The American M-209 cipher machine

At the start of WWII, the US armed forces used various means for enciphering their confidential traffic. At the lowest level were hand ciphers. Above that were the M-94 and M-138 strip ciphers and at the top level a small number of highly advanced SIGABA cipher machines.

The Americans used the strip ciphers extensively however these were not only vulnerable to cryptanalysis but also difficult to use.  Obviously a more modern and efficient means of enciphering was needed.

At that time Swedish inventor Boris Hagelin was trying to sell his cipher machines to foreign governments. He had already sold versions of his C-36, C-38 and B-211 cipher machines to European countries. He had also visited the United States in 1937 and 1939 in order to promote his C-36 machine and the electric C-38 with a keyboard called BC-38 but he was not successful (1). The Hagelin C-36 had 5 pin-wheels and the lugs on the drum were fixed in place. Hagelin modified the device by adding another pin-wheel and making the lugs moveable. This new machine was called Hagelin C-38 and it was much more secure compared to its predecessor.

In 1940 he brought to the US two copies of the hand operated C-38 and the Americans ordered 50 machines for evaluation. Once the devices were delivered, they underwent testing by the cryptologists of the Army’s Signal Intelligence Service and after approval it was adopted by the US armed forces for their midlevel traffic. Overall, more than 140.000 M-209’s were built for the US forces by the L.C. Smith and Corona Typewriters Company. (2)

The American version of the Hagelin C-38 was called Converter M-209 by the Army and USAAF and CSP-1500 by the Navy. Compared to the original version it had a few modifications. The M-209 had 27 bars on the drum while the C-38 had 29. Another difference was that the letter slide was fixed. During operation the text was printed by setting the letter spindle on the left to the desired letter and then turning the hand crank on the right.

The M-209 was a medium-level crypto system used at Division level down to and including battalions (Division-Regiment-Battalion) (3) and even up to Corps for certain traffic. The USAAF used it for operational and administrative traffic and the Navy aboard ships. SIGABA was used for higher level messages (Army-Corps-Division) and hand systems like Slidex and the Division Field Code used for tactical messages (Battalion-Company-Platoon).

The Germans called it ‘AM 1’ (Amerikanische Maschine 1) and the Japanese ‘Z code‘.

List of TICOM M reports

Again thanks to Dermot Turing, who copied the TICOM report M-15, it was possible to identify the titles of the TICOM M reports 1-15.

M-1 Vierling's Laboratory at Ebermannastadt

M-2 Major Barlow's Report on Dr. Vierling's Laboratory

M-3 'DELTA' Machine

M-4 Full Preliminary Report of Investigation of Dr. Vierling's Laboratory "Feuerstein"- by Major Heller

M-5 Demonstration of Kesselring ‘’Fish Train’’

M-6 Interim Report on Laboratorium Feuerstein - by Lieuts. Howard and Tompkins, U.S.N.R.

M-7 Report on Multichannel Intercept Teletype (HMFS)

M-8 Diary kept by Captain T. Carter, I.C., of Tests on Baudot Equipment conducted in the U.K. 29/6-8/7/45

M-9 Report on German Multi-Plex Intercept Equipment by Lt. Holmes, A.U.S.

M-10 Note on German Antenna Multicouplers

M-11 Five Drawings of the Lueckenfuellerwalze

M-12 CIOS Target Evaluation Report on Laboratorium FEUERSTEIN, Ebermannstadt

M-13 Manufacture of Enigma Machines by HEIMSOETH & RINKE, Berlin

M-14 Note to TICOM/M-5 (Kesselring ‘’Fish Train’’)

M-15 List of TICOM/M-reports 1-14

List of TICOM I reports

Here is a list of the TICOM I reports 1-213. Thanks to Dermot Turing, who copied the lists from NARA, it was possible to find the titles for almost all of the reports.

I-1 Final Report on TICOM Team 3 on Final Exploitation on Burgscheidungen

I-2. Interrogation of Dr. Huettenhain and Dr. Fricke at Flenshurg,21 May 1945

I-3 Ubersicht der Russischen Chi verfahren

I-4 Record of conversation with Lt. Morgenroth

I-5 Report of Interrogation of Oberst Kettler on 21 May 1945

I-6 Interrogation of Lt. D. R. Muentz

I-6A Supplementary interrogation of Lt. D. R. Muentz

I-7 Statement of major McIntosh on Uffz. Graul

I-8 Conversation between TICOM team 6 and OKM 4/SKL III personnel

I-9 Notes on Kurier communications system

I-10 TICOM personnel lists (Brown list)

I-11 Allgemeine Aufgaben der Abteilung Funk.Opt.Signal und Erkennungsignale der 4/SKL II

I-12 Translation of the Preliminary Interrogation of O.R.R. Tranow of 4/SKL III/OKM, carried out at Flensburg on 24-25 May 1945 by T'ICOM Team 6

I-13 Composite Report on two Interrogations of Oberstlt. Friedrich, Chief of the G.A.F. Sigint Service, 18/5/45 and 9/6/45

I-14 TICOM personnel list (Brown list, revised)

I-15 Interrogation report of Oblt Schubert

I-16 Notes on interrogation of Amtsrat Schwabe and  Obfkmstr Warsecha on Russian naval ciphers

I-17 Extracts of SHAEF interrogations of Maj. Gen. Boner, Colonel Grube, Lt. Col. Mettig, and Major Rottler.

