German interest in Portuguese cipher machines

The cipher machines of Boris Hagelin were an alternative to the Enigma and in the 1930’s and 1940’s many countries bought them.

In 1944 the Germans had a chance to examine Hagelin machines purchased by Portugal. There were 24 large and 30 small machines being flown from Sweden to Portugal.

These were examined on 11 January 1944 at Tempelhof airport by Dr Erich Huettenhain (chief cryptanalyst of OKW/Chi), Dr Karl Stein (a member of the cipher security department) and Rotscheidt (an engineer in charge of development of cryptanalytic machinery)

 Source: TICOM report D-60 ‘Miscellaneous Papers from a file of RR Dr. Huettenhain of OKW/Chi’, p2-3