Tom Clancy passed away this week
Author Tom Clancy passed away on October 1st. Clancy had made a name for himself by writing novels which pitted US intelligence officers against Soviet, Chinese and Middle Eastern adversaries. Clancy...
View ArticleGerman report on traffic analysis in the Eastern Front
An interesting file is available from site numbersoddities. This is the report:‘German exploitation of Russian communications through Traffic Analysis during World War II‘, Prepared under the direction...
View ArticleInternet throwdown - Fred Reed vs ‘the Fighter Mafia’
An interesting article with the title Pay Attention and Think Fast was posted recently at takimag by Fred Reed.Mr Reed attacks the so called ‘Fighter Mafia’, a group of US officers and civilian...
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Activity report of Referat Vauck – February 1944
In the course of WWII the Germans conquered and occupied most European countries. In order to get intelligence from the occupied areas and to form resistance groups the Allies sent spies equipped with...
View ArticleCombat report of Soviet 10th Tank division - August 1941
An interesting file is available from site marksrussianmilitaryhistory. It is a report of the Soviet 10th Tank division, detailing the operations of the unit during June and July ’41. According to site...
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I added a paragraph from PWIS(H)/KP/694 - 'Report on Interrogation of PW Gefr WEIGEL, Fortunat - German Wireless Intercept and SD Activities'– May 1945 in Activity report of Referat Vauck – February 1944.
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SOE cryptosystems – The German view
I have already given an overview of the main cryptologic systems used by the British SOEorganization in WWII here. The basic systems were double transposition using a poem as a ‘key’ generator, double...
View ArticleMore news on NSA/GCHQ global surveillance
Some recent stories:Edward Snowden met with his father and a group of US intelligence officers in Moscow, was awarded Sam Adams award for Integrity in IntelligenceIn Britain there will be an enquiry...
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German report on solution of M-209 cipher machine
Some time ago I received this request by mr Mark Blair:‘DF-120 (TICOM 2794) makes reference to another document, TICOM 2795 "Determination of the Absolute Setting of the AM-1 (M-209) by Using Two...
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NKVD codes of WWII – part 2
I’ve given an overview of the cipher systems used by the Soviet NKVD organization and their exploitation by German codebreakers here.Two of the most important systems were the ciphers used by the...
View ArticleInteresting documentary on Yom Kippur war
The Al Jazeera media organization released an excellent documentary on the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In the first episode at about 27:38, a Palestinian who took part in the conflict says something very...
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Book review - Red Storm Rising
Since author Tom Clancy passed away this month it is only fitting that I review one of his books. Red Storm Rising was his second published book, way back in 1986. At that time the Soviet Union ruled...
View ArticleNSA monitored the traffic of 35 world leaders
According to the Guardian new documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal that the NSA spied on the private communications of 35 world leaders. Surprisingly it seems that the Americans did not...
View ArticleItalian WWII signals intelligence reports in the US National Archives
Here is something for my Italian friends. There are some interesting files in the US National Archives and Records Administration, in collection RG 457, entry P-11. I don’t have the means to copy these...
View ArticleSeabourne reports available online
The Seabourne reports describe the organization and operations of the Luftwaffe’s signal intelligence agency in WWII. They were written in the postwar period by the US authorities.Randy Rezabek of...
View ArticleWWII Myths – German tank strength in the Battle of France 1940
In May-June 1940 Germany shocked the world by defeating the combined forces of France, Britain, Holland and Belgium in the Battle of France.At the time no one expected that the French forces would be...
View ArticleNew NSA documents
Interesting documents have been published in the press these last few days.NSA strategic plan - 2007NSA memorandum of understanding with the Israeli signal intelligence agency
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Operational research in Northwest Europe - No. 2 Operational Research Section
A very interesting report is available from site dtic online. This is the report Operational research in Northwest Europe , the work of No. 2 Operational Research Section 21 Army Group.(originally...
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Solution of prewar Polish diplomatic code by OKW/Chi
In the field of signals intelligence and codebreaking Poland, despite being a small state, distinguished itself by being the first country to solve messages enciphered with the German military’s Enigma...
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The British railways code
During WWII all the participants had some success in intercepting and decoding the radio traffic of enemy military units. Another type of traffic that proved to be very important for military...
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