Seizing the Enigma (53 page)

23
codebook in cabin: PG 64859:11. Aug. 1915, the report of an interrogation of Galibin after his capture by the Germans. Makela, p. 78, and Hammant, p. 18, concur, though other details differ. N. B. Pavlovich,
The Fleet in the First World War
, 1:
Operations of the Russian Fleet
([Moscow: Ministry of Defense, 1964], trans., for Smithsonian Institution and National Science Foundation [New Delhi: Amerind, 1979]), 76, states that the Russians found in the captain’s cabin the cipher key to the codebook and gave it to the British. For some reason, the British never received it, for Rotter had to solve it. Yankovich, “The Origins of Russian Navy Communications Intelligence,” trans. Thomas B. Hammant,
Cryptologia
8 (July 1984), 193–202, adds little to these accounts.

24
“most secure means”: Winston Churchill,
The World Crisis
(New York: Scribner’s, 1923), 1:503.

25
Ewing: Beesly,
Room 40
, 10; A. W. Ewing,
The Man of Room 40: The Life of Sir Alfred Ewing
(London: Hutchinson, 1939), passim; R. V. Jones, “Alfred Ewing and ‘Room 40,’”
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
34 (July 1979), 65–90; Andrew,
Secret Service
, 86. For a different view of Ewing’s early work, see Hiley.

25
Denniston: Beesly,
Room 40
, 12;
Dictionary of National Biography, 1961–1970
, 286–87; R. A. Denniston, passim; David Wallechinsky,
The Complete Book of the Olympics
(New York: Penguin, 1984), under “Field Hockey,” where the name is erroneously given as “Andrew Dennistoun.”

26
“singularly ignorant”: DENN 1/3, p. 4.

26
Rotter: DENN 1/4, p. 5; CLKE 3, chap. 4, pp. 2–3.

26
seized from a merchantman, method for disguising: Australian Archives, Navy Office, Accession MP 1049/1, Items 1914/0351 and 1914/0444; Australian War Memorial, Donated Records List, No. 586 (2nd ser.); ADM 137/4388.

27
“their folly”: DENN 1/3, p. 5.

27
third major codebook, S-119: Jones, “Alfred Ewing,” 75; Beesly,
Room 40
, 27, 6–7; Germany, Marine-Archiv,
Nordsee
, 2:191–96; ADM 137/4374.

27
“never wise”: Jones, “Alfred Ewing,” 75.

28
divers, Miller: Grant, 34–40. I am grateful to Dr. Grant for letting me see this manuscript.

29
Knox: Fitzgerald, passim; R. F. Harrod,
The Life of John Maynard Keynes
(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1951), 40, for “He has got,” and 65;
Who Was Who, 1941–1950; Herodas
, notes by Walter Headlam, ed. A. D. Knox (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922, reissued 1966), lxi.

29
Birch: Fitzgerald, 93, 138; Beesly,
Very Special Intelligence
, 124;
Who Was Who, 1956–1960; Times
, Feb. 16, 1956, p. 12; Morris and Mavis Batey interviews.

31
“in the same way,” new codebook, mechanical: PG 64839:22. Feb. 1915.

31
“the
Handelsschiffsverkehrsbuch”:
RM 47/N.259:19.Nov.1914. The British
found no codebook aboard the
Ophelia
(ADM 137/2081, p. 385). The indications by which the Reich Naval Staff concluded that the
HVB
had been compromised remain a mystery.

32
superencipherment keys: Kleikamp, 34.

32
cases of British steaming out: Kleikamp, 34.

33
range, frequency, call signs: Bonatz,
Deutsche Marine-Funkaufklärung
, 13; Tranow interview.

33
regulations forbade: Kleikamp, 8.

33
Roubaix: Hermann Stützel, “Geheimschrift und Entzifferung im ersten Weltkrieg,”
Truppenpraxis
7 (July 1969), 541–45.

34
Neumünster, Braune: Tranow interview; Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies
, 38; Walle.

34
improvements: Kleikamp, 33–35; DENN 1/3.

Details of Scherbius’s offer and his correspondence with the naval authorities are in MA:Fasz. 5708:11.8–12. The evolution of the Enigma system and discussions of the hand systems may be traced in PG 48934, 48795, 80609, 34455F, 34466.

36
three other men: Kahn,
Codebreakers
, 410–24.

39
October 20, businessman, Oberrealschule: Niedersachsiches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Hannover): Hann. 146A: Matrikelbücher der Technische Hochschule Hannover: Nr. 110: Matrikel Nr. 903 (folio 427).

