboard that the person would press and then another keyboard on top would light up. The germans would then have a coded message that could be sent and understood by other germans. They could change what letters would show up by changing the cogs inside the machine this was the messages would always come out different. 

Alan Turing

Alan Turing was a man who was trying to break the coded messages that the germans were sending. Turing wasn't the only one who was working to break the codes there were hundreds. the men would spend hours maybe days or months trying to break one code. Alan Turing wanted the break the codes faster so he built the first computer it was called the Bombe.

The Bombe was used to break to codes faster. Instead of taking months to break codes it was taking days and then hours. 

So how was it doing that?

The Code would be entered into the Bombe and then would of been processed into the code that could be read and understood. Once the code had been processed it would be stored in the memory storage. This meant that when the Bombe encountered the code again the Bombe would be able to break the code faster as it already knows what the code means (it does this by looking at similar patterns in the codes). 

If the Bombe they were able to stop some attack that the germans were planning.