Skeleton of hero World War II .................

[Pete]

Skeleton of hero World War II carrier pigeon found in chimney with a secret message still attached to its leg

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226203/Skeleton-hero-World-War-II-carrier-pigeon-chimney-secret-coded-message-attached-leg.html#ixzz2BApHv6pt
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"....................The former probation officer and his wife Anne, both 74, unscrewed the capsule and found a hand-written message inside on a ‘cigarette paper thin’ piece of paper.

It has been sent to code breakers at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, the intelligence centre where work to crack the Nazi Enigma code shortened the war by years, and to their modern-day counterparts at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, who also are trying to decipher it.........................."

I was thinking about putting this in the 18E section since it deals with commo...

Still interesting. Wonder if they will be able to break it?

[PSM]

One of the commenters deciphered it: "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." ;)

Pat

[Sdiver]

One of the commenters deciphered it: "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." ;)

Pat

Damn you Pat ..... I just spit my chocolate milk all over my laptop.

:mad:

[Peregrino]

The first and last group repeat should ID the cypher pad (or at least the system) used. After that it's a job for the archivists or a supercomputer.

[mark46th]

One time pads are pretty tough to break, that's why they were used. If they don't have the pad(and they shouldn't have it), I doubt if it can be broken...

[The Reaper]

I guess if it was a German message, you could use one of the surviving Enigmas.

Not sure what the Allied encryption system was then.

If it was from a trigraphed one time pad in groups, I don't see how it could be cracked, regardless of the computing power.

TR

[BKKMAN]

A more detailed story on the pigeon and message as well as an uncopyrighted picture of the message (attached here):

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/21065

Additional article from Bletchley Park:

http://www.bletchleypark.org/news/docview.rhtm/675670

[mark46th]

Given the 5 letter groups plus the way it begins and ends with the same group, I would say it was from a one-time pad

[Badger52]

I wonder if they keep sufficient archives to lookup what NURP 37DK76 was carrying.

[Sigaba]

I wonder if they keep sufficient archives to lookup what NURP 37DK76 was carrying.Given amount of records that World War II generated, I'd not be surprised if the documents ended up victims of squabbling archivists higher up in the pecking order who competed for roosting space for other files.

[Irishsquid]

Yes, it very much looks like the output of a one-time pad...

If the key was truly random, and the pad was used properly (only once, then destroyed), then no, they won't be able to break it unless they have it archived somewhere...which isn't terribly unlikely...seems like the sort of thing GCHQ would still have in a vault somewhere...

The reason it's unbreakable, regardless of computational power being applied, is that the only possibility for cryptanalysis is brute force...which will return every possible combination.

Consider a simple example(Warning: oversimplified explanation follows!):


AS38M MUYR5

This could return any possibility; 10 letter word, two 5 letter words, five 2 letter words...any of which may make sense. There's no way to know when you've found the correct key, because there will, invariably, be at least two combinations that "make sense."

[Peregrino]

All they really need to do is figure out if the other copy made it to it's destination. According to the form, two were sent.

[mark46th]

Whoever wrote it kept it brief, an indication of an experienced cryptographer/telegrapher, someone who has cranked the generator a few times and understood how quickly an RDF unit can pinpoint your location......

[Badger52]

Still looking to get some assistance from Bletchley Park...

Those who are still alive are likely to be in their nineties but their memories may be sharp enough to recognise the type of code used, and explain how it could be deciphered.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9697929/Wanted-for-one-last-mission-call-for-Bletchley-Park-codebreakers-to-crack-the-D-Day-pigeon-cipher.html

"Yes, well, without it's matching inbound pad I'm afraid it's quite impossible. More tea anyone?"

Stories from GCHQ of that era are some quite entertaining stuff, though, and a hat-tip to them.

[Dozer523]

Pigeon enthusiasts - commonly known as "fanciers" - have called for Mr Martin's mysterious military bird to be posthumously decorated with the Dickin Medal; the highest possible decoration for valour given to animals.


Why? It failed. Probably should open a 15-6.

[Pete]

One Time Pads? Maybe not.

Dead pigeon sparks WW2 cipher mystery

http://www.ciphermysteries.com/2012/11/02/dead-pigeon-sparks-ww2-cipher-mystery

".......SOE started the war with poem codes (see Leo Marks’ “Between Silk And Cyanide”) moved to various double transposition systems after 1942 (Marks joined SOE in 1942), before moving to one time pads in 1943 (see Marks’ Appendix Two): so if it can be proved to be something like a Playfair cipher (as Geoff suspects from a number of repeated bigrams), a tentative date would seem to be 1942..........."

All depends on when it was written.

[mojaveman]

Many questions here. Was her home used as a communications base during the war? Was the bird injured in some way and unable to make it to it's final destination? In the first World War carrier pigeons were shot at with shotguns by soldiers in the trenches.

[Badger52]

Probably should open a 15-6.Be awhile, the IO is busy with their ethics training.

[Ret10Echo]

Well...BBC is reporting that the cypher has been broken

IS THIS WHAT IT MEANS?
AOAKN - Artillery Observer At "K" Sector, Normandy
HVPKD - Have Panzers Know Directions
FNFJW - Final Note [confirming] Found Jerry's Whereabouts
DJHFP - Determined Jerry's Headquarters Front Posts
CMPNW - Counter Measures [against] Panzers Not Working
PABLIZ - Panzer Attack - Blitz
KLDTS - Know [where] Local Dispatch Station
27 / 1526 / 6 - June 27th, 1526 hours

BBC report HERE (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20749632)

[Pete]

After reading the story on the guy that "broke" it - NOPE.

TGISF SHEAB ABSIC OHEAM

[BryanK]

Is this it Pete?

This Guy Isn't "Shit Fist" [break] Some Hack Expecting A Bonus [break] Another Bastard Seeking Immediate Closure [break] Oh Hail Eternally Ambush Master? [out] :D

[Pete]

His Eyes Are Brown

:D

[mark46th]

Now THAT is very funny, Dozer...