Ferdinand Voegele | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 February 1896 |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service |  Luftwaffe |
| Commands | Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350 |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
Ferdinand Voegele (born 12 February 1896 in Hollfeld, Kingdom of Bavaria; died after 1946) was a German philologist and linguistic cryptanalyst, before and during the time of World War II and who would eventually lead the cipher bureau of the Luftwaffe Signal Intelligence Service (German: Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe). [1] [2]
During World War I he served as a volunteer. Later he studied oriental languages at various German universities, finally specializing in Philology. Using his language skills, he started work in an export business. Eventually moving abroad for several years, but returned in the summer of 1935, when he was offered a position as an interpreter with the German Air Ministry. [1]
Between July and September 1935, he undertook training near Kladow, near Berlin in Morse Telegraphy (Wireless telegraphy), German cryptographic procedures and radio communications. In October 1935, he posted to a fixed intercept station of the Army at Stuttgart until January 1936. During his time there, he translated plain-language radio messages from French Army and Air Force. In addition, he was employed on evaluation and traffic analysis. Between March and April 1936, he was ordered to a two-month maneuver employed as an airborne radio operators with KG254 in Kitzingen. His grade during this time was Officer candidate. [1]
From May to October 15 he succeeded in breaking the recipherment used in conjunction with a French 3 digit code, the basis of which had already been largely reconstructed. After the start of the Spanish Civil War he solved many 4-alphabetic Substitution ciphers. [1]
On 15 October, Voegele was transferred to a new Luftwaffe Intercept Station (Codename:W-15) (Stadelheim Transmitter) close to Munich, where he translated French, Italian and Yugoslavia intercepts. [1]
On 1 January 1937, he was assigned to the newly created cipher bureau (German: Chi-Stelle) within Referat K and made Chief of all cryptanalytic work (Cryptanalysis) on 1 January 1937. [3] He was assigned as an assistant, Edward Von Lingen who had learned Russian Army cryptanalysis while at the German Army intercept station in Treuenbrietzen. When Voegele joined Chi-Stelle it consisted of 12 people.
During the remainder of the year, Voegele worked on Spanish cyphers as part of monitoring the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. He also worked on several Czechoslovakian bigraphic procedures (Polygraphic substitution), and on breaking the Czechoslovakian Air Force double-transposition, where the message count only amounted to 10-25 messages per day. [1]
Voegele was known to have worked on a number of cyphers during the course of the war. These included the Government Telegraph Code, India Code, Syko, the RAF 4-digit code, Aircraft Movement Code in Autumn 1942, Bomber Code in Winter 1942, January 1943, Slidex in May 1943, Aircraft Reporting Code from July 1943, UCO Weather Code from May 1944 and Weather Codes throughout the war. Typex was attempted by Voegele in the early 1940s.
Ferdinand Voegele disappears from the historical record after the end of the war.
TICOM was a secret Allied project formed in World War II to find and seize German intelligence assets, particularly in the field of cryptology and signals intelligence.
Cryptography was used extensively during World War II because of the importance of radio communication and the ease of radio interception. The nations involved fielded a plethora of code and cipher systems, many of the latter using rotor machines. As a result, the theoretical and practical aspects of cryptanalysis, or codebreaking, were much advanced.
The B-Dienst, also called xB-Dienst, X-B-Dienst and χB-Dienst, was a Department of the German Naval Intelligence Service of the OKM, that dealt with the interception and recording, decoding and analysis of the enemy, in particular British radio communications before and during World War II. B-Dienst worked on cryptanalysis and deciphering (decrypting) of enemy and neutral states' message traffic and security control of Kriegsmarine key processes and machinery.
With the rise of easily-intercepted wireless telegraphy, codes and ciphers were used extensively in World War I. The decoding by British Naval intelligence of the Zimmermann telegram helped bring the United States into the war.
Before the development of radar and other electronics techniques, signals intelligence (SIGINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) were essentially synonymous. Sir Francis Walsingham ran a postal interception bureau with some cryptanalytic capability during the reign of Elizabeth I, but the technology was only slightly less advanced than men with shotguns, during World War I, who jammed pigeon post communications and intercepted the messages carried.
German code breaking in World War II achieved some notable successes cracking British naval ciphers until well into the fourth year of the war, using the extensive German radio intelligence operations during World War II. Cryptanalysis also suffered from a problem typical of the German armed forces of the time: numerous branches and institutions maintained their own cryptographic departments, working on their own without collaboration or sharing results or methods. This led to duplicated effort, a fragmentation of potential, and lower efficiency than might have been achieved. There was no central German cryptography agency comparable to Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), based at Bletchley Park.
The Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht was the Signal Intelligence Agency of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces of the German Armed Forces before and during World War II. OKW/Chi, within the formal order of battle hierarchy OKW/WFsT/Ag WNV/Chi, dealt with the cryptanalysis and deciphering of enemy and neutral states' message traffic and security control of its own key processes and machinery, such as the rotor cipher ENIGMA machine. It was the successor to the former Chi bureau of the Reichswehr Ministry.
The Research Office of the Reich Air Ministry was the signals intelligence and cryptanalytic agency of the German Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945. Run since its inception by Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, the Research Bureau was a Nazi Party institution rather than an official Wehrmacht-run military signals intelligence and cryptographic agency.
The German Naval Intelligence Service was the naval intelligence department of the Germany Navy and had a long history, going back to the naval aspirations of German emperor Wilhelm II in 1899.
