Medusa (key network)

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Medusa was the German code name of a radio key network of the German navy during World War II . The British camouflage name was Turtle ( German " turtle " ). It was used for secret communication between the commander of the submarines (BdU) and the German submarines operating in the Mediterranean .  

history

Medusa's face, framed by snake hair
The Enigma-M4 used for Medusa , in contrast to the Enigma I of the army, has a fourth so-called Greek roller on the far left , here "β".

Was introduced Medusa in June 1943 as a new separate key network solely for the Mediterranean submarines, now disconnected from the key network Triton , which thus exclusively served the Atlantic submarines. The namesake was the gorgon Medusa , a legendary figure from Greek mythology and daughter of the sea ​​deities Phorkys and Keto . It is characterized by its terrifying face  (picture) with snake hair, which turns anyone who sees it into stone.

The trigger for the introduction of this new key network were security concerns of the BdU, which was always worried that the enemy could "break into" "his" radio traffic to the submarines, which was important for the war effort . As we know today, he was right to fear this. Such a break-in should be prevented by creating another separate key network, exclusively for radio communications to the submarines in the Mediterranean.

However, after the British Codebreakers in Bletchley Park (BP), the central cryptanalytic service located about 70 km north of London , had already succeeded in reading the Triton radio messages from the Atlantic submarines again on December 12, 1942 they no trouble Medusa to decipher . They succeeded from the start. Nothing changed when the Navy introduced a new Greek cylinder  "γ" ( Gamma ) as an alternative to the previous "β" ( Beta ) one month later .

In October 1944, the Medusa key network was decommissioned.

See also

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Naval Enigma Ciphers , accessed February 14, 2019.
  2. ^ Gordon Welchman: The Hut Six Story - Breaking the Enigma Codes . Allen Lane, London 1982; Cleobury Mortimer M&M, Baldwin Shropshire 2000, p. 11. ISBN 0-947712-34-8
  3. ↑ Friedrich L. Bauer: Deciphered secrets. Methods and maxims of cryptology. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Springer, Berlin et al. 2000, p. 220.
  4. ↑ Naval Enigma , accessed February 14, 2019.