39
jobs, inventions: “A. Scherbius,”
Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift
(May 23, 1929), 774; “Arthur Scherbius,”
Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure
73 (June 15, 1929); his articles and letters in
Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift
, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1927; German patents 465,557, 465,638, 457,181, 457,740.

40
patents: Türkei, 45–46.

40
best ideas, musical: Helmuth Heimsoeth letter.

41
Chiffriermaschinen Aktien-Gesellschaft:
Handbuch der Deutschen Aktien-Gesellschaften, 1925
, 2:2888.
articles: in
Radio News
5 (January 1924), 878, 997–98;
Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift
(1923), 1035–36;
Zeitschrift für Fernmeldetechnik, Werkund Gerätebau
7 (1923), 70–74;
Der Radio-Amateur
(November 1923), 76–78;
Umschau
27 (August 25, 1923), 552–54;
Das Echo
42 (1923), 3168.

41
“Glow Lamp”: Türkei, 85–88, Table O.

42
rotors removable, movable ring, reflector: U.S. patents 1,705,641; 1,938,028; 1,733,886; German patent 411,126.

43
Fisher:
Memories
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919), 108–9.

44
“At the beginning”: Winston Churchill,
The World Crisis
(New York: Scribner’s, 1923), 1:503. The book was published in German in 1924. Churchill, incidentally, obtained official permission to publish his information about Room 40 (FO 371/179:33–35; Great Britain, Parliament, House of
Commons,
Parliamentary Debates
, 5th. ser., vol. 163 (London, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1923), col. 435.

45
“the German fleet”: Germany, Marine-Archiv,
Nordsee
, 4:149.

45
by 1925: my supposition, based on the belief that the machines went into service early in 1926, based in turn on the date of February 9, 1926, on
Der Funkschlüssel C
, the official naval manual for the machine. The 1928 date given in Erich Raeder,
My Life
(Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, 1960), 204–5, may he in error. I searched through all the indexes to the German naval records in the U.S. National Archives and examined all likely pre-1926 files provided by the Militärarchiv (PG 49061–49069, 48934, 15389, 15390, RM 8/28, 8/47, 20/305, and 20/306), but I did not find any memoranda urging the adoption of the Enigma, any correspondence or contracts with Scherbius or his firm, any purchase orders or copies of receipts for machines, any orders for the institution of the Enigma as the naval cipher machine, or any papers dealing with the training of radiomen (who handled the ciphering) on the Enigma or with distribution of the machine. Werther provides no data on this question.

45
naval machine:
Der Funkschlüssel C.

45
only officers: PG 34456:13 Feb. 1930, p. 2.

46
superimposition: implied in M.Dv.Nr. 32/1, p. 43, and in RM 7/108, p. 44. For an explanation, see Kahn,
Codebreakers
, 236–37.

46
Schmidt: he was then signing the intercept reports of the Chiffrierstelle (Militärarchiv: OKW 2298); Militärarchiv: Sammlung Krug: MSg 109/2373.

47
July 15, 1928: my presumption, inferred from the fact that the Poles intercepted the first German army messages in Enigma on that date (Rejewski, “Enigma 1930–1940,” unpublished).

47
couple of hundred: my assumption, based on the fact that a list of the Baltic Naval Station for May 28, 1938, shows 49 sets of keys for the Enigma distributed to 32 ships or units (PG 34456:367–68). That station was one of the navy’s four major commands, along with the North Sea Naval Station, the fleet command, and navy headquarters.

47
horse-drawn wagon: Helmuth Heimsoeth letter.

47
May 13, 1929: “A. Scherbius,”
Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift;
“Arthur Scherbius,”
Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure.

47
plugboard: NA: RG 165: Military Intelligence Division, Correspondence 1917–41: MID4131-754:2 July 1931.

49
navy plugboard: M.Dv.Nr.21g.

51
“During a change”: Der Reichswehrminister, Jahresverfügung 1933/34, Betrifft: Spionageabwehr in der Wehrmacht, 15. Oktober 1934, p. 8 (copy in WK VII/2530).

51
Bress: PG 34441:17.Feb. 1934.

52
1916 case: RM 47/N.264:25.Nov. 1916.

52
“should not have,” “multiple”: PG 48908:222.

52
Kunert: OKM 20/15390:138–41, 157.

53
“it is assumed”: PG 34534:138. Similar in PG 34456:394.

53
water-soluble ink: PG 34455F:4.Dez. 1939.