I-18 Interrogations of Oberst Muegge, O.C. of NA 4 and NA 7 of German Army Sigint Service

I-19 A-G Report on Interrogation of KONA 1 at Revin, France, June 1945

I-20 Interrogation of Sondertuehrer Dr. Fricke of OKW/Chi

I-21 "Preliminary Interrogation of Oberst  Kettler, R.R. Dr.Huettenhain , Sdf Dr. Fricke and ObIt. Schubert (OKH/Chi),15 June 1945

I-22 "Interrogation of German Cryptographers of Pers Z S Department of the Auswaertiges Amt

I-23 Interrogation of Major Ernst Hertzer, German Army Signals Intelligence Service (KONA 1).

I-24 Interrogation of members of OKM/ 4 SKL II on (a) soluble printing inks and (b) German-Japanese communications

I-25 Interrogation of five members of the RLM/Forschungsamt at Schloss Gluecksburg on 15, 21 June 1945

I-26 Interrogation of Oblt. Schubert (OKH/Chef HNW/Gen.d.NA) on Russian Military and Agents’ systems

I-27 Preliminary Interrogation of Fraeulein Hagen Head of English Section of Pers Z S, Auswaertiges Amt

I-28 Interrogation of Amtsrat Dr Stiehler of OKM 4/SKL II on German meteorological cyphers

I-29 Third Interrogation of Oberstltn. Friedrich, Chief of the GAF Signals Intelligence Service

I-30 Report on Interrogation of Uffz. Karrenberg at Steeple Claydon on 7th July 1945 at 11.00 am

I-31 ‘Detailed interrogations of Dr. Hüttenhain, formerly head of research section of OKW/Chi, 18-21 June 1945’

I-32 (no report issued, number cancelled)

I-33 Report on Traffic Analysis of Baudot traffic by capt. Jack Magilavy, AUS and D.R. Uzielli, SIXTA

I-34 TICOM personnel list (Brown list)

I-35 Paper written by Lt. Muentz of OKM/4 SKL III on the solution of the M-209 Hagelin machine

I-35A Appendices to the Paper written by Lt. Muentz of OKM/4 SKL III on the solution of the M-209 Hagelin machine

I-36 Translation of paper written by Reg Rat Dr Huettenhain and Sonderfuehrer Dr Dricke on the development of OKW/Chi, Sections A.III and B V

I-37 Translation of paper written by Reg.Rat.Dr Huettenhain of OKW/Chi on special apparatus used as aids to cryptanalysis

I-38 Report on interrogation of Lt. Frowein of OKM/4 SKL/III, on his work on the security of the German naval four-wheel Enigma

I-39 ‘Organization of OKW/Chi’

I-40 Report of work on Russian naval and naval-air systems for the period 1939 to 1945

I-41 Report on First Interrogation of Major Oeljeschlaeger, Addendum: Interrogation of Major Beulmann

I-42 Report on Fourth Interrogation of Oberstltn Friedrich (Head of OKL/Gen. Nafue. 3. Abt)

I-43 Report written by Vierling

I-44 Memorandum on speech encipherment by ORR Huettenhain and Sdf Dr Fricke

I-45 OKW/Chi Cryptanalytic research on Enigma, Hagelin and Cipher Teleprinter machines

I-46 Preliminary Report on Interrogation of Dr. Otto Buggisch (of OKH/Gen.d.NA) and Dr. Werner Liebknecht (employed by OKH and OKW as tester of cryptographic equipment) 23  June 1945.

