On Wikimedia, photographs of a number of lesser-known encryption devices from Switzerland are available. Can a reader tell me more about them?
Last week I blogged about an unusual cipher disk (provided by blog reader Karsten Hansky) that is embedded into a medal. Blog readers Rossignol and Ralf Bülow posted some interesting information about this device. The only photograph of it I am aware of, except the ones Karsten sent me, is available on Wikimedia:
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
According to Wikimedia, the medal with integrated cipher disc on the photograph belongs to the Swiss Army Headquarters. When searching Wikimedia for this term, I found over 20 additional photos showing encryption machines or tools. Some of them are well known. For instance, here is a Swiss Enigma (Enigma-K) …
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
… and here is a Beyer cryptograph from the 1920s:
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
The Sphinx was developed around 1930 (check here for more information):
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
Less-known devices
The photo collection also contains a number of lesser-known devices. For instance, I have never seen this cipher disk before:
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
Here’s another rare tool (according to Wikimeda, it was used by the Swiss Army between 1914 and 1940):
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
The following device is decribed as a field cipher tool in a publication titled Das Fernmeldematerial der Schweizerischen Armee seit 1875 (10. Folge):
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
And finally, here’s a code table:
Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
Can a reader tell me more about these cipher devices? Was the cipher disk shown above ever used in practice? Why does it have a crank (a similar disk could have been made of paper, which would have been cheaper)? How did the field cipher device work?
And, finally, I would like to know: Where is this collection of the Swiss Army Headquarters located? Is it possible to visit it?
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Further reading: A fascinating report of Enigma’s contemporary witness, Max Rüegger
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