We are about a week into our program in Europe, and we have already seen so many incredible sites and artifacts relating to World War II. Honestly, it is kind of overwhelming. There is so much to take in and absorb. Simply stepping foot on the locations that we have been particularly focusing on this past semester is incredible. I could go on and on about how interesting it is to be in a city that was so critical to World War II and experienced so much hardship yet still persevered, but I am going to have to limit myself to just one occasion that I found exceptionally intriguing.
For me, this was Bletchley Park. I will admit that I had never heard of Bletchley Park until I saw the Imitation Game this past summer. The movie did a good job at conveying how difficult breaking the Enigma code was, but the exhibits at Bletchley really helped me grasp the full extent of the secretive and complicated actions that took place at Bletchley.
I really enjoyed the interactive features at the main visitors center. They simplified the code breaking process down so that even I could understand the complex nature of it. Even if I was given all the time and resources in the world, I know I could have never solve any of the codes used by the Axis powers in World War II. The fact that some Japanese codes were broken is so impressive to me, because Japanese is such a different language than English. The code breakers had to teach themselves Japanese on top of everything else they were already doing. I tried to listen to a Morse code message myself and I did not catch a single word – embarrassing…but maybe I would do better if I had more practice? Or that’s what I’d like to think ….haha.
Example of a message rolled up and concealed in a feather.
My favorite part about Bletchley was the pigeon exhibit. While this may seem trivial compared to the rich history at Beltchely, this small one room display struck me. I’ve never been a huge fans of pigeons-I don’t think many people are (besides Josie haha)-but after viewing this exhibit I have a newfound respect for pigeons and will never look at them the same. I had no idea that carrier pigeons were even used in World War II. I thought our military forces just relied on telegraphs, letters, or radios to communicate. It seemed logical to me that carrier pigeons would become completely obsolete in light of such technological advantage but boy, was I wrong. I saw all the techniques that people used to sneak messages across enemy lines. Sometimes people would pluck out a pigeon’s feather and then roll a message into the feather and then glue it back on the pigeon (see picture). Another method of transmitting information across vast areas of land would to be to strap mini backpacks onto the pigeons. I even discovered that there is a specific medal given to animals to honor their valiant service. It is called the Dickisns medal and is equilvelant to the Medal of Honor in America. One of the 32 pigeons to receive this medal for their service in World War II was William of Orange. He carried information that ended up saving at least 2000 lives. He flew 240 miles in just 4 hours, so that means he was going 60 mph! That’s insane! Many other pigeon stories were features,but William of Orange’s tale is what I remember most. My only qualm is that the exhibit did not go into great detail about how the birds were trained. I am definitely going to research how this process works once I get more reliable WIFI.
Carrier Pigeon message containers aka backpacks
So far, I am having a great time on this adventure and I am excited for what is in store in the future.