I-47 P/W Situation report

I-48 Report on Special Interrogation of Drs. Huettenhain and Fricke, Oberst Mettig, and Lt. Morgenroth carried out on 29th July 1945

I-49 Notes on OKW/Chi and on intercept organization under K.O. Spain

I-50 Paper written by Lt. Muentz of OKM/4SKL III on statistical solution of the M-209 Hagelin machine

I-51 Interrogation Report on Ufrz. Herzfeld, Heintz Worfgang, and Translation of a Paper He Wrote on the British War Office Code

I-52 Papers written by Uffz. Herzfeld on Mihailovic and Tito ciphers

I-53 Construction of Schluesselgeraet 39

I-54 Second interrogation of five members of the RLM/Forschungsamt

I-55 Interrogation of Seven Members of NAA 11

I-56 On German diplomatic ciphers – Notes from an interrogation of Wilhelm Thoem

I-57 Enciphering devices worked on by Dr Liebknecht at Wa Pruef 7

I-58 Interrogation of Dr. Otto Buggisch of OKW/Chi

I-59 Interrogation of Uffz Arno Graul at Revin

I-60 Further Interrogation of Oblt. Schubert of OKH/Chef HNW/Gen.d.NA

I-61 Interrogation report on Friedhelm Baechle W/T operator with KO Spain

I-62 Field interrogation of Paul Ratz of the German Army Signals Intelligence (1933-1945)

I-63 Interrogation Report on ORR Herrmann Scherschmidt of, Pers Z S, Auswaertiges Amt

I-64 "Answers by Wm. Buggisch of OKH/Chi to Questions sent by TICOM

I-65 Interrogation Report on Four Members of the GAF Sigint Service

I-66 Paper by Dr. Otto Buggisch or OKH/ln 7/VI and OKW/Chi on Typex

I-67 Paper by Dr. Otto Buggisch of OKH/ In 7/VI and OKW/Chi on Cryptanalytic Machines

I-68 Consolidated Report Based on Two Interrogations of Oberst Randewig, of Hoeh. Wehrmachts Nafue z.b.V. 700, carried out at CSDIC on approx. 1 Aug. and 10 Aug. 1945

I-69 Summary of cipher information on Jugoslav traffic provided by Uffz. Herzfeld

I-70 Paper on the German Sigint Service by Oberstltn Friedrich'

I-71 Major Wm.P Bundy’s preliminary report on targets inspected in the Berlin area, during the period 8-11 August 1945

I-72 First part of the report by Wm. Buggisch on S.G.41

I-73 Translated version of homework done by Wm. Buggisch

I-74 Interrogation Report on Obgefr. Keller, formerly Auswertestelle 4 and Nachrichten Aufklaerungskompanie 611

I-75 Interrogation Reports on German Field Sigint Personnel carried out at BUFFER - Ltn. August Schroeder, Ltn. Starke, Obefr. Heudorf, and Hptm. Holetzke

I-76 Interrogation Reports on Lehwald, Haupts, Klett and Lauerbach

I-77 Translation of joint report made by Drs. Huettenhain and Fricke on the ‘Saehlwerk’ Enigma

I-78 Interrogation of Oberstlt. Mettig on the History and Achievements of OKH/AHA/ln 7/VI

I-79 Supplementary papers by Drs. Huettenhain and Fricke on the solution of the Hagelin machine

I-80 POW Interrogqation report - Obgefr. Clement Schuck Inps. VII/6 (OKH)

I-81 -Short POW Interrogation Report Received from AC of S, G-2, USFET

I-82 POW Interrogation report - Dr Werner Liebknecht of Wa Pruef 7 of the Heereswaffenamt

I-83 Additional interrogation of Lt. Morgenroth of 4 SKL/III

I-84 Further interrogation of R.R. Dr. Hüttenhain and Sdf. Dr. Fricke of OKW/Chi on questions set by Mr. Friedman

I-85 P. O. W. Interrogation Report on Reg. Rat Flicke, Techn Insp. Pokojewski, Stabsintendant Hatz of OKW/Chi

I-86 Interrogation of Oberstlt. Mettig of OKH and OKW/Chi on the higher direction of German cryptanalytic work

I-87 - Report on the Apprehension of Regierungsrat Voegele of LN.ABT.350'

I-88 Report on interrogation of Mr. K. Vetterlein of the Reichspost Laboratorium on German interception of transatlantic speech circuits

I-89 Report by Prof Dr. H Rohrbach of Pers Z S on American strip cipher

I-90 Interrogation of Herr Reinhard Wagner (OKW/Chi) on Japanese systems

I-91 POW Interrogation Report - General Major Robert K.H. SCHLAKE, Chief of Communications in the Main Office of the Ordnungspolizei, Ministry of the Interior

I-92 Final Interrogation of Wachtmeister Otto Buggisch (OKH/In 7/VI and OKW/Chi)

I-93 Detailed interrogation of members of OKM 4/SKL III at Flensburg

I-94 TICOM personnel list (Brown list)

I-95 Interrogation of Lt. Morgenroth on organization of 4 OKM/SKL III

I-96 Interrogation of Oberstlt. Mettig on the organization and activities of OKW/Chi

I-97 Report of Mr H.C Kenworthy on the Feuerstein Laboratory at Ebermannstadt

I-98 Interrogation of Oberst Randewig on German Deception plans

I-99 Interrogation Report of Hptm. Herbert Roeder (Head of Gruppe VI, Gen.d.NA, OKH, 1944-45)

I-100 Report by Uffz. Herzfeld of NAAST 5 (Gen. d. NA) on the Work of the Italian Referat of In 7/VI.

