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Hut 6 at Bletchley Park in 2004

Hut 6 was a wartime section of Bletchley Park tasked with the solution of German Army and Air Force Enigma machine ciphers. Hut 8, by contrast, attacked Naval Enigma. Hut 6 was established at the initiative of Gordon Welchman, and was run initially by Welchman and fellow Cambridge mathematician John Jeffreys.

Welchman's deputy, Stuart Milner-Barry, succeeded Welchman as head of Hut 6 in September 1943, at which point over 450 people were working in the section.^[1]

Hut 6 was partnered with Hut 3, which handled the translation and intelligence analysis of the raw decrypts provided by Hut 6.

Location[link]

Hut 6 was originally named for the building in which the section was located. Welchman says the hut was 60 ft (18m) long by 30 ft (9m) wide, with two large rooms at the far end - and no toilets. Staff had to go to another building.

As the number of personnel increased, the section relocated to additional buildings around Bletchley Park, but its name was retained, with each new location also being known as 'Hut 6'. The original building was then re-named 'Hut 16'.

Personnel[link]

John Jeffreys (d. early 1941) was initially in charge of the Hut with Gordon Welchman until May 1940. Welchman became official head of section until Autumn 1943 subsequently rising to Assistant Director of Mechanisation at Bletchley Park. Hugh Alexander, was a member February 1940 - March 1941 before moving to become head of Hut 8. Stuart Milner-Barry joined early 1940 and was in charge from autumn 1943 to the end of the war.

One codebreaker concerned with Cryptanalysis of the Enigma, * John Herivel, discovered what was soon dubbed the Herivel tip or Herivelismus. For a brief but critical few months from May 1940, the "tip", in conjunction with operating shortcomings or "cillies" , were the main techniques used to solve Enigma. The "tip" was an insight into the habits of the German machine operators allowing Hut 6 to easily deduce part of the daily key.

In 1942 Welchman recruited fellow Marlborough Collegers, Bob Roseveare and Nigel Forward. Roseveare started in the Watch working on Luftwaffe messages before moving to the Quatch, a small backroom group that decoded non-current messages.

Other notable individuals include:

• Alexander Aitken, Kiwi mathematician^[2]
• James Macrae Aitken, Scottish chess player
• Asa Briggs, British historian
• David Rees, University of Exeter mathematics professor
• Derek Taunt, Cambridge research student
• Madge Allen
• Dennis Babbage
• Clarence Barasch, American Observer to British Intelligence
• Edna Garbutt, member of A watch
• Reginald H Parker, discoverer of "Parkerismus"

See also[link]

• Bombe
• Cryptanalysis of the Enigma
• Hut 8

References[link]

1. ^ Ralph Erskine, "Barry, Sir (Philip) Stuart Milner- (1906–1995)" in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
2. ^ J. M. Whittaker, ‘Aitken, Alexander Craig (1895–1967)’, rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006

• Gordon Welchman, The Hut Six Story: Breaking the Enigma Codes (1982: London, Allen Lane & New York, McGraw-Hill) ISBN 0-7139-1294-4
• Gordon Welchman, The Hut Six Story: Breaking the Enigma Codes (1997: Cleobury Mortimer, Baldwin) ISBN 978-0-947712-34-1
• Stuart Milner-Barry, "Hut 6: Early days", pp. 89-99 in Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park, edited by F. H. Hinsley, and Alan Stripp, Oxford University Press, 2003
• Derek Taunt, "Hut 6: 1941-1945", pp. 100-112 in Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park, edited by F. H. Hinsley, and Alan Stripp, Oxford University Press, 2003

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Look up Hut or hut in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Hut may refer to:

• Hut (dwelling), a small and crude shelter
• Hans Hut (1490–1527), Anabaptist leader
• Hut Records, an English audio records company
• Sunglass Hut International, largest American retailer of sunglasses
• Software Hut, a computer software development company
• William Hut, Norwegian singer
• Barnes–Hut simulation of gravitational forces, also known as the Barnes–Hut simulation n-body algorithm
• Pizza Hut, a multinational fast food chain
  • Pizza Hut Park, a multi-purpose facility built and owned by the northern Dallas suburb of Frisco
• Quonset hut, semi-circular prefabricated hut used in World War II
• Nissen hut, semi-circular prefabricated hut invented in 1916 and used in World War I and World War II
• Mountain hut, a building intended as temporary shelter in alpine areas

HUT may also refer to:

• Hanoi University of Technology:Former name of Hanoi University of Science and Technology
• Hard Upper Torso, a component of many spacesuits
• Helsinki University of Technology
• Home-user test, product marketing tests performed in the consumer's home
• Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT), an Islamist organisation
• Hutton Cranswick railway station, England; National Rail station code HUT
• The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, a space telescope designed to make spectroscopic observations in the far-ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum
• Households using television

Other uses[link]

• Snap count, audible noises made by the quarterback before the center snaps the ball

See also[link]

• Castaway depot, a store or hut placed on an isolated island to provide emergency supplies and relief for castaways and victims of shipwrecks
• Hutt (disambiguation)
• Hoot (disambiguation)

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