E189 - Dilly and his Girls

March 2026

The 28th of  March 2026 will be the 85th anniversary of the naval Battle of Cape Matapan, fought by the Royal Navy against the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean. The battle was a significant victory for the Allies and cast a shadow over the Italian navy, making them reluctant to challenge British superiority at sea in the Mediterranean for the remainder of the war.

In part, the battle came about due to knowledge of Italian operations derived from codebreaking at Bletchley Park, and it is one of the few successes by BP in that theatre of war which is widely recognised.

In this episode Head of Audiences and Programmes Vicki Pipe is joined by Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to go beyond the popular mythology of this event to look in more detail of what exactly GC&CS knew, and when.

Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

Image: Public Domain https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C28674 

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy,