Update
I have added Wünsche, Schulz and Hauthal in A who’s who of German Signals Intelligence. Also added the first two in German mathematicians in the cryptologic service.
View ArticleTop 5 stories
As the year draws to a close the essays with the most views are: 1). German exploitation of Soviet multichannel radio-teletype networks 1936-19452). WWII Myths - T-34 Best Tank of the war3). The...
View ArticleDiscussion on WWII Tanks
Interesting round table discussion on WWII tanks. Participants: Steve Zaloga, Harry Yeide, Hilary Doyle, David Fletcher, Rob Griffin, Kenneth Estes.Part 1 of12:
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Added more information in WWII Myths - T-34 Best Tank of the war. Specifically in paragraphs ‘problematic gearbox’, ‘reliability problems ’ and ‘T-34vs Pz IV’.Most of this information comes from...
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Codebreaking and the Stalingrad pocket battles
In the summer of ’42 the German forces in the East managed to surprise the Soviet High Command by attacking in the area of Army Group South. The Germans together with their Rumanian, Hungarian and...
View ArticleState Department’s Security Bureau official history
Here is a link to the ‘History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State’. This book covers the history of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and its predecessors –...
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Time for some new TICOM reports:DF-9 ‘Captured Wehrmacht Sigint Document: Translation of Activity Report of OKW/Chi for the Period 1st January, 1944 to 25th June, 1944’I-128 ‘Deciphering Achievements...
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German exploitation of US Diplomatic strip cipher in 1944
By 1944 the Germans were retreating on all fronts. They were pushed back by the Allies not only on the battlefields but also in the field of cryptology. The introduction of new secure procedures and...
View ArticleTank strength and losses – Eastern Front
After examining the manpowerand aircraftstrength and loss statistics in the Eastern front it’s time to take a look at the tank situation.Both sides built large numbers of tracked armored vehicles and...
View ArticleMore on the T-34
The T-34 was one of the legendary tanks of WWII. When it appeared in 1941 its combination of firepower, armor and mobility shocked the Germans. However the real performance of the tank was different...
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Book review - Kursk 1943: A Statistical analysis
The battle of Kursk in 1943 has always fascinated historians. It has been called the greatest tank battle of WWII, the deathride of the Panzers, the battle that sealed the Soviet victory etc etc. After...
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I added the following part in the Losses paragraph of Tank strength and losses – Eastern Front:[Note that there are the following ‘issues’ with the German report: 1).The losses for 1942 include...
View ArticleTank overhaul TV series
What will they think up next!Panther restorationSherman restorationCenturion restorationFerdinand restoration
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German evaluation of captured Soviet tanks
During WWII the German armed forces were always short of equipment, especially trucks and combat vehicles. In order to deal with this problem they made extensive use of captured French, Italian, Soviet...
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SOE codes and Referat Vauck
In the 1930’s the British SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) collected information from European targets through two parallel systems. On the one hand regular SIS officers operated as passport control...
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I made the following changes in Tank strength and losses – Eastern Front: Added ‘Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutschen Heeres 1933 – 1945’ as a source and corrected the total numbers of German vehicles...
View ArticleThe German response against the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks
When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 they were surprised to come across tanks that were superior to their own in armor and firepower. The T-34 and KV tanks had 76mm guns that...
View ArticleGulf war studies
The military conflicts between Saddam’s Iraq and the US coalition in Gulf war I and in 2003 are usually assumed to have been completely one sided, with Iraqi forces abandoning their weapons and...
View ArticleGerman intelligence on operation Overlord – more clues
In 1944 the German High Command knew that the Anglo-Americans would stage a cross channel landing into France. If they succeeded it would be the end of the German Reich. The area they considered to be...
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Pseudo and inartistic folk songs
Thanks to help from Ralph Erskine another interesting file turns up. Now we all know the evils of communism. Gulag, censorship, propaganda, Party rule etc etcHowever there are some things that cannot...
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