I-101 List of TICOM I reports 1-100

I-102 Interrogation report on Dr. Sebastian of the German Met. Service on Allied Met. Systems

I-103 Second interrogation of Reg. Rat. Hermann Scherschmidt of Pers Z Auswärtiges Amt. on Turkish and Bulgarian systems.

I-104 Report on Berlin targets by Major Heller of G.S.I. (S) 21 A.G., B.A.O.R.

I-105 Interrogation report on Frau von Nida wife of Major Wolfgang von Nida, one-time deputy head of OKH/Chi.

I-106 Final Interrogation report on the Norway party (NAA 11)

I-107 Preliminary interrogation of Obltn. Chlubek and Lt. Rasel both of III / LN Regt 353.

I-108 Interrogation of Goering on the RLM/Forchungsamt. (Goering – vol. 7)

I-109 Translation of a Report by Lt. Ludwig of Chi-Stelle Ob. d. L. (Ref B) based on questions set for him at A.D.I. - (K).

I-110 Information on Radio Communication Circuits operated in conjunction with Feuerstein

Laboratories.

I-111 Further interrogation of Oberstlt. Mettig of OKH/Chi on 14 September 1945

I-112 Preliminary interrogation of Reg. Rat. Dr. Ferdinand Voegele (Chi Stelle, Ob.d.L) and Major Ferdinand Feichtner (O.C. of LN Regt. 352, etc.).

I-113 Interrogation of Major Dr. Rudolph Hentze, head of Gruppe IV (cryptanalysis), General der Nachrichtenaufklärung.

I-114 Further interrogation of Lt. Morgenroth of 4 Skl III

I-115 Further interrogation of Oberstlt. Mettig of OKH/Chi on the German wireless security service (Funküberwachung).

I-116 Report of interrogation of Lt. Alex Dettmann and Oberwachtmeister Sergius Samsonov of OKH (Gen. d. NA) at Oberursel, Germany, during August 1945.

I-117 GLOSSARY OF GERMAN CRYPTANALYTIC TERMS

I-118 Joint reports by Reg. Rat. Dr. Hüttenhain and Sdf. Dr. Fricke, written at CSDIC on or about 28 August 1945

I-119 Further interrogation of Reg. Rat. Voegele and Major Feichtner of GAF Sigint.

I-120 Translation of Homework by Obltn. W. Werther, Company Commander of 7/LN Rgt. 353,

written on 12th August 1945 at A.D. I. (K).

I-121 Translation of Homework by Obltn. W. Werther, Company Commander of' 7/LN Rgt 353,

written on 12th August 1945 at A.D.I.(K).

I-122 Interrogation report on Obergefreiter Hansa (OKH/Gen d NA)

I-123 Interrogation report on Rudolf Trappe (civilian) of OKH/Chi.

I-124 Interrogation report on Dr. Werner Weber of OKH/Chi.

I-125 Interrogation Report on Anton Stock of OKH/Gen. d. NA.

I-126 Homework by Major Feichtner, C.O. of LN Regt. 352.

I-127 Interrogation of Oberstlt. Mettig of OKW/Chi (September 1945)

I-128 Deciphering achievements of In 7/VI and OKW/Chi.

I-129 'Interrogation of SS Rottenfuehrer GRASSHOF'

I-130 Homework of Hauptmann Herold, O.C. of LN Regt. III/353.

I-131 Obstlt. Mettig of OKW/Chi on Wa Pruef 7 and RLM/Forschungsamt.

I-132 Notes by Hüttenhain and Fricke on OKW/Chi and the German I.S.

I-133 Homework by Lt. Rasch of III / LN Regt. 353.

I-134 Homework by 1st. Lt. Chlubek of III / LN Regt. 353.

I-135 Homework by Lt. Ludwig of Chi-Stelle Ob.d.L. (Ref .B).

I-136 Homework by Regierungsrat Dr. Hüttenhain and Sdf (Z) Dr. Fricke on Hagelin B-211

I-137 Final report written by Wachtmeister Otto Buggisch of OKH/Chi and OKW/Chi

I-138 not known

I-139 Account by Obergefreiter Holtermann of his work with OKM/4/SKL III

I-140 Preliminary interrogation of Funkhauptgefreiter Lothar Biege of 3 Kp, MPA, The Bight

I-141 Interrogation of Amtsrat Schulze of 4 SKL III.

I-142 P/W Barthel's Account of German Work on British, American, Swedish, and French Machine Ciphers (October 1945)

I-143 Report on the interrogation of five leading Germans at Nuremberg on 27 September 1945. (Jodl, Keitel, Doenitz, Goering, and von Ribbentrop)

I-144 Further interrogation of Lt Muentz of 4 SKL III

I-145 Report on the US Strip System by Reg. Rat Dr. Hüttenhain 

I-146 Detailed interrogation of members of OKM/4 SKL/III at Flensburg

I-147 Detailed interrogation of members of OKM/4 SKL/III at Flensburg.

I-148 German D/F and Intercepting System Against Illicit Transmitters

I-149 Report by Uffz. Karrenberg and colleagues on Allied Cipher machines.

I-150 Report by Uffz. Heinz W. Beyreuther on the organisation of OKH/Chi.

I-151 List of TICOM I reports 101-150

I-152 Second homework and report on further interrogation of R.R. Voegele.

I-153 Second Interrogation of Uffz. Karrenberg of OKH on the Baudot-Scrambler Machine (‘Bandwurm')

I-154 Interrogation of Uffz. Rudolph Schneider of In 7/VI

I-155 Report by Ostuf Schueddekopf on the Forschungsstelle Der Deutschen Reichspost at Langenveld near Eindhoven

I-156 Report of preliminary interrogation of Wilhelm Gerlich, AIC 1900, carried out by 3rd US Army, 28th September 1945

I-157 Chart of Communications Within a Russian Army Drawn up by Uffz. Karrenberg.

I-158 Report on Hollerith work at OKM by Dipl. Ing. Karl Schmaltz and Referat Dickof

I-159 Report on GAF intelligence based on interrogation of Hauptman Zetzche

I-160 Homework by Sonderführer Kuehn of Gen. d. NA. on General Organization and Work of French Referat

I-161 Further statements on Typex by Hüttenhain, Fricke and Mettig.

I-162 Report on Interrogation of' Kurt Sauerbier of RLM/Forschungsamt held on 31 August 1945.

I-163 Report on Interrogation of Hptm. Scheidl, Ltn. Sann and Ltn. Smolin, all of I/LN Rgt. 353 (East) on German Sigint Activity Against Russian Air Forces

I-164 Report by Kurt Sauerbier of RLM/Forschungsamt on Russian Agents' Traffic.

I-165 Interrogation of Kapitan Zur See Otto von Baumbach

I-166 Report by Uffz. Karrenberg on Russian cryptographic Course

I-167 Report by the Karrenberg Party on the NKVD

I-168 Report by the Karrenberg party on Miscellaneous Russian W/T

I-169 Report by Uffz. Karrenberg on the Bandwurm

I-170 Report on French and Greek Systems by Oberwachtmeister Dr. Otto Karl Winkler of OKH/FNAST 4

I-171 Report on Work on Russian Systems by Wachtmeister Berger of FNAST 6.

I-172 Interrogations of Hagen and Paschke of Pers Z S

I-173 Report by the Karrenberg party on Russian W/T.

I-174 Preliminary Interrogation of O R R Mueller of OKW/Chi

I-175 Report by Alfred Pokorn of OKH/Chi on M.209.

I-176 Homework by Wachtmeister Dr Otto Buggisch of OKH/Chi and OKW/Chi

I-177 Interrogation of Kirfel on Far Eastern Systems.

I-178 Homework by Hptm. Boedigheimer of IV/Nachr. Regiment 506

I-179 Homework by Obwn Riel of Störbefehls-stelle Balkans

I-180 Homework by Uffz. Keller of In 7/VI and WNV/Chi

I-181 Homework by Dr Werner Weber of OKW/Chi.

I-182 Homework on Russian Air Force by Hptm. Scheidl, Ltn. Sann and Ltn. Smolin of I/LN Rgt. 353

I-183 A.D.I. (K). Reports on GAF Signals Intelligence during the war

I-184 Interrogation of two members of the staff of Siemens & Halske (Rossberg and Jipp).

I-185 Letter from Fritz Wichert on interception and reading of Allied service W/T traffic

I-186 Interrogation of Oberpostrat Kurt VETTERLEIN on Attempted Tapping of Transatlantic Cables

I-187 Report on Production of ENIGMA Cipher Machines by the Ertel Factory, Hohenaschau

I-188 Interrogation of Liselotte Gebert of OKW/Chi.

I-189 Preliminary interrogation of Friedrich Stohlket

I-190 Extracts from report on interrogation of Dr. Hans Wilhelm Thost

I-191 Homework of Dr. Wilhelm Gerlich on Russian Systems

I-192 Interrogation of Gustav Schade of OKM 4 SKL III and of the Reichspost and Reichsrundfunk

I-193 Interrogation of SS Obersturmbahnführer Urban, Liaison Officer of RSHA/VI with the Crypto Bureau of Hungarian General Staff

I-194 Report by Dr. Regula on German metereological cypher systems and the German Meteorological Intelligence Service

I-195 List of TICOM I reports 151-194

I-196 Interrogation of Ilse Rantzau of the German naval sigint service

I-197 Further Interrogation of Amtsrat Schulze of OKM/4 SKL III.

I-198 ‘Short Brown List’, July 1946.

I-199 Report on Interrogation of Oberregierungsrat Nikolai Rohen, head of Anglo-American section of OKW/Chi

I-200 Interrogation of Min. Rat. Wilhelm Fenner of OKW/Chi.

I-201 Interrogation of Franz Weisser, Dr Mil Studienassessor of Anglo-American Section of OKW/Chi.

I-202 Interrogation of Min. Rat. Viktor Wendland of OKW/Chi (September 1946).

I-203 Interrogation of Herbert Marinick and Herbert Korn, former members of the Reichspost and OKW/Chi

I-204 Preliminary interrogation report of former Regierungsbaurat Johannes Marquart of OKH/Gen d NA.

I-205 Detailed Interrogation Report of former Regierungsbaurat Johannes Anton Marquart of OKH/GEN d. NA

I-206 Extracts from written homework by Min Rat Wilhelm Fenner of OKW/Chi

I-207 Report on interrogation of Major Dietrich G. von Truetzschler of the RLM/FA

I-208 Interrogation report on Kurt Selchow, former head of the Pers ZS department of the German ministry of Foreign affairs

I-209 not known

I-210 not known

I-211 Preliminary interrogation of Dr Hans Peter Luzius of OKH/In 7

I-212 Interrogation of George Ruckheim

I-213 Report on interrogation of Alfred Muche

The French War Ministry’s FLD code - More clues…

I’ve written about the compromise of the French War Ministry’s FLD code by the codebreakers of the German High Command's deciphering department – OKW/Chi, however up to this point I hadn’t been able to find the official designation of this cryptosystem.

Recently I’ve discovered some clues that might clear things up.

According to the available sources this cryptosystem was used for ‘the cypher traffic between the French War Ministry and the army groups, armies and home authorities’.

The new finding aid to the TICOM collection of the German Foreign Ministry’s Political Archive has certain entries that read:

NR 3684 – ‘F4ZCUW 110’ German notes on the above French Defense Area cipher

NR 3615 – F4ZCUT’ German notes, 1931, on French code as above, used by the Defense Areas HQ’s from Schliersee.

The finding aid also mentions the French code F-90 which might have been the predecessor to F-110.

The French code F-110 is mentioned in one of Erich Huettenhain’s reports:

What was the French designation for the system that the Germans called F-110?

Possibly Code R.A.

The finding aid says:

NR 1736 – Code RA, French military code sheets and instructions for use. Various dates 1933-39 March and July 1940-42 from Schliersee.

Why do I think that Code RA was used by the French War Ministry and the Army Groups?

In the book ‘KODY WOJNY. Niemiecki wywiad elektroniczny w latach 1907–1945’, p1.046 there is a copy of a French report dated 16 April 1940.

It says:

Un code R.A. avec additif et son procede de surchiffrement (clef ZERO S.2.) pour permettre de correspondre a l'Intérieur de la Métropole avec les Autorités et Etats-Majors dotés de ce document (notamment commandants d' armes).

Google translation:

R.A. a code with additive and process for its super-encryption (key ZERO S.2.) To allow a match the interior of the metropolis with the authorities and with staffs of this document (including commanders of weapons).

I hope my friends in France will look into this case. I can’t solve everything by myself!

Compromise of US cipher teleprinter in 1944

When the United States entered WWII several cryptosystems were in use by its armed forces and diplomatic service. The Army and Navy used a small number of SIGABA cipher machines for their high level traffic and had to rely on a large number of hand systems, such as the M-138-A and M-94 strip ciphers and the War Department Telegraph Code 1919, Military Intelligence Code, War Department Confidential Code codebooks, for the rest of the traffic. The State Department relied almost exclusively on hand systems, specifically the codebooks A1, B1, C1, D1, Gray, Brown and the M-138-A strip cipher.

In the course of the war modern cipher machines were designed and built to replace the old systems and securely cover all types of traffic. In 1942 the M-209 device was used in the field and in 1943 the cipher teleprinters Converter M-228 - SIGCUM and SIGTOT were introduced in communications networks. In the summer of ’43 a new speech privacy device called SIGSALY became operational and the first system was used on the link Pentagon-London.  In late 1943 the CCM - Combined Cipher Machine was used in the Atlantic and in 1944-45 the British relied on the CCM as much as they did on their own Typex. 

By the end of the war the Americans were using several types of cipher machines, all offering a high level of security. William Friedman, head of cipher research at the Army Security Agency, stated in his 1945 reports that the primary US cipher machines SIGABA and Converter M-228 had proven completely secure against enemy cryptanalysts.

