On 3 June, the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) in Britain presented for the first time how Lorenz, Hitler's top-secret machine worked and how it was deciphered by legendary code-breakers, which shortened World War Two.

Lorenz was far more complex than the Enigma. Bill Tutte had a lion's share in breaking Lorenz by deducing the operating principles of the machine without ever having seen it.

Thanks to Tutte and his colleagues, the Allies were able to read the top-secret messages sent by the German High Command. From 1944 onwards, after the Colossus computer had been built, decryption became even faster, the time needed was reduced from weeks to hours.

Intelligence gathered as a result of breaking the Lorenz was extremely important in the aspect of several events in the war, and especially in the preparations for the Normandy Landings on D-Day.

Cutting-edge technologies were needed for the operation, which was kept such highly secret that no mention of Colossus was made until 1975, and information about the Lorenz was not disclosed until the 21st century.

The volunteers of TNMOC worked untiringly on the reconstruction of British equipment used in the codebreaking for the past 20 years. With the help of some recently acquired equipment, TNMOC can even demonstrate how the technology was used in German operations.

Five survivors of the team that had worked with Colossus also contributed to the project, and it would have been difficult to carry out the reconstruction without their help.

Source: www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/veterans-see-lorenz-end-ends