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Decoding Prime Minister Chamberlain’s messages
In the 1930’s Hitler’s foreign policy was focused on dismantling the Treaty of Versailles that was keeping Germany militarily weak.First compulsory military service was reintroduced in 1935, then the...
View ArticleBiographies of famous codebreakers
Well it’s true that you can find anything online if you search for it! Site janeckovokrypto has pictures and short biographies of countless WWII codebreakers (Americans, British, German, Polish etc)....
View ArticleNew article on ULTRA in the Med
A very interesting article regarding the effects of ULTRA intelligence against the Italian Navy’s supply convoys is available from the Naval War College Review. The article is ‘The Other Ultra: Signal...
View ArticleNew cryptology site
Retired CERN engineer and cryptologic historian Frode Weierud has started a blogsite called CryptoCellar Tales. Frode was the first person who was able to give me information on the Russian Fish story....
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More information on the Irish codebreakers
I’ve already given some information on the secretive Irish codebreakers of WWII. Mr David Mee has uploaded a few pages from the book ‘G2, Irish Military Intelligence for the period 1918-45’ by Maurice...
View ArticleWas the Panther a ‘heavy’ tank?
I’ve seen online and also in books statements of the type ‘well the Panther tank was better than the M4 Sherman and the T-34 but it was much heavier than them so it should actually be compared with...
View ArticleGerman AFV production 1939-45
Here are detailed production statistics for German armored vehicles. Source is ‘Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutschen Heeres 1933 – 1945’.1939194019411942194319441945SumMobelwagen...
View ArticleA look into the reliability of the TICOM reports
The reports I’ve used to write about Axis signals intelligence in WWII are mainly those prepared under the TICOMprogram. A few days ago Frode Weierud pointed out that ‘A more serious problem is the...
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A spy in the Kremlin
After the fall of the Tsarist Empire and the rise of the Communist regime the British intelligence service tried to recruit spies inside the new Soviet state. Most of the books I’ve read claim that all...
View ArticleDienstelle Klatt – A case of Soviet deception
In their war against the Soviet Union the Germans were in need of reliable information on Soviet military capabilities and decisions. However before 1941 they were unable to organize an espionage...
View ArticleSolution of Dutch Hagelin cipher machine by US codebreakers
An interesting report of the Signal Security Agency is available from the wwiiarchives.netsite. The title is ‘An Insecure Use of the Hagelin Cryptograph Leading to the Discovery of Messages in Depth...
View ArticleMore information on the Japanese codebreakers of WWII
The book ‘Mathematics and War’ has a small chapter on the Japanese codebreakers of WWII by Setsuo Fukutomi. The author was one of these codebreakers and he mentions his work on the US strip ciphers and...
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British report on military and diplomatic Polish codes
After checking my files for my essay on the reliability of TICOM reports i rediscovered a British report giving an overview of Polish codes. The British codebreakers obviously had some success with the...
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WWII Myths – The German war economy was mismanaged
This is quite a difficult subject to fully analyze. The idea that the Germans mismanaged their war economy is one of the most enduring myths of WWII. This idea is strange considering that everyone...
View ArticleGerman vs Allied losses – Italian front
One of the books I reviewed recently was the single volume history of the Italian campaign ‘A Hard Way to Make a War: The Allied Campaign in Italy in the Second World War’. That book says in page 326...
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Axis History Forum mug
Today a coffee mug arrived in the mail. It’s a gift from my friends at Axis History Forum for contributing to their site. Thanks guys!
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Nuke the world
Have you ever wondered what would happen to Moscow if it was hit with a Trident D5 nuclear missile? How about a Tsar Bomba exploding over Washington DC? Fear not dear reader, you’re not the only one...
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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...
View ArticleBritish report on Hitler assassination attempts
File FO 1093/288 is available from the British National archives. It can be downloaded for free if you create an account. It has a report written by SS ObersturmbannführerKappler on Elser who attempted...
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Another look at the reliability of the TICOM reports
I’ve already had a look at the reliability of the TICOM reports regarding the successes of the German codebreakers. Going through some of my files I’ve noticed another clear cut case. Regarding Polish...
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