In the report ‘Security of our high-grade cryptographic systems’, dated March 1945 he said:

‘We come now to what, in the circumstances, must be considered as the strongest and most reliable evidence—that which is inferential in and is based upon German cryptography itself. We know so much about their practices that we can deduce and assess their cryptographic theories and thus determine the stage of development they have reached not only in cryptography but also in cryptanalytics. The overwhelming evidence is that they are far behind us and have no appreciation of solution techniques which we now regard as commonplace’.

‘To summarize: At the risk of sounding boastful, it will be stated that the Japanese are not as good as the Germans, and the latter are not as good as we are in cryptography and especially in cryptanalysis…… the conclusion must therefore be clear: They cannot read and are not reading our high-grade cipher traffic’.

In the report ‘important contributions to communications security, 1939-1945; summary of contributions made by mr. Friedman’, he said about SIGABA and SIGCUM:

‘We know now from Ticom reports that neither the Japanese nor the Germans had the slightest success in their efforts to solve messages in the Sigaba, though the Germans certainly tried hard enough. The absolute security of Army and Navy high command and high echelon communications throughout the war was made possible by the Sigaba’.

‘Results of Ticom operations have established that neither the Germans nor the Japanese were successful in their efforts to solve our Sigcum traffic, despite its great volume, and it is my belief that had we used this machine for secret radio-teletype communications no serious harm to our security would have followed’.

Was Friedman correct? Were all high grade US cipher machines secure during the war?

Unanswered questions of WWII cryptology – progress report

Back in 2013 I wrote down several cases of WWII cryptologic history that require more research. Since then I’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to find new information. Has the effort paid off? Let’s have a look at each case:

1). US State Department strip cipher

I wrote: How bad was the compromise of the State Department’s high level system? That question is hard to answer because there is limited information available and it doesn’t seem like the Americans were really interested in learning the full extent of the compromise. Some documents that would shed more light on this affair are proving very hard to find…

I’ve been able to find more information on this case, including the way the M-138 strip cipher was used by the State Department, decoded US diplomatic traffic found in the US and Finnish national archives, the exploitation of US traffic by the Japanese in the period 1940-41 and the efforts of the German cryptanalyst Wolfgang Franz at OKW/Chi.

It is clear that Germans, Japanese and Finns were able to solve many alphabet strips both circular and special and thus read State Department messages from embassies in Europe and Asia. The most important intercepted messages seem to have been those from Bern, Switzerland and Chungking, China.

Unfortunately several important reports are still classified by the NSA and we have to wait for the declassification procedure. At the same time I haven’t been able to track down the Carlson-Goldsberry report, detailing the Finnish solution of the State Department strip cipher. This report was written in late 1944 by two US cryptanalysts after interviewing Finnish codebreakers in Sweden. 

Another aspect of this case concerns the messages from the OSS - Office of Strategic Services and OWI - Office of War Information stations in Bern that were also sent via diplomatic channels. It’s not clear why these messages were sent using State department codes and not through their own systems. In this area information is lacking, since the OSS organization doesn’t seem to have officially acknowledged the compromise of their communications during the war.

2). NKVD 5^th Department codebreakers

During WWII the Soviet Union invested significant resources in the interception and exploitation of enemy radio traffic. The internal security service NKVD and the Army’s general staff had codebreaking departments with the former recruiting many talented mathematicians. According to author Matthew Aid  ‘By the end of World War II, the 5th Directorate controlled the single largest concentration of mathematicians and linguists in the Soviet Union.’

So far very limited information is available regarding their war time efforts versus foreign codes (not only Axis but also US, UK and those of neutral countries).

 3). Referat Vauck success

In the period 1942-44 the German Army’s signal intelligence agency Inspectorate 7/VI had a separate deparment (Referat 12) assigned with the solution of the encoded messages of Allied spy groups operating in occupied Europe. Head of the department was dr Wilhelm Vauck, so his unit was also called Referat Vauck. In 1944 they were transferred to the OKW radio defense department so their reports can no longer be found in the files of Inspectorate 7/VI.

I had written about this case: How successful were they during the war? Unfortunately we do not know. The relevant file in the British national archives HW 40/76 ‘Enemy exploitation of SIS and SOE codes and cyphers’ says that postwar files have been retained and my request for the release of the interrogations of dr Vauck has been rejected by the archives staff

Thankfully I‘ve been able to track down the monthly reports of Referat 12 for the period April ’42-February ’44 and I will be writing an essay on them.

