Kategorie: News
Six cipher machines recovered from the Baltic Sea
Back in December we reported on the discovery of a cipher machine in the Baltic Sea. While searching the seabed with a side-scan sonar, divers came across an ENIGMA cipher machine from World War II, on which an ownerless fishing net had become entangled.
Now divers who were actually searching for a lost propeller have found six more German Enigma-type cipher machines, the State Archaeological Office reported.
"While searching for a lost propeller, I came across a pile of disposed Enigma machines (...) Some of them had obviously been rendered useless before they were disposed of" the State Office quoted the finder, Christian Hüttner.
Deliberate destruction of the machines was intended to prevent their use by the enemy. Approximately 100,000 to 200,000 Enigmas are believed to have been built in Germany during World War II. Archaeologists believe that numerous devices were sunk in Schleswig-Holstein waters at the end of World War 2, often sinking with the ships and submarines on which they had previously been in use.
Conservationists call for such finds to be left at the place of discovery if possible. They could provide even better information about individual events of the Second World War.
More Information:
Enigma Finding in Baltic Sea (Nov/Dec 2020)