military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (10/13/89)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker)
Friday, 13 October, 1939
Skirmishing continues along the French-German border, and French forces
demolish 3 major Rhine bridges. A predicted German offensive, however,
fails to materialize.
The 13,615-ton German liner Cap Norte is siezed near the Bahamas.
Time Magazine carries various international estimates of casualities
in the war to date:
RAF Casualties: 47 killed, 62 missing, 9 wounded (RAF estimate)
Fighter losses: German, 24, French 8 (French estimate)
Allied aircraft losses: British, 27, French, 45 (German estimates)
German casualties, Western front: 650 dead, 2450 wounded, 150 captured
(French estimates)
A Polish intelligence team begins operations in France, using a top
secret replica of the German "Enigma" cypher machine. The machines
had been delivered in July, 1939, one each to Britain and France.
Due to rising world tensions, activities of all American cryptanalytic
agencies have been stepped up. For years the Army Signal Intelligence
Service ( S.I.S.) has been monitoring Japanese Army, Navy and Foreign
Office transmissions. An improvement in output occurs under the
command of Chief Signal Officer Major General Joseph O. Mauborgne, who
as a lieutenent in 1914, authored the first document on cryptology
issued by the US government-- on how to solve PLAYFAIR ciphers...
When the war started in Europe, SIS was the first agency in
the War Department to receive more funds and support... leading to
the breaking of more codes; MAGIC intelligence, the codename given to
the operation that intercepted, decoded, translated and produced
analyses of Japanese diplomatic communications, groww tremendously...
References: David Kahn, The Codebreakers
Ronald Lewin, The American MAGIC: Codes, Ciphers
and The Defeat of Japan
>> for a selection of the deciphered messages, see Department of
Defence, " The "MAGIC" Background of Pearl Harbor " 5 vols and appen-
dices (Washington, 1977)
Contributing Reporter: Bob Beville (rbeville%tekig5.pen.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET)
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Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com
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