An interesting discovery, made while I was trying to find information on Referat Vauck, was that OKW/Chi was also solving Allied agents codes during the war (with significant success it seems). Not much is known about this aspect of OKW/Chi operations…

4). Forschungsamt information

Goering’s Forschungsamt was one of the main German codebreaking/intelligence agencies of the period 1939-45, yet a detailed history of that organization still eludes us. This is another case where it’s up to the NSA to declassify the relevant documents, written by Forschungsamt personnel in the 1950’s.

5). German Enigma investigations

Several authors claim that the Germans never suspected that their Enigma cipher machine was solved by the Allies and that they considered it to be unbreakable.

I had written: The Germans constantly evaluated the security of their Enigma cipher machine. There were many studies on whether the daily key or parts of it could be retrieved through cryptanalysis. Those studies are the TICOM DF-190 to DF-190AN files…..More research is needed to evaluate the German methods and the way they influenced their security measures.

Since then I’ve posted information on case ‘Wicher’ (Polish solution of the Enigma) showing that the Germans knew the device had been compromised in the prewar period and in 1943 they got information from the US regarding the solution of their naval version.  So far it’s clear that the German Navy’s codebreakers found a solution for their 4-rotor machine in late ’44 but we don’t know much about the similar work of the Army cryptanalysts. More research is needed in this case.

6). Japanese Purple and Coral cipher machines

Were the Germans able to solve the cipher machines used by the Japanese foreign ministry and by Japanese military attaches?

I wrote: PURPLE was solved by American and Soviet codebreakers. Did the Germans have any success with it? Until recently the answer was no. 

However it seems there is more to this story.

The Coral machine was used by military attaches and the Anglo-Americans solved it in 1944. In the same year dr Steinberg of the German Army’s signal intelligence agency was transferred to OKW/Chi where he worked on a cipher machine used by the Japanese attaché. Did he manage to solve it? 

TICOM report I-64 ‘Answers by Wm. Buggisch of OKH/Chi to Questions sent by TICOM’ says ‘B. thinks Steinberg (of 209 fame) solved some Jap machine traffic which was difficult but not so hard as Enigma. B. thinks it was traffic of the Jap Military Attache.’

There is scattered information that points towards the solution of an important Japanese code or cipher machine in the period 1943/44 but no conclusive evidence. Maybe more information will become available in the future.

7). Soviet diplomatic code

I wrote: The Soviet Union used a code enciphered with one time pads as its main diplomatic system during WWII. This system if used correctly is unbreakable. 

Were the Germans able to read parts of this traffic? There are some strange statements in Allied and German reports…

The recently declassified TICOM report DF-111 ‘Comments on various cryptologic matters’ by Adolf Paschke (head of the linguistic cryptanalysis group in the German foreign ministry’s decryption department) says that in the years 1927-30 parts of the Soviet diplomatic traffic could be read since the additive pads were sometimes used twice if the message was long enough. Paschke had also identified the use of the same additive tables more than once in some links. Regarding wartime traffic he says that they couldn’t solve any since there were no repetitions but in the report he also added cryptically that Russian material of the Forschungsamt and the High Command’s deciphering department OKW/Chi were destroyed in 1943 during a bombing attack on Berlin.

Although the Germans might have not solved any Soviet diplomatic traffic they did succeed in solving Comintern communications.

8). M-209 decoding device

I wrote: I’m surprised that no one has figured out how this machine worked!

I have to say I’m still surprised that this device has not received any attention from historians and/or the media!

The British Typex cipher machine

In 1926, the British Government set up an Inter-Departmental Cypher Committee to investigate the possibility of replacing the book systems then used by the armed forces, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office and the India Office with a cipher machine. It was understood that a cipher machine would be inherently more secure than the codebook system and much faster to use in encoding and decoding messages. Despite spending a considerable amount of money and evaluating various models by 1933 the committee had failed to find a suitable machine. Yet the need for such a device continued to exist and the Royal Air Force decided to independently fund such a project. The person in charge of their programme was Wing Commander Lywood, a member of their Signals Division. Lywood decided to focus on modifying an existing cipher machine and the one chosen was the commercially successful Enigma. Two more rotor positions were added in the scrambler unit and the machine was modified so that it could automatically print the enciphered text. This was done so these machines could be used in the DTN-Defence Teleprinter Network.

The new machine was called Typex (originally RAF Enigma with TypeX attachments). The first experimental model was delivered to the Air Ministry in 1934 and after a period of testing 30 more Mark I Typex machines were produced in 1937. The new model Typex Mark II, demonstrated in 1938, was equipped with two printers for printing the plaintext and ciphertext version of each message. It was this model that was built in large numbers and the first contract for 350 machines was signed in 1938. Typex production was slow during the war with 500 machines built by June 1940, 2,300 by the end of 1942, 4,078 by December 1943 and 5,016 by May 1944. By the summer of 1945 about 11.000 (8.200 Mk II and 3.000 Mk VI) had been built (1).