Interesting article on Japanese intelligence operations

International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence: ‘Japanese Navy’s Tactical Intelligence Collection on the Eve of the Pacific War’ by Naoki Saito.

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

More interesting USSBS interrogation reports

USSBS Japan – ‘Japanese Communication Intelligence’, Serial No. 208 – Commander Ozawa

USSBS Japan – ‘Japanese Naval Intelligence’, Serial No. 246 – Rear Admiral Ono

USSBS Japan – ‘Intelligence Sources Used in Operational Planning’, Serial No. 369 - Commander Miyazaki

USSBS Japan – ‘Organization and Operation of First Naval Air Technical Arsenal’, Serial No. 384 – Lieutenant Toyoda

I’ve added the first three in the sources of Japanese codebreakers of WWII.

U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey - Operational Intelligence, Serial No. 431

Here is a link to U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey - Operational Intelligence, Serial No. 431 - Lieutenant Commander Satake (Communications department of the Naval General Staff) – dated November 1945.

The Higgs memorandum - Compromise of State Department communications by the Finnish codebreakers in WWII

During WWII the US State Department used several cryptosystems in order to protect its radio communications from the Axis powers. For low level messages the unenciphered Gray and Brown codebooks were used.  For important messages four different codebooks (A1, B1, C1, D1) enciphered with substitution tables were available.

Their most modern and (in theory) secure system was the M-138-A strip cipher. Unfortunately for the Americans this system was compromised and diplomatic messages were read by the Germans, Finns, Japanese, Italians and Hungarians. The strip cipher carried the most important diplomatic traffic of the United States (at least until mid/late 1944) and by reading these messages the Axis powers gained insights into global US policy.

Germans, Finns and Japanese cooperated on the solution of the strip cipher. In 1941 the Japanese gave to the Germans alphabet strips and numerical keys that they had copied from a US consulate in 1939 and these were passed on by the Germans to their Finnish allies in 1942. Then in 1943 the Finns started sharing their results with Japan. 

Finnish solution of State Department cryptosystems

During WWII the Finnish signal intelligence service worked mostly on Soviet military and NKVD cryptosystems however they did have a small diplomatic section located in Mikkeli. This department had about 38 analysts, with the majority working on US codes.

Head of the department was Mary Grashorn. Other important people were Pentti Aalto (effective head of the US section) and the experts on the M-138 strip cipher Karl Erik Henriksson and Kalevi Loimaranta.

Their main wartime success was the solution of the State Department’s M-138-A cipher. The solution of this high level system gave them access to important diplomatic messages from US embassies in Europe and around the world. 

Apart from purely diplomatic traffic they were also able to read messages of other US agencies that used State department cryptosystems, such as the OSS -Office of Strategic Services Bern station, Military Attaché in Switzerland, Office of War Information representative in Switzerland, the Foreign Economic Administration, War Shipping Administration, Office of Lend-Lease Administration and the War Refugee Board.

Operation Stella Polaris

In September 1944 Finland signed an armistice with the Soviet Union. The people in charge of the Finnish signal intelligence service anticipated this move and fearing a Soviet takeover of the country had taken measures to relocate the radio service to Sweden. This operation was called Stella Polaris (Polar Star).

In late September roughly 700 people, comprising members of the intelligence services and their families were transported by ship to Sweden. The Finns had come to an agreement with the Swedish intelligence service that their people would be allowed to stay and in return the Swedes would get the Finnish crypto archives and their radio equipment. At the same time colonel Hallamaa, head of the signals intelligence service, gathered funds for the Stella Polaris group by selling the solved codes in the Finnish archives to the Americans, British and Japanese. 

The Stella Polaris operation was dependent on secrecy. However the open market for Soviet codes made the Swedish government uneasy. In the end most of the Finnish personnel chose to return to Finland, since the feared Soviet takeover did not materialize. 

The Higgs memorandum

In September 1944 colonel Hallamaa met with L. Randolph Higgs, an official of the US embassy in Sweden and told him about their successes with US diplomatic codes and ciphers.

This information was summarized in a report prepared by Higgs, dated 30 September 1944.

The report can be found in the US National Archives - collection RG 84 ‘Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State’ - ‘US Legation/Embassy Stockholm, Sweden’ - ‘Top Secret General Records File: 1944’.

(Google Drive link)

Higgs met with colonel Hallamaa on September 29 and the OSS officials Tikander and Cole were also present during their discussion.

Hallamaa stated that he was an administrator, not a cryptanalyst and about 10-12 of his men worked on US diplomatic codes.

His unit had solved the US codes Gray, Brown, M-138-A strip cipher and enciphered codebooks (probably the A1, B1, C1).

The high level M-138-A system had been solved mostly by taking advantage of operator mistakes such as sending strip cipher information on other systems that had already been broken or sending the same message in different strips one of which had been broken.

The strip cipher was considered a strong encryption system and had been adopted by the Finns for some of their traffic.

Important diplomatic messages from the US embassies in Switzerland, Sweden and Finland were read by the Finnish codebreakers.