54
cue word system: PG 34455F:18.Sept. 1939.

54
keying system: M.Dv.Nr. 32/1.

54
“because our cipher systems”: PG 34455F:4.Nov. 1939.

55
group tactics: Bauer, 109–10; Rohwer, “Die Funkführung,” 324; Jeschke, 38, 64.

The solutions of the 1920s are from Ribadeau-Dumas, 30; MA: OKW 2288–2318; A. G. Denniston, 54–55; Herbert O. Yardley,
The American Black Chamber
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931), 332.

The material on Kowalewski is from Listowel and Jedrzejewicz interviews; Listowel, 21–39; Ziaja. Details of Polish cryptanalysis during the Russo-Polish War come from Sciezynski (Kasparek trans.) and in the 1920s from Kozaczuk. Personal information about Rejewski is from Schaerf and Birnbaum interviews; and Kozaczuk, passim. Details of his solution are from Kozaczuk and the appendixes therein and from discussions with Deavours.

Bertrand’s life story is from Bertrand interview. Details about Schmidt and his spying are from Paillole; Bertrand; and Bloch, all passim; from his Nazi party membership card in the Berlin Document Center; and from David Kahn, “The Spy Who Most Affected World War II,”
Kahn on Codes
(New York: Macmillan, 1983), 76–88.

59
February 1921: League of Nations,
Treaty Series
18 (February 19,1921), 12,13.

65
October 30, 1930: Bertrand, 18.

74
theorem: The formal theorem is set out in Garrett Birkhoff and Saunders MacLane,
A Survey of Modern Algebra
(New York: Macmillan, 1965), 135. Deavours calls this “the theorem that won World War II.”

76
“The very first trial”: Rejewski in Kozaczuk, 258.

77
“To this day”: Rejewski, “How Polish Mathematicians,” 221.

77
lacked mathematical cryptanalysts: Deavours interview; Rejewski letter, December 7, 1975.

78
“renunciation”:
Mein Kampf
(Munich: Eher, 1932), 154.

78
merit of Pokorny and Ciȩżki: The great American cryptanalyst William F. Friedman shares this merit. In 1931, he hired two mathematicians (Solomon Kullback and Abraham Sinkov) as cryptanalysts in the Army Signal Corps. In addition, in the 1920s, Friedman solved a simpler rotor machine (Deavours and Kruh, chap. 2).

Details of the continuing solutions are from Kozaczuk and the appendixes therein; Gaj, passim; Deavours,
Breakthrough ’32
, passim. Details about Schmidt are from Paillole, passim; and Bertrand, passim.

84
Pyry: Zygalski interview; Kozaczuk, 44.

86
“Ah! Those departures”: Bertrand, 24–25.

87
paid in reichsmarks, ticket: Navarre, 55.

89
none reached the codebreakers: Rejewski, “Remarks on Appendix 1,” 77.

90
new indicators method: WK XIII/69:1938/47:17. and 19. August 1938.

91
“all support”: Great Britain, Foreign Office,
Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919–1939
, 3rd ser., 4: 546.

91
“null and void”: Germany, Auswärtiges Amt,
Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918–1945
, ser. D, 6:347–51.

91
France promised: France, Ministère des Affaires étrangères,
Documents diplomatiques français 1932–1939
, 2nd ser., 16:461–62.

92
July 24: Bertrand, 59–60; Garlinski, 42–45; Beesly, “Who Was the Third Man at Pyry?”

94
Dunderdale: Brown, 207–8; Dunderdale interview.

94
“
Accueil triomphal”:
Bertrand, 60–61.

Details of the formation of G.C. & C.S. are from ADM 1/8637/55; Ferris, 56–58, 89; A. G. Denniston, 49; Andrew,
Secret Service
, 260; Clarke, 55, 57; Jeffery and Sharp, 106–7; Curzon, passim.

99
Fetterlein: Andrew,
Secret Service
, 261–62; A. G. Denniston, 50, 53–54; Filby.

99
deliberate exposure: Christopher Andrew, “The British Secret Service and Anglo-Soviet Relations in the 1920s. I: From the Trade Negotiations to the Zinoviev Letter,”
Historical journal
20 (1977), 673–706; Christopher Andrew, “British Intelligence and the Breach with Russia in 1927,”
Historical Journal
25 (1982), 957–64; A. G. Denniston, 55.

99
Germany: Clarke, 221, 223; A. G. Denniston, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61; Ferris, 72; Hinsley, 1:54.