Bletchley Park: Code-Breaking's Forgotten Genius

CODE-BREAKING'S FORGOTTEN GENIUS reworks three themes beloved of the contemporary television documentary filmmaker - World War Two, the Cold War and spying. The material remains endlessly attractive to weave tales of good vs. bad, the need to find out what "the opposition" are doing in their battle-plans, and the all-pervasive atmosphere of secrecy wherein no one knows who their true friends are.

Such was the environment in which W. Gordon Welchman worked, first at Bletchley Park and then in America's NSA. Formerly an academic at Cambridge University's Sidney Sussex College, he went to Bletchley Park as part of the project to decode Enigma as a colleague of the far better-known Alan Turing. Through a combination of brilliance, native cunning and sheer chutzpah (especially in the way he wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill requesting further resources), Welchman made a name for himself as someone creating the forerunner of The Cloud, in which information could become accessible to different groups simultaneously in various parts of the globe. Recruited by the NSA to perform similar tasks during the Cold War, Welchman established a reputation for himself as an outstanding scientist and tactician.

Then suddenly things went horribly wrong when he decided to publish a book in 1975, outlining his activities in Britain and the United States. His reputation plummeted, and he was ostracized, proving once and for all how the security services really fear the presence of someone who dares to countermand the dominant ideology.

Tonally speaking, Russell England and John Smithson's documentary seemed rather confused. On the one hand we were clearly asked to sympathize with what happened to Welchman both before and after his death in 1985. Whereas Turing has been largely forgiven for his indiscretions, and his activities celebrated in films like THE IMITATION GAME, Welchman remains a forgotten figure. On the other hand, we couldn't help but think that Welchman knew perfectly well what would happen if he made his activities public, especially among the Secret Services of both Britain and the United States. No one, it seems, is willing to let military cats out of the bag.

In the end we were left with the impression that, in spite of his native brilliance, Welchman was someone who had an over-inflated opinion of himself. It's all very well trying to broaden public awareness of the secret world of espionage, as Edward Snowden has recently done, but those who do so should be well aware of the consequences.

Being released by two such reputable companies as the BBC and Smithsonian channel, I am appalled at the lack of fact checking.

My first point is the lack of crediting Polish cypher bureau and Intelligence for having created the first Enigma machine and the "Bomba" and handing over all the information they had been working on for years while the British were trying to appease Hitler. They should have been recognized. Alan Turing improved the Polish design, he did not create it. Welchman created the diagonal board which made it faster but none of that would've been possible with out the Polish. They deserve to have been recognized.

Next, Hut 6 was not the main and only reason the evacuation of Dunkirk was possible, there were several factors that contributed. The most significant in my mind is Hitler's inexplicable order for the Panzer divisions, along with the rest of the army and the air force, to halt. If that would not have happened, no amount of code breaking would've helped those men. I do not believe I need to add a link to prove that fact because any person with common sense can determine it.

As I continue watching, I will be adding to this review because I am a lifelong history buff who is maddened by the misinformation of historical facts that the media have always perpetuated. I hereby offer some examples: Nero playing the violin while Rome was burning, he wasn't even there when it started, but immediately came back to help; Marie Antoinette saying "Let them eat cake", that quote was written and published a long time before she even came to France; Napoleon was short, he was actually 5'7" which was a normal height for a man of his time. If people like me do not make an effort to correct this misinformation, the world will believe anything they are told. The old adage that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, has never been more true than in our time, when over 16% of historical information on social media is false! I, for one, do not want to see another Holocaust or 9/11 ever happen again.

The Bismarck did not cripple British shipping, it was UBoats. The ship only had an 8 month long career and fought only one offensive operation where the Hood was destroyed by the combined efforts of the Prinz Eugen and Bismarck. OMFG, you just claimed the British SUNK the Bismarck!!! The Germans scuttled the ship themselves to keep the British from boarding and/or using her!! She was hit by the British, but she would've sank regardless!

There were also many factors that helped drive Rommel out of Africa, the intelligence gathered at BP was a significant factor, but NOT the only one.

Hut 6 was not the reason the D Day deception (which had many names: the overall project was called Operation Bodyguard, this was because of Churchill's statement that "the truth was so precious it had to be protected by a 'bodyguard' of lies", as I am recalling this from memory and not a Google search, I may not have gotten the actual words correct, but that was the gist of it; the sub sets were Operation Fortitude North and Operation Fortitude South) worked. The SIS, in particular The XX (Double Cross) Committee with their roster of spies, of which Juan Pujol Garcia was the best in my opinion, were the reasons the deception worked. All BP did was report that the Germans bought the lies hook, line, and sinker.

The program makes it sound as if GC&HG was founded because of the efforts of BP, when it was entirely the other way around!

I do not know anything about the Cold War so I am not going to comment on this final part of the program, but from the falsity of what I have watched so far, I can only imagine how bad this part is!

You see, my point is that people who know nothing about WW2 or BP, will and have, watched this and believed what you have said because they don't know any better, and especially because it was produced by such reputable companies as the BBC and the Smithsonian channel! This is how misinformation begins, and misinformation is incredibly and increasingly, damaging to our society. I am passionately committed to helping to halt historical misinformation. I invite you to join me in my quest for this eradication.