Regarding Bern, Switzerland most of the messages dealt with intelligence matters:

‘Replying to my request for information regarding the contents of the messages from our Legation in Bern to the Department, Col. Hallamaa said the great bulk of them were intelligence messages dealing with conditions in Germany, France, Italy and the Balkans. He spoke in complimentary terms about ‘Harrison’s’ information service’.

Regarding Helsinki, Finland Hallamaa stated that thanks to the decoded diplomatic traffic they were always informed of current US policy initiatives:

‘Col. Hallamaa said that they always knew before McClintock arrived at the Foreign Office what he was coming to talk about’.

Hallamaa revealed a lot of confidential information to the Americans and volunteered to have some of his experts interviewed. 

The interview was conducted on friendly terms with Higgs stating; ‘Col. Hallamaa was most pleasant and seemed to be entirely frank and open regarding the matters discussed’.

Additional information: In November 1944 the US cryptanalysts Paavo Carlson of the Army’s Signal Security Agency and Paul E. Goldsberry of the State Department’s cipher unit interviewed Finnish officials regarding their work on US codes. Their report can be found here.

Article on Chinese codes and ciphers

Interesting article from the journal Cryptologia: ‘Chinese cryptography: The Chinese Nationalist Party and intelligence management, 1927–1949’ by Ulug Kuzuoglu.

ABSTRACT

This paper is the first scholarly attempt to examine the history of Chinese cryptography and the role it played in building the intelligence network of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from 1927 to 1949. Rather than investigating the institutional structure of intelligence, I focus on Chinese characters, the primary medium that made cryptology and intelligence possible. Given that the Chinese writing system is by nature nonalphabetic and thus noncipherable, how did cryptography work in Chinese? How did the state and its scientists reengineer Chinese characters for the purposes of secret communication? This paper argues that due to the Chinese writing system itself, Chinese cryptography was bound to the use of codebooks rather than ciphers; thus, “codebook management” was central to building intelligence networks in China.

Another dead end?

Last month i posted the recently declassified Carlson-Goldsberry report. A memo included in the report had the following handwritten notes: RG 84 box 1 and an NND number that looks like 857570 or 857560.

This seems to lead to US National Archives collection RG 84 ‘Records of Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State’.

The NND number doesn’t seem to be 857570 because that code is associated with reports of the ‘Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Office of the U.S. Political Officer. 2/13/1944-ca. 9/2/1944’.

Other combinations such as 851510, 857510, 851570 are not valid.

This leaves NND 857560. This code tracks to RG 84 ‘Sweden’ - Entry 3198 ‘Top Secret General Records, 1944 – 1952’.

This makes sense as that report was sent from the US embassy in Sweden.

Box 1 of entry 3198 says ‘Telegrams Sent and Received Relating to Finland, 1943-1945’. 

One would expect to find the Carlson-Goldsberry report there.

So when I told my researcher to check this box I expected that I would be able to get the reports sent from Sweden in late 1944 summarizing the talks US officials had with the Finnish codebreakers.

Unfortunately both my researcher and the NARA FOIA office have confirmed that these reports are not there!

So why does the note say RG 84 box 1 NND 857560?

I’ve asked the NSA FOIA office if they can give me more information on where they got this document. If they respond maybe I will be able to track down similar reports in NARA.

Update: Unfortunately the response from the NSA FOIA office was ‘….we have no additional information to provide’.

Essay by Frode Weierud on Inspectorate 7/VI cryptanalyst

Who was Harry Welsch?

The Carlson-Goldsberry report - Compromise of State Department communications by the Finnish codebreakers in WWII

During WWII the US State Department used several cryptosystems in order to protect its radio communications from the Axis powers. For low level messages the unenciphered Gray and Brown codebooks were used.  For important messages four different codebooks (A1, B1, C1, D1) enciphered with substitution tables were available.

Their most modern and (in theory) secure system was the M-138-A strip cipher. Unfortunately for the Americans this system was compromised and diplomatic messages were read by the Germans, Finns, Japanese, Italians and Hungarians. The strip cipher carried the most important diplomatic traffic of the United States (at least until mid/late 1944) and by reading these messages the Axis powers gained insights into global US policy.

Germans, Finns and Japanese cooperated on the solution of the strip cipher. In 1941 the Japanese gave to the Germans alphabet strips and numerical keys that they had copied from a US consulate in 1939 and these were passed on by the Germans to their Finnish allies in 1942. Then in 1943 the Finns started sharing their results with Japan. 

Finnish solution of State Department cryptosystems

During WWII the Finnish signal intelligence service worked mostly on Soviet military and NKVD cryptosystems however they did have a small diplomatic section located in Mikkeli. This department had about 38 analysts, with the majority working on US codes.

Head of the department was Mary Grashorn. Other important people were Pentti Aalto (effective head of the US section) and the experts on the M-138 strip cipher Karl Erik Henriksson and Kalevi Loimaranta.

Their main wartime success was the solution of the State Department’s M-138-A cipher. The solution of this high level system gave them access to important diplomatic messages from US embassies in Europe and around the world. 

