I apologize for hijacking the thread, but this is a moderately interesting story. My father was a child in central Italy during WWII. He was about 8 years old

I apologize for hijacking the thread, but this is a moderately interesting story. My father was a child in central Italy during WWII. He was about 8 years old when the Americans pushed the German line north of his home town in 1944. My father tells a story about how after the Germans were safely gone, he and his friends raided an abandoned German supply depot near his home. Inside, they found an unusual typewriter with built-in rotary dials. They had no idea what it was, and eventually they carried it to a nearby field and blew it up with explosives that they also stole from the depot. I have no idea if it was an Enigma machine, but it kind of fits the description. Also, this is a tremendous story that took place near his hometown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Sasso_raid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Sasso_raid). Unfortunately, the bad guys pulled off the daring raid. *edits for clarity and I think the year was '44, but I don't recall clearly anymore.