I’ve been posting here since 2011 and during that time I have covered a variety of subjects on military and intelligence history. From the economics of war, to strength and loss statistics for the opposing sides of WWII, the performance of weapon systems and of course the use of codes and ciphers by the participants. Especially in the field of cryptology I have presented new information using files that have been recently released to the archives of the US, UK, Germany and other countries.  I’m happy to see that some of this information has found it’s way into new books and academic ar ..read more

Since I no longer have any active cases I think it’s time to write a summary of my experience with the US freedom of information act program. The good: 1). Everyone can request files using the FOIA program. This is really useful for those of us that are non-US citizens. 2). The agencies involved respond in a professional manner, assign case numbers, send letters detailing the progress of the case etc. 3). The FOIA departments that I had contact with responded quickly to emails. Overall, from 2012 till 2018 I received 1 file from the CIA FOIA department, 1 file from the US national archive ..read more

My two remaining FOIA cases were filed in 2015 and 2018. I decided to cancel both of them because so much time has passed that this material is no longer of use to me ..read more

"Слушают или нет?.." Путь советской секретной телефонии во время ВОВ Криптографический фронт в документах времён ВОВ ..read more

The proceedings of the International Conference on Historical Cryptology 2020 are available here ..read more

Cryptologia: Enigma: the spoils of Gustave Bertrand, or “par où tout a commencé” by Jean-François Bouchaudy Abstract As early as 1931, Gustave Bertrand of the French intelligence services received from the traitor Hans Thilo Schmidt documents concerning the Enigma cipher machine. This machine was intended to equip all the German military forces. This is the beginning of an epic that has probably changed the History. The main documents collected by Bertrand have not been destroyed and are available in the archives of the French Army (SHD). This article describes and analyzes each of these doc ..read more

International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence: ‘Japanese Navy’s Tactical Intelligence Collection on the Eve of the Pacific War’ by Naoki Saito ..read more

1). Interesting story about the compromise of the cipher machines produced by the Crypto AG company. 2). Article on the compromise of the export version of the Phillips Aroflex cipher machine ..read more

Again thanks to Dermot Turing, who copied the TICOM report M-15, it was possible to identify the titles of the TICOM M reports 1-15. M-1 Vierling's Laboratory at Ebermannastadt M-2 Major Barlow's Report on Dr. Vierling's Laboratory M-3 'DELTA' Machine M-4 Full Preliminary Report of Investigation of Dr. Vierling's Laboratory "Feuerstein"- by Major Heller M-5 Demonstration of Kesselring ‘’Fish Train’’ M-6 Interim Report on Laboratorium Feuerstein - by Lieuts. Howard and Tompkins, U.S.N.R. M-7 Report on Multichannel Intercept Teletype (HMFS) M-8 Diary kept by Captain T. Carter, I.C., of Tests on ..read more

Here is a list of the TICOM I reports 1-213. Thanks to Dermot Turing, who copied the lists from NARA, it was possible to find the titles for almost all of the reports. I-1 Final Report on TICOM Team 3 on Final Exploitation on Burgscheidungen I-2. Interrogation of Dr. Huettenhain and Dr. Fricke at Flenshurg,21 May 1945 I-3 Ubersicht der Russischen Chi verfahren I-4 Record of conversation with Lt. Morgenroth I-5 Report of Interrogation of Oberst Kettler on 21 May 1945 I-6 Interrogation of Lt. D. R. Muentz I-6A Supplementary interrogation of Lt. D. R. Muentz I-7 Statement of major McIntosh on U ..read more