Apart from purely diplomatic traffic they were also able to read messages of other US agencies that used State department cryptosystems, such as the OSS -Office of Strategic Services Bern station, Military Attaché in Switzerland, Office of War Information representative in Switzerland, the Foreign Economic Administration, War Shipping Administration, Office of Lend-Lease Administration and the War Refugee Board.

Operation Stella Polaris

In September 1944 Finland signed an armistice with the Soviet Union. The people in charge of the Finnish signal intelligence service anticipated this move and fearing a Soviet takeover of the country had taken measures to relocate the radio service to Sweden. This operation was called Stella Polaris (Polar Star).

In late September roughly 700 people, comprising members of the intelligence services and their families were transported by ship to Sweden. The Finns had come to an agreement with the Swedish intelligence service that their people would be allowed to stay and in return the Swedes would get the Finnish crypto archives and their radio equipment. At the same time colonel Hallamaa, head of the signals intelligence service, gathered funds for the Stella Polaris group by selling the solved codes in the Finnish archives to the Americans, British and Japanese. 

The Stella Polaris operation was dependent on secrecy. However the open market for Soviet codes made the Swedish government uneasy. In the end most of the Finnish personnel chose to return to Finland, since the feared Soviet takeover did not materialize. 

The American reaction and the Carlson-Goldsberry report

According to the NSA study History of Venona (Ft. George G. Meade: Center for Cryptologic History, 1995), it was at that time that the Finns revealed to the US authorities that they had solved their diplomatic codes. On 29 September 1944 colonel Hallamaa met with L. Randolph Higgs of the US embassy in Stockholm and told him about their success.

In response two cryptanalysts were sent from the US to evaluate the compromise of US codes in more detail. They were Paavo Carlson of the Army’s Signal Security Agency and Paul E. Goldsberry of the State Department’s cipher unit. Their report dated 23 November 1944 had details on the solution of US systems.

The Carlson-Goldsberry report

Unfortunately locating this report proved to be quite a problem. Initially I searched for it in the US National Archives (both in the NSA and OSS collections) but without success.

Thankfully the NSA FOIA/MDR office has managed to locate this file and they have finally declassified it.

Google drive link

The 4-page report summarizes the information gathered by US officials from their interviews of Finnish codebreakers in 16, 18 and 21 November 1944.

From the Finnish side Erkki Pale (head of the department working on Soviet ciphers) and Kalevi Loimaranta (member of the department dealing with foreign diplomatic codes) gave a summary of their work on various cryptosystems.

The Finns admitted to solving US diplomatic systems, both codebooks and the strip cipher M-138-A. According to them an unenciphered codebook could be reconstructed in 6 months but an enciphered one was harder to solve.

Regarding the M-138-A cipher it was solved because the alphabet strips were used for long periods of time, the same strips were used by several users and the numerical keys were the same for all users. Stereotypical beginnings and endings were also exploited in assumed plaintext cryptanalytic attacks.

There was cooperation with the German codebreakers on US systems and the Finns received a lot of intercepts from them.

The Finnish codebreakers also used a number of IBM machines for statistical work.

Although the Finns stated that after the introduction of channel elimination in January 1944 they could no longer solve strip cipher traffic a memo included in the report says that their detailed knowledge of channel elimination procedures may indicate continued success with the M-138-A system.

Acknowledgments: I have to thank my friends in the US for requesting this file from the NSA FOIA/MDR office and getting it declassified.

Bye bye mr Hayashi

In 2017 I tried to locate a file in the US national archives called ‘Interrogation of mr Hayashi’. 

According to the NSA FOIA office it had been recently transferred to NARA as part of transfer group TR-457-2016-0009. The reference I was given by NARA pointed to 36 boxes that have not been indexed, so the file could not be located by my researcher. 

I tried to find the Hayashi file again this year by asking NARA’s research department if they could locate it but I was told that ‘We have carefully searched our holdings with a particular focus on Record Group 457 - Entry P4…….however, we were not able to locate the file’.

Thus it seems that this is the end of my quest for the Hayashi file.

Compromise of State Department communications in WWII

In the course of WWII both the Allies and the Axis powers were able to gain information of great value from reading their enemies secret communications. In Britain the codebreakers of Bletchley Park solved several enemy systems with the most important ones being the German Enigma and Tunny cipher machines and the Italian C-38m. Codebreaking played a role in the Battle of the Atlantic, the North Africa Campaign and the Normandy invasion. 

In the United States the Army and Navy codebreakers solved many Japanese cryptosystems and used this advantage in battle. The great victory at Midway would probably not have been possible if the Americans had not solved the Japanese Navy’s JN25 code.

On the other side of the hill the codebreakers of Germany, Japan, Italy and Finland also solved many important enemy cryptosystems both military and diplomatic. The German codebreakers could eavesdrop on the radio-telephone conversations of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, they could decode the messages of the British and US Navies during their convoy operations in the Atlantic and together with the Japanese and Finns they could solve State Department messages (both low and high level)  from embassies around the world.

Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States did not have impenetrable codes. In the course of WWII all three suffered setbacks from their compromised communications. One of the worst failures of US crypto security was the extensive compromise of State Department communications in the period 1940-44.