A Cunning Trap Set to Decipher Codes During WWII

During World War II, deciphering codes was directly related to victory. "Enemy spotted at some point!" or "Attack at what time and minute! were transmitted to each unit in code. Although anyone; even an enemy nation, could receive these messages, it was very difficult to decipher them unless one knew how to break the codes. In this context, I would like to introduce the method used by the British at that time to decipher German coded communications.

First, British air force planes would dare to place mines in places where the Germans could see them, so that German ships would call attention to their comrades. A mine looks like as shown below. It is the sea version of a mine. (Pictured is a British Mk 14 mine.)

Photo: wikimedeia commons - British Mk 14 sea mine

Then, in the code of caution sent by Germany, the location on the map should be indicated, and that location is already known to the British. We deciphered the code based on the information of that location. That's smart isn't it?

References

• The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh