5 ms·

A Canadian opens up about her secret wartime work, eavesdropping on Japan

114 points by wglb 5y ago

kazinator 5y ago
> She said her time in the Girl Guides gave her a grounding in Morse code and soon she was sent across the country to join an exclusive team. A grounding in Morse code, and you're off to crack Japanese ciphers? Likely story! I suspect couldn't decipher the laundering instructions on a T shirt from Uniqlo.
- vmh1928 5y ago
  She didn't decrypt the messages, just listen to the Morse Code and write down (or use the special typewriter,) to record the message. That document was then forwarded to the actual code breakers. The women listeners would have no idea what the messages were about.
  - vmh1928 5y ago
    Another aspect of this, they had to listen for their whole shift to try and catch a transmission. They didn't have recorders or scanners, just sit on a known frequency and wait for the Japanese to transmit something. And when the transmission started they had to be awake and capturing it. Even several years into the war there wasn't 24x7 coverage of all radio frequencies. And of the coded messages that were caught by listening posts like these, a much smaller fraction of messages were decrypted. Still, this effort gave the Allies a strategic advantage in both the Pacific and Europe.
    - jhgb 5y ago
      > They didn't have recorders or scanners, just sit on a known frequency and wait for the Japanese to transmit something Weird, I could have sworn that there were already some (admittedly primitive) scanners in WW II. At least here in Europe.
      - Johnythree 5y ago
        Depends what you mean by "scanner". I think the OP was referring to receivers that could rapidly scan a multitude of channels, then stop if one became busy. They did exist early on, but weren't really practical till synthesized (and programmable) oscillators arrived. Some military receives had mechanical push-button tuning, but programming new channels was cumbersome and slow. Of course you could just use a bank of receivers, but you need an operator at each RX, else you'll miss most of the traffic. Especially if more than one channel becomes busy. Bottom line, having access to scanners doesn't fix the problem.
- dbcurtis 5y ago
  The people copying code off the air were mainly trained that a particular sound required that you type a particular key. The traffic was all encrypted. The cypher text was passed off to others for decryption. The US Navy trained Filipina natives who did not speak English to copy Morse by ear on typewriters. Cypher text was 5 character code groups. A lot of routine Pacific Fleet traffic went that route. The decryption was done by military personnel with clearances.
  - vmh1928 5y ago
    That's pretty much what Morse Code is, listening for the sound unique to the combination of dots and dashes. You don't count the dots and dashes you listen for the sound that combination makes.
Animats 5y ago
The British stations for that were called Y-Stations, feeding data to Bletchley Park, "Station X".
zachaden 5y ago
I think it's surprising that even after the years of service, she didn't fully disclose the nature of her job to her husband.
vmh1928 5y ago
A good book that describes the information provided to allied leaders via the intercepts and decryption of the Japanese diplomatic Purple codes is given in the book "Marching Orders" by Bruce Lee. ISBN 0-517-57576-0 (c.1995) Lee had access to 1000's of the daily decryption and analysis summary reports (called Magic Summaries,) and provided to the president, Marshall and others. He provides an almost day-by-day chronology showing what the leaders knew and how that knowledge shaped their decisions about the conduct of the war. [edit: the axis decrypts were called Ultra. Allied leaders had access to reports on both.]
- jacquesm 5y ago
  In case you're wondering where the 'Magic Summaries' comes from: https://reference.jrank.org/japanese/MAGIC_Intercepts.html https://reference.jrank.org/japanese/MAGIC_Intercepts.html
  - wglb 5y ago
    Kahn in The Codebreakers also gives a dramatic story about this.
bell-cot 5y ago
Summary: The subject (of the article) was a very routine SIGINT sergeant in WWII. She worked in Canada, listening on the radio to (Imperial) Japanese military signals. She wrote those down on paper, then (in effect) mailed the paper to the next stage of the SIGINT pipeline. The signals were encrypted (by the Japanese) - so she had no way to tell whether one said "Our big attack with force X against location Y will happen at time Z", or "Our garrison on Useless Island is still bored." While on paper this was all super-secret, and such dull work was very important to the war effort...the Japanese knew that the allies had loads of SIGINT radio operators like her, doing jobs just like hers. And nothing she knew would have been of much value to them. For me, all the CBC article's hype about super-duper secrecy just messes up what could have been a much better human interest story.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  My roommate took a class in college about WW2 which required that you find and interview a veteran (this was the mid 90s) and tell their story of the war. Some of the better past works were shared with the class. The one that fascinates me was the story of a lighthouse keeper detailed to a remote lighthouse off of Newfoundland. It put in perspective the global impact of the war.
  - bell-cot 5y ago
    That job would seriously scare me. Slip on an icy catwalk, and freeze to death with a broken leg. Screw up with the light, and a troopship with thousands of soldiers on board runs aground in a storm. Do everything perfectly, and a U-Boat could still land some Nazi commandos on the tiny island...with "do whatever is necessary to secure the lightkeeper's cooperation" orders.
    - antod 5y ago
      > Do everything perfectly, and a U-Boat could still land some Nazi commandos on the tiny island Reminds me a bit of the coastwatchers (but warmer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastwatchers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastwatchers https://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/page/nz-coastwatchers-executed-japanese https://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/page/nz-coastwatchers-executed...
galacticaactual 5y ago
Completely predictable comment turnout.
ospzfmbbzr 5y ago
Canadians don't pay attention to anything from CBC now that Hockey Night In Canada is on cable sports. It's pure government propaganda. I wouldn't expect a lot of substance.

