Breaking an unbreakable code to save, at the very least, millions and millions of lives. To possibly stop Hitler from taking over the world. That was the unimaginably stressful task assigned to a select group of codebreakers during WW2. And, the codebreaking all-stars were initially primarily composed of a group of POLISH mathematicians - I know, right? JK. And then later, British, French, and Americans helped them. They were all racing against the clock to deconstruct the most powerful encoding machine of their day - the Enigma machine. The Enigma machine allowed its operator to type in a message and then scramble it into a code that many deemed totally unbreakable. But Allied codebreakers, lead by genius Alan Turning, did break it. Over and over again. And every time they did, the Nazis created a new, advanced model. Back and forth it went for years. The Nazis used Enigma Machines for ALL their most important military communications: ambushes, bombing raids, U-boat attacks in the North Atlantic on Allied supply lines, and more. And if the codebreakers hadn't kept beating the Enigma, the war would've claimed an estimated 14 to 21 million additional lives. And Hitler might have won. THIS is our epic tale for today. Hail Nimrod! In honor of Veteran’s Day, November 11th, we are making a Bad Magic Productions donation of $10,000 to https://veteransfoodpantry.org/. Thank you Space Lizards! Allen and Linda Erickson founded the NW Montana Veterans Pantry & Stand Down over twenty years ago to serve the veteran community in the Flathead Valley and North West region of Montana. They have since expanded their operations to include a variety of other veteran services. To find out more, visit: https://veteransfoodpantry.org/ Also, through November 23rd, we are accepting Giving Tree applications to help give numerous Cult of the Curious families a holiday Bojangles would be proud of. If you have children, and due to financial hardships, are worried there will no gifts to open this holiday season, we want to help! Please - copy and paste the following email: [email protected] you can remain anonymous if you wish. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4Sxi48qqMbo Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 9500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.