TheCodeBreakers
tragically mistaken belief that they were German bombers.
The message was picked up by a Funkaufklarungsdienst unit recently
posted near Athens. Soon its cryptanalysts had reduced it to plaintext.
Lieutenant Christian Ochsen-schlager then passed to all defense
commands "interested or affected" a message stating that a large
formation of four-engined bombers, believed to be Liberators, had been
taking off since early morning in the Bengazi area. This gave the
antiaircraft defenses at Ploesti, the heaviest in Europe, plenty of time to
get ready. When the bombers roared at derrick-top height over the
Rumanian oil field, with its wells, refineries, and tanks, they were met
with the worst flak encountered by American bombers during the war. Of
the 178, 53, or almost every third plane, were downed, and dozens of
Americans died.
The German cryptanalytic agency that probably had the greatest effect
upon the course of the war was also the smallest and least known
annaabi.ee 
