50th Anniversary of the Ardennes cover signed by Enigma Codebreaker Professor Harry Hinsley

JS(AC)94c RAF cover commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Ardennes Offensive, now known as the Battle of the Bulge which took place between December 1944 and January 1945. The German Offensive in the Ardennes was done under radio-silence to avoid the Allies detecting their intentions, and the germans make quick advances until the Allies could reorganise and react.The cover artwork shows German Panzer Tanks artillery and troops using an Enigma machine. The badges if the US 101st Airborne Division (as made famous in Band of Brothers) who played a heroic part in the defence of Bastogne during this campaign along with the British XXX Corps badge which with the US VII Corps led the counter attack.  The cover bears Steam Railway stamp cancelled with BFPS 2438 postmark for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Ardennes. The cover has been flown in Lockheed Hercules XV301 from RAF Lyneham to RAF Bruggen, overflying the Ardennes area.

Cover has been signed by Professor Sir Harry Hinsley OBE MA FBA. Hinsley was a member of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park and worked on ULTRA. It was Hinsley who came up with a way to break the Enigma codes as he realised that not only the heavy guarded U-boats would have the Enigma books and machine but weather boats would also have to have these to decode messages sent to them from the German fleet. He reported this to the admiralty who then took steps to capture a machine and code books from a Weather vessel rather than continuing to try and capture the machines/books from heavily armed U-boats this provided the breakthrough the Allies needed. 

A few days later the Navy attacked the Weather Boat Munchen seizing the code books to be used in June. Two days later, in one of the most dramatic episodes of the war at sea, depth charges fired by British destroyers forced to the surface U-110, whose commander, Lemp, had sunk the liner "Athenia" on the opening day of the war. Believing his vessel to be sinking, Lemp failed to destroy either his "Enigma" machine or its codes. Whilst sailors opened up on the U-boat crew with rifles and machine guns to panic them, and prevent any returning below deck, HMS "Bulldog" closed in and boarded U-110. Both machine and codes were seized. Lemp was not among the survivors of the U-boat crew, and once again the extent of their success remained a carefully guarded British secret. 

The capture of U-110 was not in fact as decisive as sometimes claimed, but it provided useful additional information which would eventually be of considerable help in the breaking of "Enigma". More significant, in fact, was the capture next month of the German weather ship "Lauenberg", with the keys for June and July. This would enable Bletchley to break the German Home Waters code virtually until the end of the war, normally within 50 hours of transmission.