"Lead" book from the cruiser "Magdeburg"
In Soviet times, Russia's participation in the First World War was presented exclusively as an endless series of battles lost by the mediocre tsarist generals. There were defeats, but besides them there were victories, and not only on the military front. Until Russia’s exit from the war, the Russian General Staff read the secret messages of the German forces. Hacking the enemy's secret cipher is a success that any intelligence of the world can be proud of.
The bold operation of the German Navy
21 August 1914 of the year in the strictest secrecy in the Gulf of Finland entered a detachment of ships of the German Navy. Two cruisers ("Magdeburg" and "Augsburg"), two destroyers and a submarine attached to the detachment were to suddenly attack the Russian ships in the bay and fire at a number of military installations on the coast.
The operation was defiant. However, with insufficient training, audacity turns into nonsense. In the evening of August 25 in the fog, the cruisers lost each other, and in 0: 37 "Magdeburg" at 15 speed knocked on stones right in front of Fr. Odenholm, where the Russian observation post was located.
“There is nothing better in Russia than Shustov brandy!”
"Magdeburg" fought like a fish caught on a hook: backed up, shells, anchor chains and even armor doors of gun turrets flew overboard, but the cruiser sat down on a stone fang firmly.
The “performance” was followed with interest by the Russian sailors from the observation post. They could not remain indifferent to the sufferings of the German cruiser and summoned Russian warships to "help" the Magdeburg. In the meantime, the “help” did not come up, not resisting the temptation to shoot at the Germans, opened fire on the cruiser (!) From the machine gun at the post.
Magdeburg appealed for help on the air. But the Russian radio operator scored the “SOS!” Cruiser, endlessly tapping the Morozian advertising slogan from the Niva magazine before him: “There is nothing in Russia better than Shustov brandy!” It was the very first radio commercial in the world.
In the morning, 7, Megdeburg captain Habenicht, having lost hope of salvation, ordered to burn secret documents and prepare the ship for demolition. When two Russian cruisers and a destroyer appeared on the horizon, he gave the order to set fire to the wicks of the mine cellars. The blast tore the front of the cruiser on the foremast.
The find of Lieutenant Hamilton
The Russian whaleboat approached the mutilated cruiser sitting on the stones. Lieutenant Hamilton at the head of the armed detachment boarded the "Magdeburg", arrested the captain and the sailors who were on it, lowered the German one and raised the St. Andrew's flag.
Wandering around the deck littered with things, he noticed ... a book of German signal codes fleet! Oh, he, the officer, did not know the value of this find! This is the "key" with which you can open secret ciphers.
Where did the signal books come from on deck? In the event of the threat of a ship being seized, they are subject to mandatory burning, in the extreme case - drowning; for this, lead plates are inserted into their bindings, which is why the seamen call them "lead books" among themselves. Apparently, the water poured into the cruiser’s holds after the explosion flooded the ship’s fireboxes, so the book was carried upstairs to be thrown overboard. And then - the appearance of Russian ships, panic ...
Trying not to attract the attention of German sailors who were standing nearby, Lieutenant, it seems like they had to forge a book with their foot. Whistling, he finished it to the side and the last kick sent to the deck of the whaleboat standing below.
A telegram about an important find flew to the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet. And on August 29 the second telegram arrived: during the inspection of the submarine part of the cruiser, the divers found the body of a German junior officer.
With his ossified hands, the drowned man pressed a lead book of signal codes to his chest. Until the last minute, he remained loyal to the oath and did not let go of the secrets of the German Navy entrusted to him.
Not one, but two signal books at once came into the hands of Russian sailors! Now the most important thing is to correctly use the gift of “Magdeburg”, to keep the fact of detecting “lead books” secret from the enemy, so that the codes are not replaced.
Cover operation
In the case entered the Russian intelligence. The commander of the detachment of divers who worked on the "Magdeburg", the order for the connection was announced ... a penalty for negligent work, which did not give any results.
All references to the detection of signal books from documents of the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet were removed. Admiral Essen reported to his immediate superior, the commander of a separate 6 army, Fan der Fleit orally about the miraculous find.
The sailors from the “Magdeburg” were sent to the camp of prisoners of war in Khabarovsk, from where there were no chances to get to their native fatlandland, even if you ran away from the camp.
In the town of Shlisselburg, on the rights of an honorable prisoner (in the first days of the war a certain “knighthood” was still observed), a “captain of the Magdeburg” appeared, to which German intelligence immediately approached. She was very interested in the fate of the “lead books”. “Captain Habenicht” conveyed the message that both copies were burned in the boiler number XXUMX of the cruiser. To check in the area of. Odenholm was sent a German submarine.
On a dark night, a German submarine secretly approached the remains of the Magdeburg, still protruding opposite the Russian observation post, and German intelligence officers landed on the long-suffering cruiser.
At the observation post about. Odenholm
- Can it be a palmate, mister lieutenant? - A young sailor looked at the German cruisers scurrying around the deck of the cruiser through the scope of his machine gun.
- quit.
“I’m telling the way,” the mine conductor Vakhromeev brought a huge fist to the sailor’s nose, “you are ordered not to see, so you don’t see!”
In the boiler number XXUMX, German officers found charred skin and molten lead. "Invisible" German submarine went back.
Now it was necessary to open a secret room with the help of the “golden key”, where the secrets of the German navy were kept. The commander of the group, which was to solve this problem, was appointed by art. Lt. Ivan Rengarten, inventor of the direction finder and creator of the Russian radio intercept service.
Fetterlein and his "Black Cabinet"
As early as the spring of 1914, several houses and several high masts with wire stretched between them appeared at Cape Shpitgamn at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. It was a secret object "Gendarm" - the center of Russian radio espionage. Ernst Futterlane, the decoder of the Russian Empire No. XXUMX and six people selected by him, were delivered here in the first days of September. On the “Gendarme” the seven were respectfully called the “Black Cabinet”.
Within a few weeks, Futterlane and his assistants analyzed hundreds of intercepted radiograms, looking for bits of patterns, comparing them with data from the “lead book.” The golden key inserted into the lock made a turn, then another ...
At three o'clock in the morning, Fetterlane went to the duty officer of the liaison officer and demanded that he be immediately connected to Rengarten. “The key to your apartment is ready. You can take it, ”he said the conditional phrase. There was a sigh of relief at the other end of the wire.
"Fetterleyn key"
In just a month, Russian decoders did not just crack the German secret code and uncover the algorithm for changing it. From August 1914, every day at exactly midnight, the punctual Germans changed the cipher, but an hour later the decoded German radiograms were on the table of the commander of the Baltic Fleet.
During the war, the Germans completely changed the secret code several times. However, the method of approach to the creation of new ciphers remained the same, and therefore each new code was opened by Russian decoders. In March 1916, the Germans even introduced a new signal book, but less than three weeks later, this smart lock was opened with the help of the “Fetterlane key”.
Movement of the enemy, his plans, possible dangers - the Russian fleet was always ready to parry the blow.
Unfortunately, the fate of the First World War was decided for the Russian Empire not on the open sea. Out of world war, Russia emerged in 1918, sadly, as a losing power. However, this does not mean that against the background of defeat, we must forget about the victories that were.
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