Colossus , the computer code - breaking computer used to decrypt German substance during World War Two , has been put back together . Over six decades after the 10 truck - sized devices were level , one has been reconstruct . Today , two teams of code - breakers , one using the Colossus , another using forward-looking technology , are going head - to - foreland as they attempt to unscramble message sent from Paderborn , in Germany .
Tony Sale , the man behind Colossus ’ refurbishment , had just a few old photos to go on when he started on the labor 14 years ago . One of the reasons that the automobile , which contains over 2,000 valves , is so fast , is because it was a single - role processor rather than one with multiple uses , like modern computers . Of the two squad , he is unsure which one will win the Cipher Challenge .
“ A virtual Colossus written to go on a Pentium 2 laptop takes about the same time to break a cipher as Colossus does , ” he say . The original machine could break codes in a topic of hours , and was implemental in the Allies ’ eventual victory , bowdlerize the war by an count on 18 months .
“ It was super significant in the buildup to D - Day , ” reckons Mr Sale . “ It let on scout troop drive , the state of supplies , State Department of ammunition , numbers of dead soldiers — vitally important data for the whole of the second part of the war . ” Today ’s content will be scrambled using a Lorenz SZ42 machine , the same used by German high command back in the ’ forty . [ BBC Newsand24 Hour Museum ]
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