SECRET CODES

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 260, 17 November 1939, Page 1 (Supplement)

SECRET CODES

Ciphers Play a Fascinating Pari in Modern Espionage Victories are Won when Secret Writing Remains Secret

HE art of sending and receiving secret messages during war-time is a dangerous, fascinating and extremely important part of modern warfare. Just how important this art has been in shaping history, especially that part of history which was made between 1914 and 1918, is told by Fletcher Pratt. In his new book, “Secret and Urgent,” published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company, New York, he traces the use of secret writing from its origin to its currently popular use as a source of entertainment to amateurs. Secret writing began when writing began. The phrase, “ Come here,” would be meaningless to anyone who had not spent some years learning the code—which is the English language. “ All written language is a cipher,” Mr. Pratt explains. “ Its symbols have no intrinsic meaning. They convey an idea only when interpreted by a system whose secret is shared by. the writer and reader. We are apt to lose sight of this, to-day, because most people learn to read early in life.” To understand this point, it is only necessary to go back to the Middle Ages. At that time a person who could read and write was rare. When the average person received a message, he ■w.hpqqould grewr ' tne • yneed 1 for y the complicated, modern cryptogram came slowly. It wasn’t until the outbreak ot the World War that the secret writing art reached its peak of

importance. Even in the Boer War, the well-informed British officers were able to send secret messages by simply writing them in Latin, a language which made any script a cryptograph to the less learned Boers. Worlhie Sir John: Hope, lhal is ihe beste comfort of the afflicted, cannot much, I fear me, help you now. That I Would saye to you, is this only: if ever I may be able to requite that I do owe you. stand not upon asking me. 'This not much I can do: but what / can do, bee you verie sure I wille. I knowc that, if dclhe comes, if ordinary man fear it, it frights not you. accounting it for a high honour, to have such a rewardc for your loyally. Pray yet that you may be spared this soe bitter, cup. I fear not that you wille grudge any sufferings: onlic if bie submission you can turn them away, lis the part of < a wise man. Tell me, as if you can, to do for you any thinge that you woldc have done. The general goes back on W ednesday. Reslingc your servant to command. R. T. THIS CODED LETTER SAVED A LIFE. As an example of early secret messages in England, the letter which saved Sir John Trevanion is especially interesting. Sir John was imprisoned in Colchester Castle for having picked the wrong side in the Civil War her tween Charles I and ■; ;his Commons. While awaiting trial, which ■ wiktidcertainly have cost him his head, he received a letter in prison. • It had, Jbeen carefully examined and -:judgpd innocent. By carefully studying) this 1 note, especially the somewhat pec punctuation, you may be able to|guess why Sir John asked to be ' s*!%**, to ? castle chapel after why, .after he had been left aloneintHe chapel to pray, his.himjagain. The r v; mark Jwas a ' commnjp'-;;*!** f f&lfcSee the • #J»n. at east end of chapel shoe*. ; 'U- ; “But Latin at bestAvAs a. stop«ao ” Mr. Prattiwrltes,*6and;'the years between 1900 and 1914’saw a scramble for a practical field

cipher. The requirements were that: (1) It must be simple enough to be readily understood by and quickly taught to inexperienced men; (2) it must minimise error through ease of operation ; (3) it must not require the use of special apparatus, the capture of a piece of which would betray the secret of the cipher; (4) it must be capable of holding a secret as long as necessary to execute the order written in it. (This last so that, if the enemy received the message at the same time as the command to which "it was addressed, the action specified could be started before the enemy could decipher the message.) Because there was.no cipher ithat met thjese rer/uipjments An ]f9oo, intelligence %tn various armies worked feverishly. The French favoured disc ciphers. Germany, ignoring the second and third requirements, used elaborate cipher machines. And the British produced something new the famous Playfair cipher, one of the simplest and best ever devised.

For every cipher that was devised there was a cryptographer who could break it. That single fact was responsible for some of the most dramatic episodes of the war. Starting with that August day when German-owned radio stations flashed out the mesage: “A Son is Born” (their code phrase for war) every victory and every defeat had its echo in the code rooms of the warring nations. As the German armies marched towards the Marne in the early days of the war, Mr. Pratt explains, they found themselves faced with unexpected difficulties. The two main advancing applies were so far apart that they had to rely on radio .communication. The air was full 'of signals, many on the same frequency. The German of) ciphers was - 111 (i ii i n i'i rr' it 11 ii ii■ T i Tffi : I “f-'Tfjjili to £>e repeated fiye: -find six tim® 1 , ■ p* On the night of September 2nd, 1914, one German army, commanded by Von Kluck, was ordered by radio to drive the French south-east away from Paris. Von Kluck never got the message, but the French did!