Wilhelm Tranow was a German cryptanalyst, who before and during World War II worked in the monitoring service of the German Navy and was responsible for breaking a number of encrypted radio communication systems, particularly the Naval Cypher, which was used by the British Admiralty for encrypting operational signals and the Naval Code for encrypting administrative signals. Tranow was considered one of the most important cryptanalysts of B-service. He was described as being experienced and energetic. Little was known about his personal life, when and where he was born, or where he died.
The Pers Z S was the signals intelligence agency of the German Foreign Office before and during World War II. It consisted of two cryptologic sections. Pers Z S was the cryptanalytic section which was called Special Service of Z Branch of the Foreign Office Personnel Department. Its mission was the solution of foreign diplomatic codes and ciphers. The other section, which was the Cryptography Section was called Personal Z Cipher Service of the Federal Foreign Office. The latter section was responsible for compilation, distribution and security of Foreign Office codes and ciphers. Both were colloquially known as Pers Z S. Though similar in nature and operation to the OKW/Chi cipher bureau, it was a civilian operation as opposed to the military operation at OKW/Chi and focused primarily on diplomatic communications. According to TICOM interrogators it evinced an extraordinary degree of competence, primarily driven by a consistency of development not found in any other German signals bureau of the period. Pers Z S/Chi was the symbol and the code name of the Chiffrierdienst, i.e. the Cryptanalysis Department of Pers Z S. Although little is known about the organization, in the final analysis, Pers Z S labored at diplomatic cryptanalysis for a regime for which there were no diplomatic solutions.
Wilhelm Fenner was a German cryptanalyst, before and during the time of World War II in the OKW/Chi, the Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, working within the main cryptanalysis group, and entrusted with deciphering enemy message traffic (Cryptography). Wilhelm Fenner was considered an excellent organizer, an anti-Nazi, an anti-Bolshevik and a confirmed Protestant and was known by colleagues as someone who was keen to continue working in cryptology after World War II. To quote military historian David Alvarez:
General der Nachrichtenaufklärung was the signals intelligence agency of the Heer, before and during World War II. It was the successor to the former cipher bureau known as Inspectorate 7/VI in operation between 1940 and 1942, when it was further reorganised into the Headquarters for Signal Intelligence between 1942 and 1944, until it was finally reorganised in October 1944 into the GdNA. The agency was also known at the OKH/Gend Na, GendNa or Inspectorate 7 or more commonly OKH/GdNA. Inspectorate 7/VI was also known as In 7 or In/7 or In 7/VI and also OKH/Chi.
The Signal Intelligence Regiment (KONA) was the basic element of the field organisation of the German Army (Heer) signals intelligence organization during World War II. The KONA regiment were mobile communication reconnaissance units which were assigned to an army group and operated close to the front lines within the theatre of operations to intercept and build intelligence, via evaluation services (cryptanalysis) and disseminate the intelligence to senior staff locally and in the OKH/GDNA headquarters in the rear. To quote World War II cryptographic historian, Christos Triantafyllopoulos: "The KONA units did not have the ability to solve complicated Allied cryptosystems. Instead they focused on exploiting low/mid level ciphers and even in this capacity they were assisted by material sent to them by the central cryptanalytic department. This was the German Army High Command's Inspectorate 7/VI"
Otto Buggisch was a German mathematician who, during World War II, was a cryptanalyst working in the cipher bureau, the Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW/Chi) responsible for deciphering of the opposing forces Communications. He also dealt with the security control of own key procedures. Through research and revelations exposed by two Polish officers, late in the war, he recognized the true cryptographic weaknesses of the Enigma rotor cipher, key machine used by the German armed forces to encrypt their secret communications, in World War II.
The Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350, abbreviated as OKL/Ln Abt 350 and formerly called the, was the Signal Intelligence Agency of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, before and during World War II. Before November 1944, the unit was the Chiffrierstelle, Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, which was often abbreviated to Chi-Stelle/ObdL or more commonly Chi-Stelle.
Blocknots were random sequences of numbers contained in a book and organized by numbered rows and columns and were used as additives in the reciphering of Soviet Union codes, during World War II. The Blocknot consisted of fifty sheets of 5-figure random additive, 100 additive groups to a sheet. No sheet was used more than once, thus the blocknots were in effect a form of one-time pad. The Soviet Unions highest grade ciphers that were used in the East, were the 5-figure codebook enciphered with the Blocknot book, and were generally considered unbreakable.
General der Nachrichtenaufklärung Training Referat was the training organization within the General der Nachrichtenaufklärung (GDNA), the military signals intelligence agency of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Initially established from May 1941, it continued teaching until September 1944. Until 1942, the work of the Training Referat was not fully exploited and only a small beginners course was taught.
German Intercept Station Operations were intercept operations that were undertaken by the German Army forces in Europe during World War II. Interception is the gathering of radio signals as part of a signals intelligence operation. It was a major part of German radio intelligence operations during World War II.
Cipher Department of the High Command of the Luftwaffe was the signals intelligence and cryptanalytic agency of the German Air Ministry before and during World War II. In 1945, the unit was known as the Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350, abbreviated as OKL/Ln Abt 350 and formerly called the. It was the successor in November 1944 of the unit formerly named as the Chi-Stelle Ob.d.L., which was often abbreviated to Chi-Stelle/ObdL.
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