Re: Marian Rejewski

In message <003301c585ff$5bbf3720$0d00000a@HP>, John Pettifer
<[email protected]> writes
>The statement on the UK MoD site that Rejewski worked at BP in 1943 came as a 
>surprise to me. Budiansky in Battle of Wits (p278) ( and I believe various 
>others) says he did not work at BP on reaching the UK but at a Polish unit at 
>Boxmoor. I had always understood that he knew nothing of BP's success until 
>matters started to be revealed in the 1970s.
>
>Does anyone have any evidence that Rejewski even visited BP?
>
>Regards,
>
>John Pettifer.
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Geoff Sullivan 
>  To: BLETCHLEYPARK-0lvw86wZMd/[email protected] 
>  Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2005 2:07 PM
>  Subject: Re: [BPARK] Marian Rejewski
>
>
>  In message <5.1.1.6.0.20050709134904.04a303e0-UThdrVIhI2DH2WqFuJo/[email protected]>, David
>  Hamer <[email protected]> writes
>  >All...the following appeared in the sci.crypt newsgroup earlier this week.
>
>  >Biography
>  ><http://news.mod.uk/news/press/news_headline_story.asp?newsItem_id=3339>
>
>  and the caption of the Marian Rejewski photo is:
>
>  "A wartime photograph of Second Lieutenant (Signals) [Polish Army]
>  Marian Rejewski, taken while he was at Bletchley Park, c. 1943."
John and All, The photo caption actually says "taken while he was in
England, c 1943" It is a well known and much used photograph.

Rejewski never visited or worked at Bletchley Park. The PRO documents
show that both Denniston and later Travis, refused Dilly Knox's requests
that he should be allowed to. 

Another error: not "sight unseen": the Poles copied a commercial Enigma
which they, like the UK, had purchased. They changed the method of
stecker plugging to use telephone jacks but the rest of the mechanism
was the same in their copies. They rewired the commercial rotors to the
wiring Rejewski discovered after guessing, correctly, the entry order
wiring.

It is such a pity that such an important occasion was marred by factual
inaccuracies.
regards-- 
Tony Sale