Manual for the Solution of Military CiphersHitt, Parker
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Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers
Hitt, Parker
Ciphers; Cryptography
The substitution of B for G, G for W and K for V completes the
cipher. This cipher is difficult only because the cipher alphabet is
made up, not haphazard, but scientifically with proper consideration
for the natural frequency of occurrence of the letters. In cipher work
it is dangerous to neglect proper analysis and jump at conclusions.
In the study of Mexican substitution ciphers, several alphabets have
been found which are made up in a general way, like the one discussed
in this case.
Case 6-c.--It is a convenience in dealing with ciphers made up of
numbers or conventional signs to substitute arbitrary letters for
the numbers and signs. Suppose we have the message:
"??2& 45x15 )"8&# &&1x4 %&4&%
6x?&" 8&*x4 6°*°& %"4&"
By arbitrary substitution of letters this is made
ABBCD EFGHF IJKDL DDHGE MDEDM
NGBDA KDOGE NPOPD MAEDA
This message is now in convenient shape to handle as Case 6-a and on
solution is found to read:
ALL PERSONS HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO LEAVE FORTIFIED AREA.
In the same way the message
1723 3223 2825 1828 3630 2336 1423 2827 2324 3120 2317 3123
3036 2120 2415 3029 1512 2831 1721 2715 2811 2715 1923 3030
1215 1130 2128 3623
is found to be made up entirely of numbers between 11 and 36 with
the numbers 23, 28 and 30 occurring most frequently. This immediately
suggests an alphabet made up of the numbers from 11 to 36 inclusive
and each cipher group of figures represents two letters. By arbitrary
substitution of letters for groups of two numbers we obtain:
AB CB DE FD GH BG IB DJ BK LM BA LB
HG NM OP HQ PR DL AN JP DS JP TB HH
RP SH ND GB
and this message is also in shape to handle as Case 6-a. It reads,
on solution,
SEVEN HUNDRED MEN LEFT YESTERDAY FOR POINTS ON LOWER RIO GRANDE.
CHAPTER VII
We will now consider the class of substitution ciphers where a number
of alphabets are used, the number and choice of alphabets depending
on a key word or equivalent and being used periodically throughout
the message.
In this class belong the methods of Vigenere, Porta, Beaufort, St. Cyr,
and many others. These methods date back several hundred years,
but variations of them are constantly appearing as new ciphers. The
Larrabee cipher, used for communication between government departments,
is the Vigenere cipher of the 17th Century. The cipher disk method
is practically the Vigenere cipher with reversed alphabets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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