Morse and the Intercept

Introduction

Enigma messages were never sent as letters. They were tapped out in Morse code and copied down by wireless operators at Y stations along the coast.

Those handwritten sheets travelled to Bletchley Park. If an operator mis-heard a dash, the codebreakers inherited the error, which is why they learned to work with imperfect text.

Key ideaBletchley's raw material was Morse copied by ear at listening stations — mistakes and all.