Keith Batey, who died on August 28 aged 91, was one of the leading codebreakers working on the German Enigma machine ciphers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War..... Keith Batey - Telegraph
Sadly such achievements couldn't be acknowledged until so many years later. His wife, Mavis, was responsible for breaking the codes which resulted in the battle of Matapan in April 1941.There are things about this she is not allowed to tell today. Admiral Cunningham visited BP to give his thanks and I heard a story that they got him to lean against a freshly painted wall, so he left with an extra stripe on his uniform!
Geoff, I was in correspondence with Mavis some years ago regarding the man in charge of 8 Section NID in 1942. Later attended a lecture she gave in London. I am told she is also a great Authority on Lewis Carroll.
Keith Batey R.I.P. I have two books currently in the post to me on the subject of Ultra and Station X. Yes it is a great pity that the secrecy laws prevented knowledge of what went on, and for that matter, as you say, still do in some cases. Regards Tom
Geoff, I was in correspondence with Mavis some years ago regarding the man in charge of 8 Section NID in 1942. Later attended a lecture she gave in London. I am told she is also a great Authority on Lewis Carroll. Looks like she has written a book on this theme. Tom, also one on her ex boss at BP, paperback due soon: Dilly: The Man Who Broke Enigmas: Amazon.co.uk: Mavis Batey: Books
Geoff, Thanks for the heads up on the book. On my next list due to her indoors saying that she thought I had enough books! Regards Tom
They also served. Regarding the report of the breakthrough on breaking the SD codes.I am under the impression that we did not have much,if any success here.While Bletchley Park could read a great deal of German wireless traffic,the Gestapo/SD codes proved to be very secure. This is supported by the fact that SOE had no idea of the fate of "fallen" SOE operatives or their organisations which had been penitrated by the Germans.Investigations as to the fate of these people had to wait postwar when people such as Vera Atkins made it their goal to trace the missing SOE operatives. Similarly the notification of the Stalag Luft 3 incident was only made aware to the British Government through German notification of POWs "shot while trying to escape"via the Protrecting Power,Switzerland.Postwar relevations were that there was a great deal of Gestapo/SD wireless traffic in use over the duration of the escape,capture and intended fate of the POWs. I think also Bormann had his own sercure wireless system for communication with high ranking members of the Nazi Party such as the Gauleiters.I have not seen any evidence that the code was broken. Having said that,it would appear that there was more likelihood of a wireless code being broken where there was extensive traffic in use by the various military and party function organisations.Such exposure gave the code breakers more opportunity to work on the codes.A case of "coming out to play often" and eventually running the risk being identified.