General der Nachrichtenaufklärung Training ReferatGeneral der Nachrichtenaufklärung Training Referat (Nachrichten Dolmetscher Ersatz und Ausbildings Abteiling) was the training organization within the General der Nachrichtenaufklärung (GDNA), the military signals intelligence agency of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Initially established from May 1941, it continued teaching until September 1944. Until 1942, the work of the Training Referat was not fully exploited and only a small beginners course was taught.[1][2] Training operationsDuring World War II, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht suffered from an acute shortage of cryptanalyst personnel, and it was found that the practice of pushing forward groups of cryptanalysts to key areas behind the front, did not of itself provide adequate signals intelligence, particularly as the front lines were getting further away from Berlin.[1] As a result, Commanders of forward intercept units were allowed to create their own cryptanalysts teams. Two difficulties were encountered in this connection; firstly, a lack of technical knowledge, and secondly the entry into the cryptographic service of personal who were untrustworthy from the security point of view. In two cases in KONA 2 in Smolensk personnel were unearthed who were guilty of espionage.[1] As a result of this a security vetting for all security, translators and cryptanalysis personnel was introduced.[3] Once the forward cryptanalysis units had been set up, and eventually became the Long Range Intelligence Company (NAZ), they were attached to various Close Range Intelligence Company (NAK) which coordinated intelligence and forwarded the raw flow of intercepts into the Signal Intelligence Evaluation Centre (NAAS). It was agreed to allot the NAZ units investigation of forward lines of communication traffic which could be solved in the field. In 7/VI remained, however, responsible for all army cryptanalysis work and concentrated on the most difficult and unsolved procedures.[3] As a personnel establishment for these forward cryptanalysis units, it was found necessary to have two or three linguists and one to three mathematicians. Such personnel were trained at a six weeks' course by In 7/VI. 200 cryptanalysts were trained successfully and included such individuals as Major Dr Hentze, Lieutenant (German: Oberleutnant) Lüders and Lieutenant Schubert.[3] The results of this work in 1941 and 1942 was to enable In 7/VI to concentrate on research into more difficult procedures.[3] Training classificationTraining of signal recruitsThe Signal Intelligence Replacement and Training Battalion (German: Nachrichten Aufklärung Ersatz und Ausbildungsabteilung) was located in Frankfurt, was responsible for the training of German Army Signal recruits. It had control over Signal Intelligence Replacement and Training Companies in each Service Command District (German: Wehrkreis) where basic training and some training in signal matters were given to the recruits.[4] In time of peace, basic training lasted one year, signal training being taken up after the first three months. During the war, the time of basic training was shortened in order to place more troops more quickly in the field. Recruits were trained in direction-finding, teletype operation, and simple field codes, and they were sent out into field units.[5] No special courses were conducted in the Replacement and Training Companies. Training of signal techniciansMost of the signal technicians were trained in specialist academies of various sorts. Academies for carrier frequency, switchboard operators, repair men, etc., were established by the Army and Division and Corps Signal Battalions and at Army Signal Depots.[5] Instructors were mainly non-commissioned officers who had experience in the field. Training of specialistsThe Signal Interpreter Replacement and Training Battalion (German: Nachrichten Dolmetscher Ersatz und Ausbildungs Abteilung) was relocated in Saint-Avold in March 1944 and relocating back to a garrison in Halle in 1944.[6] This battalion was responsible for the training of signals interpreters who were to be employed in signal intercept units for radio and wireless monitoring. The battalion was divided into three companies: company one was for Romance languages, company two for Slavic languages, and company three for training of Germanic languages. For matters of administration, the battalion was divided into the following 5 platoons:[7]
A rough estimate of the personnel shows that in 1944, there were about 350 to 400 men attending the various languages classes. After the courses which lasted 6 weeks, the men were given a final examination. According to the results of this examination, they were assigned to one of the three following categories:[8]
Employment was assigned according to the category to which each person was assigned. For persons of category S, a special course in monitoring Allied radio communication was organised at Leipzig for English speaking personnel only. The course consisted of three weeks daily instruction in the following subjects:[9]
Each of the subjects was taught for one hour a day and had a brief examination. In most cases, the lectures were conducted in English to facilitate practice in this language. Training of signals officersThe Army Signal Academy located in Halle (German: Heeres Nachrichten Schule) conducted the course for officer candidates of the Signal Corps.[10] Emphasis here was in the first months evenly divided between technical and military subjects. The officer candidates were selected by their commanders in the field after having proved themselves in combat or in outstanding work in their specialty. All enlisted men were eligible, although the racial origin evidently played some part in the selection. One prisoner, for instance, states that he was not allowed to become an officer candidate, because of his Jewish grandmother.[11] After their selection, the men were given a four weeks course in tactics, Army regulations, customs, technical subjects. Those who passed this preliminary course were sent to the Armed Forces Signal Troop Academy (German: Führungs Nachrichtentruppen Schule) where they were trained for three months in Signal Corps work.[12] From there they were sent into the field for a probation period as leaders of platoons. During this period of training, Colonel Grube states, many of the candidates lost their lives. A final three months at the Signal Academy in Halle brought, with graduation, the rank of Leutnant (second lieutenant). Training of cryptanalystsNothing is known of the training of Army cryptanalysts before 1939. Major Mettig, the commander in charge of cryptanalysis unit, stated while in interrogation after the war, that when the KONA regiments moved into the field in 1939, no cryptanalysts were available to decipher enemy codes and ciphers.