114 points by wglb 5y ago

> She said her time in the Girl Guides gave her a grounding in Morse code and soon she was sent across the country to join an exclusive team. A grounding in Morse code, and you're off to crack Japanese ciphers? Likely story! I suspect couldn't decipher the laundering instructions on a T shirt from Uniqlo.

vmh1928 5y ago
She didn't decrypt the messages, just listen to the Morse Code and write down (or use the special typewriter,) to record the message. That document was then forwarded to the actual code breakers. The women listeners would have no idea what the messages were about.
- vmh1928 5y ago
  Another aspect of this, they had to listen for their whole shift to try and catch a transmission. They didn't have recorders or scanners, just sit on a known frequency and wait for the Japanese to transmit something. And when the transmission started they had to be awake and capturing it. Even several years into the war there wasn't 24x7 coverage of all radio frequencies. And of the coded messages that were caught by listening posts like these, a much smaller fraction of messages were decrypted. Still, this effort gave the Allies a strategic advantage in both the Pacific and Europe.
  - jhgb 5y ago
    > They didn't have recorders or scanners, just sit on a known frequency and wait for the Japanese to transmit something Weird, I could have sworn that there were already some (admittedly primitive) scanners in WW II. At least here in Europe.
    - Johnythree 5y ago
      Depends what you mean by "scanner". I think the OP was referring to receivers that could rapidly scan a multitude of channels, then stop if one became busy. They did exist early on, but weren't really practical till synthesized (and programmable) oscillators arrived. Some military receives had mechanical push-button tuning, but programming new channels was cumbersome and slow. Of course you could just use a bank of receivers, but you need an operator at each RX, else you'll miss most of the traffic. Especially if more than one channel becomes busy. Bottom line, having access to scanners doesn't fix the problem.
dbcurtis 5y ago
The people copying code off the air were mainly trained that a particular sound required that you type a particular key. The traffic was all encrypted. The cypher text was passed off to others for decryption. The US Navy trained Filipina natives who did not speak English to copy Morse by ear on typewriters. Cypher text was 5 character code groups. A lot of routine Pacific Fleet traffic went that route. The decryption was done by military personnel with clearances.
- vmh1928 5y ago
  That's pretty much what Morse Code is, listening for the sound unique to the combination of dots and dashes. You don't count the dots and dashes you listen for the sound that combination makes.

Animats 5y ago

The British stations for that were called Y-Stations, feeding data to Bletchley Park, "Station X".

zachaden 5y ago

I think it's surprising that even after the years of service, she didn't fully disclose the nature of her job to her husband.

vmh1928 5y ago

A good book that describes the information provided to allied leaders via the intercepts and decryption of the Japanese diplomatic Purple codes is given in the book "Marching Orders" by Bruce Lee. ISBN 0-517-57576-0 (c.1995) Lee had access to 1000's of the daily decryption and analysis summary reports (called Magic Summaries,) and provided to the president, Marshall and others. He provides an almost day-by-day chronology showing what the leaders knew and how that knowledge shaped their decisions about the conduct of the war. [edit: the axis decrypts were called Ultra. Allied leaders had access to reports on both.]

jacquesm 5y ago
In case you're wondering where the 'Magic Summaries' comes from: https://reference.jrank.org/japanese/MAGIC_Intercepts.html https://reference.jrank.org/japanese/MAGIC_Intercepts.html
- wglb 5y ago
  Kahn in The Codebreakers also gives a dramatic story about this.

bell-cot 5y ago

Summary: The subject (of the article) was a very routine SIGINT sergeant in WWII. She worked in Canada, listening on the radio to (Imperial) Japanese military signals. She wrote those down on paper, then (in effect) mailed the paper to the next stage of the SIGINT pipeline. The signals were encrypted (by the Japanese) - so she had no way to tell whether one said "Our big attack with force X against location Y will happen at time Z", or "Our garrison on Useless Island is still bored." While on paper this was all super-secret, and such dull work was very important to the war effort...the Japanese knew that the allies had loads of SIGINT radio operators like her, doing jobs just like hers. And nothing she knew would have been of much value to them. For me, all the CBC article's hype about super-duper secrecy just messes up what could have been a much better human interest story.

Spooky23 5y ago
My roommate took a class in college about WW2 which required that you find and interview a veteran (this was the mid 90s) and tell their story of the war. Some of the better past works were shared with the class. The one that fascinates me was the story of a lighthouse keeper detailed to a remote lighthouse off of Newfoundland. It put in perspective the global impact of the war.
- bell-cot 5y ago
  That job would seriously scare me. Slip on an icy catwalk, and freeze to death with a broken leg. Screw up with the light, and a troopship with thousands of soldiers on board runs aground in a storm. Do everything perfectly, and a U-Boat could still land some Nazi commandos on the tiny island...with "do whatever is necessary to secure the lightkeeper's cooperation" orders.
  - antod 5y ago
    > Do everything perfectly, and a U-Boat could still land some Nazi commandos on the tiny island Reminds me a bit of the coastwatchers (but warmer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastwatchers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastwatchers https://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/page/nz-coastwatchers-executed-japanese https://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/page/nz-coastwatchers-executed...

galacticaactual 5y ago

Completely predictable comment turnout.

ospzfmbbzr 5y ago

Canadians don't pay attention to anything from CBC now that Hockey Night In Canada is on cable sports. It's pure government propaganda. I wouldn't expect a lot of substance.