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“Unbreakable” WWII secret message attached to carrier pigeon skeletal leg may have been broken

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Skeletal remains of WWII carrier pigeonRemember the top secret World War II code we reported on earlier – the encrypted code that was found in a capsule attached to a carrier pigeon’s skeletal leg in a chimney?  The top-secret coded message that British intelligence said could never be cracked without the proper code book?  As it turns out, they may have been wrong on two counts.  Gord Young, from Peterborough, in Ontario, says it took him 17 minutes to decipher the message after realizing a WWI Royal Flying Corp [92 Sqd-Canadian] aerial observers’ book he inherited from his great-uncle was the key – not a World War II code book as top British codebreakers at GCHQ had originally thought.

Sent to “XO2″ at 16:45, the encrypted message reads:

AOAKN HVPKD FNFJW YIDDC

RQXSR DJHFP GOVFN MIAPX

PABUZ WYYNP CMPNW HJRZH

NLXKG MEMKK ONOIB AKEEQ

WAOTA RBQRH DJOFM TPZEH

LKXGH RGGHT JRZCQ FNKTQ

KLDTS FQIRW AOAKN 27 1525/6

Signed “Sjt W Stot,” the message features two more codes at the end: NURP.40.TW.194 and NURP.37.OK.76.

According to Young, the decrypted message from 1944 uses a simple World War I code (not World War II), and a lot of acronyms (common in WWI coded messages), to detail German troop positions in Normandy.  After decryption, the message reads (which stills seems a bit convoluted to me):

“Artillery observer at ‘K’ Sector, Normandy. Requested headquarters supplement report. Panzer attack – blitz. West Artillery Observer Tracking Attack.

Lt Knows extra guns are here. Know where local dispatch station is. Determined where Jerry’s headquarters front posts. Right battery headquarters right here.

Found headquarters infantry right here. Final note, confirming, found Jerry’s whereabouts. Go over field notes. Counter measures against Panzers not working.

Jerry’s right battery central headquarters here. Artillery observer at ‘K’ sector Normandy. Mortar, infantry attack panzers.

Hit Jerry’s Right or Reserve Battery Here. Already know electrical engineers headquarters. Troops, panzers, batteries, engineers, here. Final note known to headquarters.”

A spokesman for British GCHQ stood by their claim that the code was unbreakable:

“We stand by our statement of 22 November 2012 that without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, the message will remain impossible to decrypt.”

Gord Young disagrees:

“Folks are trying to over-think this matter. It’s not complex.”

Sources: BBC
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