Cadix
Encyclopedia
Cadix was the codename of a World War II
clandestine Polish
-French
intelligence
center that operated at Uzès
, on the Mediterranean
coast in southern, Vichy France
, for over two years from September 1940 to November 9, 1942.
had flown PC Bruno
s essential personnel to Algeria
. In September 1940 he secretly returned them to southern (Vichy
) France (France's unoccupied "Free Zone"), to Uzès
on the Mediterranean coast. At a new intelligence center codenamed "Cadix," housed at the Château des Fouzes near Uzès, they would work at breaking ciphers for over two years until November 9, 1942. Cadix's personnel comprised 15 Poles, nine Frenchmen and seven Spaniards (the latter worked on Italian
and fascist Spanish
cipher
s).
In July 1941, Polish cryptologists Marian Rejewski
and Henryk Zygalski
were asked to test the security of the Polish Lacida
(or LCD) rotor cipher machine
. The device had evidently never been subjected to rigorous testing before being approved for production and wartime use. To the consternation of the Cipher Bureau's chiefs, the two mathematicians made short work of the Polish machine cipher.
Cadix had a branch office in Algeria
, directed by Maksymilian Ciężki
, which periodically exchanged staff with Uzès. In one of these exchanges, one of the Cipher Bureau's three mathematician-cryptologists, Jerzy Różycki
, died when, on January 9, 1942, the passenger ship Lamoricière on which he was sailing to France mysteriously sank. Also lost were Piotr Smoleński
and Jan Graliński
of the prewar Cipher Bureau's Russian section, and a French officer accompanying the three Poles, Captain François Lane.
On November 9, 1942, a day after the Allied Operation Torch
landings in North Africa, Major Bertrand evacuated Cadix—just two days before southern France was occupied by the Germans
on November 11.
Cryptologists Rejewski
and Zygalski
eventually crossed the Pyrenees
into Spain
, where they were arrested and imprisoned. Released after Red Cross intercessions, they finally made it to Britain. In London
they continued contributing, to war's end, to the effort against German (SS "hand") cipher
s.
Cadix's Polish military chiefs, Gwido Langer
and Maksymilian Ciężki
were captured by the Germans as they tried to cross from France into Spain on the night of March 10-11, 1943. Captured with them were three other Poles, Antoni Palluth
, Edward Fokczyński
and Kazimierz Gaca. Langer and Ciężki became prisoners of war. The other three men were sent as slave labor to Germany, where Palluth and Fokczyński perished. All five men protected the secret of Allied Enigma
decryption.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
clandestine Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
center that operated at Uzès
Uzès
Uzès is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It lies about 25 km north-northeast of Nîmes.-History:Originally Ucetia, Uzès was a small Gallo-Roman oppidum, or administrative settlement. The town lies at the source of the Eure, from where a Roman aqueduct was built in the first...
, on the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coast in southern, Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, for over two years from September 1940 to November 9, 1942.
History
Two days after the June 22, 1940, Franco-German armistice, Major Gustave BertrandGustave Bertrand
Gustave Bertrand was a French military intelligence officer who made a vital contribution to the decryption, by Poland's Cipher Bureau, of German Enigma ciphers, beginning in December 1932...
had flown PC Bruno
PC Bruno
PC Bruno was a Polish-French intelligence station that operated outside Paris during World War II, from October 1939 until June 9, 1940. It decrypted German ciphers, most notably messages enciphered on the Enigma machine.-History:...
s essential personnel to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. In September 1940 he secretly returned them to southern (Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
) France (France's unoccupied "Free Zone"), to Uzès
Uzès
Uzès is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It lies about 25 km north-northeast of Nîmes.-History:Originally Ucetia, Uzès was a small Gallo-Roman oppidum, or administrative settlement. The town lies at the source of the Eure, from where a Roman aqueduct was built in the first...
on the Mediterranean coast. At a new intelligence center codenamed "Cadix," housed at the Château des Fouzes near Uzès, they would work at breaking ciphers for over two years until November 9, 1942. Cadix's personnel comprised 15 Poles, nine Frenchmen and seven Spaniards (the latter worked on Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and fascist Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
s).
Marian Rejewski
Marian Adam Rejewski was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who in 1932 solved the plugboard-equipped Enigma machine, the main cipher device used by Germany...
and Henryk Zygalski
Henryk Zygalski
Henryk Zygalski was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma ciphers before and during World War II.-Life:...
were asked to test the security of the Polish Lacida
Lacida
The Lacida was a Polish rotor cipher machine. It was designed and produced before World War II by Poland's Cipher Bureau for prospective wartime use by Polish military higher commands.-History:...
