Hut 3

Hut 3 with a blast wall rebuilt by Bletchley Park Trust. After the Hut 3 functions moved into Block D this building was renumbered Hut 23.
The Enigma cipher machine
Enigma machine
Breaking Enigma
Related

Hut 3 was a section of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park during World War II. It retained the name for its functions when it moved into Block D.[1] It produced military intelligence codenamed Ultra[2] from the decrypts of Enigma, Tunny and multiple other sources. Hut 3 thus became an intelligence agency in its own right, providing information of great strategic value, but rarely of operational use. Group Captain Eric Malcolm Jones led this activity from 1943 and after the war became deputy director, and in 1952 director of GCHQ.[3] In July 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower Supreme Commander of Allied forces wrote to Sir Stewart Menzies, Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) saying inter alia:

"The intelligence that has emanated from you before and during this campaign has been of priceless value to me. It has simplified my task as commander enormously. It has saved thousands of British and American lives and, in no small way, has contributed to the speed with which the enemy was routed and eventually forced to surrender."[4]

  1. ^ Kenyon 2019, p. 75.
  2. ^ Kenyon 2019, p. 90.
  3. ^ Kenyon 2019, pp. 73–75.
  4. ^ "Historic Eisenhower letter praising code breakers goes on display", BBC News, 15 March 2016