ENIGMA related site

[edwest]

I thought this provides some very interesting information.


http://members.fortunecity.com/jpeschel/erskin.htm#



Ed

[PlaneKrazy]

Thanks Ed, I had read similar stuff about breaches of Enigma protocols on www.u-boat.net/forum

Since the article comments why it was that German Army and Luftwaffe Enigma was not recorded, it is worth noting it was hardly a secret in WW2 that the RAF type X encryption machine was a licence manufactured version of the three wheel Enigma.

Indeed at the fall of Dunkirk several RAF airfield command posts were overrun and the Germans actually captured 24 RAF type X (Enigma) machines.

I would imagine that it was less secret that the three rotor machine was being decyphered, but highly sensitive that the four rotor machine was being read.

Also quite late in the war u-boats put to sea with the Krokodil 43 system. This was the combination of a four rotor machine with a three rotor Enigma. The message was first encyphered according to the appropriate key settings on a four rotor Enigma.

Settings changed twice per day according to prearranged settings (of rotor wheels to the steckkerboard [letters]) by dates. Also each service operated nets on their own frequencies. Late in the war for example the u-boat net was called Triton. Other u-boat nets included Narwhal, Shark and Bonito. The SS had several nets too as did Luftwaffe and Heerswaffen.

The message was then encyphered a second time on the three rotor machine. In addition an officer's eyes only message would sometimes be double encyphered on the four rotor machine.

The U-534 raised from the sea near Denmark in 1999 had over two tons of documents aboard her which are now in refrigerated storage by the u-boat's new owner.

U-534 also had two Enigma machines aboard when sunk and was using the Krokodil 43 system.

Some of the Kreigsmarine's archived signals were flown from Flensberg to Barcelona on 6 April 1945 by a Luftwaffe Junkers 290 (possibly operated by Deutsch Luft Hansa airlines). The load was so heavy that the aircraft's tail wheel broke off on landing and the aircraft was abandoned at the airport.

[Nick Beale]

I'm interested in what you have to say about TypeX. What's your source for it being a licensed ENIGMA and where did you see about the Germans acquiring some?

I can, with some hard-won authority, take issue with the article that Ed provided the link to. I've been working on Luftwaffe Ultra messages since 1990 and I've only done from mid-January 1944 to the end of the war so far! I think the guy meant that Kriegsmarine messages are much more numerous, which is understandable for several reasons: ships at sea carried ENIGMA machines, aircraft didn't that I know of (especially since operating the thing was a two-man job: one to encode and one to transcribe).

U-boats in packs had to signal frequently, it's how the system worked. If aircraft in flight signalled it was by R/T or W/T and using a code table (or in clear). Luftwaffe Ultra therefore comes from ground establishments, many of which had access to landlines and didn't need to transmit over the air for much of the time. In my own experience, some units you get next to nothing from, others are talking most days.

Things really catch fire when there's intense ground action, normal comms are disrupted, units are force to relocate etc. France after 6 June 1944 is a case in point. Conversely, when things settle down (Italy after about September 1944, when units were getting re-established on more permanent bases) the volume of traffic falls. All through 1944-45 there is masses from Yugoslavia, Greece and Albania - a combination of difficult geography, poor comnications infrastructure and partisans would account for that. I guess.

Yes, there is Luftwaffe ULTRA - and Heer too (including lengthy equipment, personnel and manpower returns for divisions, corps and armies)

[PlaneKrazy]

Nick I took notes from a book about the Enigma machine and it's development back in 1997, of which I have read several. It will take me some while to find the exact book at the library again. The type X machine however was nothing more than an exported three rotor Enigma. The Germans were well aware that the British had it. I am merely citing notes taken verbatum at the library since I had no way at the time of photocopying. I have extensive handwritten notes from numerous sources.

I will answer the question when I have relocated the book.

Three rotor Enigma was also used by German railways, Luftwaffwe base commands, SS Klien Kampfverbande units (mini subs in Adriatic etc) and Heereswaffen (army unit) commands in the field. These codes were frequently read. For example Luftwaffe units reported losses and personnel transfers or received orders by Enigma. The waters are muddied because there was also alternate means of communication not requiring radio transmissions, such as telephonic messages or telegrams.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by PlaneKrazy

Three rotor Enigma was also used by German railways, Luftwaffwe base commands, SS Klien Kampfverbande units (mini subs in Adriatic etc) and Heereswaffen (army unit) commands in the field. These codes were frequently read. For example Luftwaffe units reported losses and personnel transfers or received orders by Enigma. The waters are muddied because there was also alternate means of communication not requiring radio transmissions, such as telephonic messages or telegrams.

Having spent much of my spare time for the last 17 years reviewing tens of thousands of ENIGMA decrypts and also Allied Luftwaffe-related SIGINT from the MTO, I've acquired a certain familiarity with the above (except the Reichsbahn stuff)! The "main series" Luftwaffe material also embraces mission intentions and results, periodic strength returns, unit dispositions, movements of aircraft, pilot availability etc. etc. etc. All you need is time and persistence... these messages are an invaluable aid to reconstructing Luftwaffe actvities.

I've also read a lot of books on ENIGMA (finding Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's probably the best overall) but none has said that much about TypeX and they are all hung up on U-boats, I guess because the Luftwaffe traffic once broken into was read fairly promptly and consistently, so the story lacks drama.

[edwest]

Gentlemen,


Perhaps this book might be helpful:

http://www.christian-schmidt-fachbuc...d34a8a06d3915b



Usual disclaimer,
Ed

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by edwest

Gentlemen,


Perhaps this book might be helpful:

http://www.christian-schmidt-fachbuc...d34a8a06d3915b, Ed

Thanks Ed - more expense!

[edwest]

Well Nick, I have a long list of books I want. I try to organize them in order of what I think are the most useful, followed by those that sound less useful. Almost needless to say, that list just keeps getting bigger and bigger


Ed

[penguin832au]

Hello all,

Cryptology has been an interest of mine for many years.
My Computer Science Masters Project in the mid 1970's was based around an Enigma Simulator programmed on a big old ICL System 4 machine (~ 150 sq m of floor space, punch card input, paper tape output, machine code, etc - probably less overall computing power than a PDA of today)
That was my first simulator, many, many more followed.

I can reccomend the following which gives a list of internet available software simulators:
http://www.xat.nl/enigma/

There is info on building your own machine, and a good book reference.

Try a simulator, give you hours of fun, send each other messages !

Regards,

Tony W