Using Ultra to research the Luftwaffe

[Nick Beale]

Seconded what Bruce said. Thanks Andrew.

I can only think of one case where Bletchley Park's translation quality-control really slipped:

CX/MSS/T209/183
Subject: identification marks of our a/c.
Lower part of cockpit cover and side fins yellow …

As written, that doesn't make a lot of sense but my guess is that "cockpit cover" in the original was Haube (=hood). That word is used both for a cockpit canopy and an engine cowling. The "side fins", were probably Seitenruder (= lateral rudder, the vertical control surface). The word is the same, singular or plural and the translator opted for the wrong one. The failing here is not relating words with multiple meanings to their context (the parts of an aircraft). Normally Bletchley was very good at that, so maybe it was somebody's first day on the job.

You can see how over the course of the war the analysts developed a far better understanding of the Luftwaffe's organisation, personalities and terminology. For my money the translators, analysts and clerks who maintained the card indexes and glossaries of technical terms are the unsung heroes of all this. The mathematical geniuses were vital but even after a day's key was broken, you barely had readable German, let alone useable intelligence.