[13] Colonel Kunibert Randewig, the commander at that time of all traffic intercept, or listening stations in the west, however, was able to procure a number of cryptanalysts from the Feste around Berlin, and to this force he added a few mathematicians and linguists.[13] As a result, when the German offensive began in April 1940, the KONA units had a moderate supply of cryptographic personnel. The early war years clearly showed that additional personnel were needed. A Training Section in In 7/Vi was established under the leadership of Kuehn, but Mettig stated that the work in the unit was not fully exploited until 1942.[1] The Training Section was located at Matthäikirchplatz 4 in Berlin until November 1943, when it was moved with the rest of the Agency to Jüterbog because of the Allied bombings. In November 1944, the Training Section 7 of In 7/VI became Referat 5 of Group IV of the GDNA.[14] The training academy consisted of about 20 officers with 120 men, and about 12 women who worked as stenographers.[15] The course, which lasted 10–12 weeks[14] ran during the morning and for two to three afternoons per week. Instruction was verbal and by blackboard. A brief history of cryptography was studied from a syllabus, and included a general picture of the methods of encipherment, details of various means of encipherment and decipherment. During the remaining afternoons, the students evidently specialized in whatever field to which they were to be assigned. One prisoner of war, Gerd Coeler, stated that during the afternoons, he studied English military terms and abbreviations, including the history and organisation of the British Empire and the geography of England.[16] Corporal Karrenberg[17] outlines the course given for those who were specializing in Russian cryptanalysis. Participants were selected from the personnel of the Signal Interpreter Replacement and Training Battalion, that understood the Russian language. After the most capable interpreters had been selected they were given a course in Russian cryptography, which included all types of Russian systems. For practice in this course actual Soviet military intercepts were used, to gradually accustom the men to Soviet field problems. The German Army Cryptography CourseThe course consisted of the following:[18] Substitutions methodsA simple substitution, or more accurately a mono-alphabetic substitution ciphers is a generalisation of the Caesar cipher where there can be any permutation of the alphabet. For the simple substitution cipher there are 26! possible keys, which is huge, but even then, the cipher insecure.[19] After methods of solution were demonstrated on the blackboard, each student was given practice problems, based on clear English text, to solve for themself. The SKYO machine, syllabic codes and code books were also dealt with at this stage. Of these, the British War Office Code was treated in greater detail and based on this, students were explained the general methods of breaking the recipher and the methods to reconstructing a code book.[16] AA clear symbol, e.g. letter, figure, syllable, word, is replaced by a cipher symbol
BA Clear Symbol replaced by two cipher symbols.
CA clear symbol is replaced by three cipher symbols. This method was mostly used only in the form of three-figure or 3-F codes, similar to B.3 above. 3-F codes were cryptanalysed by the German cipher agencies, General der Nachrichtenaufklärung (GDNA), OKW/Chi and the Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350.[23] DA clear symbol is replaced by four cipher symbols. This type of code appears in the form of four-figure of 4-F codes. similar to B.3 above. Solving of these types of ciphers are more difficult by use of recipher, such as for instance the subtracters or adders. In the case of the British War Office Code, it took the form of a practically unending, un-periodical figure recipher. [23] This type of code was also faced by the agencies described above. EA clear symbol is replaced by five cipher symbols. The only practical example quoted was the Russian 5-F code, and this was only solved sporadically, e.g. 5 Digit codes.[24] Transposition methodsTransposition ciphers jumble the letters or figures of the message in a way that it designed to confuse the attacker.[25] The main characteristic that was found by the German Army cipher bureaux was that the Transposition cipher statistics always produced normal Plaintext frequency data[24] AHive transposition. This is used only for short texts, and lacks security. For example:
BThe transposition patterns, e.g. squares, rectangles and so on.
Consider the following example:
Combined methodsCombining of various basic cipher systems in order to get a combined cipher, or a cipher with recipher were also studied. Examples included the reciphered Russian 4-figure code described above, a polyalphabetically reciphered transposition cipher and the a letter Tauschtafel system from the Kenngruppenbuch and used in the key setting procedure for the Naval Enigma machine.[30] Machine ciphersThis cipher built upon the principle of a practically unending polyalphabetical cipher of a regular pattern and mentioned on the course for academic interest only.[30] Evaluation of signal trainingThe training of cryptanalysts by the Army appeared to have been successful. The classes the men used at the Training Section of In 7/VI passed most of the men who would later become specialists in the field of cryptanalysis either in the KONAs or in the central agencies.[31] The training of signal troops in the field, appeared to be less successful. Throughout the TICOM documentation, attention is drawn to the acute shortages in the Field Army of personnel who were well trained in signal intelligence operations. This was particularly true in the late years of the war when courses became more disorganised and less effective. The central agencies recognized this weakness and attempted to remedy it by publishing field manuals on security and having lectures given at the Army Signals School in Halle (German: Heeres-Nachrichten-Schule II) by members of In 7/VI. Despite these efforts, however, the Field Army remained, according to Walter Fricke, pitifully ignorant of the principles of security. Ignorance undoubtedly lay at the bottom of the non-cooperative attitude of the Field Army in regard to the adoption of systems considered more secure than those in use by the Army. Conditions were aggravated at the end of the war by the necessity for sending all able-bodied men into the front line and by the general confusion of the Army. Very little training could be carried on by the Field Army during the late months of the war since their schools were taken over by the operational agencies they used to train. For example, the Army Signal School at Halle had been used by the In 7/IV since November 1943 for the preparation of Army keys, and after March 1945 it housed a considerable section of the OKW/Chi, including service personnel and civilians. After 1944, little if any signal training was carried out by the Army.[31] References
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