(or LCD) rotor cipher machine
Rotor machine
In cryptography, a rotor machine is an electro-mechanical device used for encrypting and decrypting secret messages. Rotor machines were the cryptographic state-of-the-art for a prominent period of history; they were in widespread use in the 1920s–1970s...
. The device had evidently never been subjected to rigorous testing before being approved for production and wartime use. To the consternation of the Cipher Bureau's chiefs, the two mathematicians made short work of the Polish machine cipher.
Cadix had a branch office in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, directed by Maksymilian Ciężki
Maksymilian Ciezki
Maksymilian Ciężki was the head of the German section of the Polish Cipher Bureau in the 1930s, during which time the Bureau decrypted German Enigma messages....
, which periodically exchanged staff with Uzès. In one of these exchanges, one of the Cipher Bureau's three mathematician-cryptologists, Jerzy Różycki
Jerzy Rózycki
Jerzy Witold Różycki was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers.-Life:Różycki was born in what is now Ukraine, the fourth and youngest child of Zygmunt Różycki, a pharmacist and graduate of Saint Petersburg University, and Wanda, née Benita. ...
, died when, on January 9, 1942, the passenger ship Lamoricière on which he was sailing to France mysteriously sank. Also lost were Piotr Smoleński
Piotr Smolenski
Piotr Smoleński was a cryptologist in the Russian section of the interbellum Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau.He perished in the sinking of the passenger ship Lamoricière in the Mediterranean Sea....
and Jan Graliński
Jan Gralinski
Jan Józef Graliński was chief of the Polish General Staff's interbellum Cipher Bureau's Russian section, B.S.-3....
of the prewar Cipher Bureau's Russian section, and a French officer accompanying the three Poles, Captain François Lane.
On November 9, 1942, a day after the Allied Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
landings in North Africa, Major Bertrand evacuated Cadix—just two days before southern France was occupied by the Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on November 11.
Cryptologists Rejewski
Marian Rejewski
Marian Adam Rejewski was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who in 1932 solved the plugboard-equipped Enigma machine, the main cipher device used by Germany...
and Zygalski
Henryk Zygalski
Henryk Zygalski was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma ciphers before and during World War II.-Life:...
eventually crossed the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
into Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, where they were arrested and imprisoned. Released after Red Cross intercessions, they finally made it to Britain. In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
they continued contributing, to war's end, to the effort against German (SS "hand") cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
s.
Cadix's Polish military chiefs, Gwido Langer
Gwido Langer
Lt. Col. Karol Gwido Langer was chief of the Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau from at least mid-1931.-Life:...
and Maksymilian Ciężki
Maksymilian Ciezki
Maksymilian Ciężki was the head of the German section of the Polish Cipher Bureau in the 1930s, during which time the Bureau decrypted German Enigma messages....
were captured by the Germans as they tried to cross from France into Spain on the night of March 10-11, 1943. Captured with them were three other Poles, Antoni Palluth
Antoni Palluth
Antoni Palluth , was a civilian employee in the German section of the Polish General Staff's interbellum Cipher Bureau.-Life:...
, Edward Fokczyński
Edward Fokczyński
Edward Fokczyński was one of the four directors of the AVA Radio Company, an electronics firm established in Warsaw, Poland, in 1929. AVA produced radio equipment for the Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau, which was responsible for the radio communications of the General Staff's Intelligence...
and Kazimierz Gaca. Langer and Ciężki became prisoners of war. The other three men were sent as slave labor to Germany, where Palluth and Fokczyński perished. All five men protected the secret of Allied Enigma
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
decryption.
See also
- Cipher BureauBiuro SzyfrówThe Biuro Szyfrów was the interwar Polish General Staff's agency charged with both cryptography and cryptology ....
- Saxon Palace
- Kabaty Woods
- PC BrunoPC BrunoPC Bruno was a Polish-French intelligence station that operated outside Paris during World War II, from October 1939 until June 9, 1940. It decrypted German ciphers, most notably messages enciphered on the Enigma machine.-History:...
- Enigma cipher
- UltraUltraUltra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
- Jerzy RóżyckiJerzy RózyckiJerzy Witold Różycki was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers.-Life:Różycki was born in what is now Ukraine, the fourth and youngest child of Zygmunt Różycki, a pharmacist and graduate of Saint Petersburg University, and Wanda, née Benita. ...
Staff photo