Lewin - The other Ultra : [codes, ciphers and the defeat of Japan]

The Other Ultra

Ronald Lewin

Copyright Ronald Lewin 1982

The right of Ronald Lewin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

First published in the United Kingdom in 1982 by the Anchor Press Ltd.

This edition published in 2016 by Endeavour Press Ltd.

To the Allied soldiers , sailors and airmen whom Magic and Ultra guided to victory

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If I ascend up into heaven , thou art there ;

If I make my bed in hell , behold , thou art there .

If I take the wings of the morning

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ,

Even there shall thy hand lead me ,

And thy right hand shall hold me .

Psalm 139

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Without the generous hospitality in Washington of Miss Kay Halle, OBE, who has done so much to further Anglo-American relations, my researches would have been more prolonged and far less agreeable.

Like all who have enjoyed their swift and friendly assistance, I cannot fully express my gratitude to William Cunliffe, John Taylor and their colleagues in the Modern Military Section of the National Archives in Washington and to Dr. Dean Allard and the staff of the Naval Archives.

I am also much indebted to the following, who either advised on passages of my text or helped me in other ways with information and encouragement: Professor Stephen Ambrose, Patrick Beesly, Walter Bell, Bennett Boskey, William P. Bundy, Admiral Arleigh Burke, USN, Captain Malcolm Burnett, RN, Professor Raymond Callahan, Aileen Clayton, Robin Denniston, Vera and William Filby, Professor M. R. D. Foot, Alfred Friendly, Edward Hitchcock, Captain W. J. Holmes, Harry Homewood, Major David Horner (Australian Army), Edwin Huddleson, Professor R. V. Jones, Professor Warren F. Kimball, Paul Kramer, Professor Walter Laqueur, Paul de Laszlo, Admiral Edwin Layton, USN, Bruce Lee, Jon Lellenberg, Walter Lord, the late Professor Arthur Marder, Dr. John Mason, Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch, Professor G. C. McVittie, Roger Nelson, Mary Pain, Colonel Walter Pforzheimer, Dr. Forrest Pogue, Justice Lewis Powell, Commander Francis Raven, Professor Dr. Jurgen Rohwer, Admiral Donald M. Showers, USN, Henry Schorreck, David Shulman, Justice John Paul Stevens, Brigadier John Tiltman, Dr. L. Tordella, Justice Byron White and Patrick Wilkinson.

It is conventional to thank ones wife for aid and comfort. In this case, the value of the editorial comment I have received transcends conventional language.

A Note on Sources

The original documents on which this narrative is based are too voluminous for more than a representative selection to be quoted in the text. The following is a list of primary source material. All files, unless otherwise indicated, are held in the Modern Military Section of the National Archives in Washington.

A bibliography of books consulted appears as an appendix.

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Development and Organization of the U.S. Signal Intelligence

A Selection of Papers Pertaining to Herbert O. Yardley, 1918-1950

Narrative of the Combat Intelligence Center, Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas

History of the Special Branch, MIS, War Department, 1942-1944

History of the Operations of Special Security Officers attached to Field Commands, 1943-1945

Marshall letter to MacArthur on the use of Ultra intelligence, 23 May 1944, and related correspondence

Allocation of Special Security Officers to Special Branch, Military Intelligence Service, War Department, 1943-1945

Instructions for Maintaining the Security of Special Intelligence in the Southwest Pacific Areas, issued by GHQ, SWPA, 15 June 1944

War Department Regulations Governing the Dissemination and Security of Communications Intelligence, 1943-1945

Reports by U.S. Army Ultra Representatives with Field Commands in the South West Pacific, Pacific Ocean and China/Burma/India Theaters of Operations, 1944-1945

Use of CX/MSS Ultra by the United States War Department, 1943-1945

Synthesis of Experiences in the Use of Ultra Intelligence by U.S. Field Commands in the European Theater of Operations

Ultra and the U.S. Seventh Army, by Major Donald S. Bussey

Reports Received by U.S. War Dept, on the use of Ultra in European Theater, W.W. II, October 1945

Operations of the Military Intelligence Service, War Department, London (MIS WD London)

Six Lectures on Cryptology, by William F. Friedman, April 1963

Problems of the SSO System in World War II: Dept, of Army

MIS War Dept. Special Security and other correspondence relating to special intelligence in the Pacific Ocean Area

The Need for New Legislation Against Unauthorized Disclosure of Communications Activities, 9 June 1944

A Brief History of the Signal Intelligence Service, by William F. Friedman, 29 June 1942

Procedures for handling Ultra Dexter Intelligence in the CBI, 22 March 1944

Signal Intelligence Service changes in Directive of September 27, 1939: memorandum from the Chief Signal Officer of the Army to the Adjutant General

List of Special Security Representatives and Special Security Officers, 15 February 1945

Reminiscences of Lieutenant Colonel Howard W. Brown, prepared under the direction of the Chief Signal Officer

Operations

Statement for Record of Participation of Brigadier General Carter W. Clarke, GSC, in the Transmittal of Letters from General George C. Marshall to Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, the Latter Part of September 1944

Hearings before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack (U.S. Government Printing Office, 39 volumes)

Incidental Exhibits re Pearl Harbor Investigation

Interview with Mr. Ralph T. Briggs, by the Historian, Naval Security Group, 13 January 1977

Information from George W. Linn, Capt. USNR (Ret.), 23 October 1980

Papers of Field Marshal Sir William Blarney (archives of the Australian War Memorial)

The Role of Communications Intelligence in Submarine Warfare in the Pacific, Jan. 1943-Oct. 1943

The Role of Radio Intelligence in the American-Japanese Naval War, August 1941-December 1942

Radio Intelligence in World War Two: Tactical Operations in the Pacific Ocean Areas, January 1943

Blockade-running Between Europe and the Far East by submarine, 1942- December 1944

MIS Contribution to the War Effort

Selected Examples of Commendations and Related Correspondence Highlighting the Achievements of U.S. Signal Intelligence During WWII, 10 January 1946

Estimated Unit Locations of Japanese Navy and Army Air Forces, 20 July 1945

Translations of Japanese Army Messages, sundry volumes, June 1943-1945

Magic Summaries: Japanese Army Supplements, 1944-1945

Oral histories of Admirals Layton, McCollum, Arleigh Burke, etc. (U.S. Naval Archives, Washington)

Allied Strategic Air Force Target Planning (August 1945)

Examples of Intelligence obtained from Cryptoanalysis, 1 August 1946

Japanese Water Transport, 6 April 1943-17 June 1944

Suicide Attack Squadron Organization, CINCPAC and CINCPOA, July 1945

Army-Navy Committee on the Japanese Air Forces Estimate of the Japanese Situation, 23 June 1945

Diplomatic

The Magic Background to Pearl Harbor (8 vols., U.S. Department of Defense, 1977)

Magic Diplomatic and Far Eastern Summaries, 1942-1945

Magic Diplomatic Extracts, July 1945: selected items prepared by MIS, War Department, for the attention of General George C. Marshall

Publications of the Pacific Strategic Intelligence Section, COMINCH/ CNO: a series of invaluable summaries prepared in 1945 from current signal intelligence

Magic Reports for the Attention of the President, 1943-1944

The Naval Attach Series (SRNA). Some 5,000 decrypts ranging from summer 1940 onward. Daunting for a British historian, as the first (from the Japanese Naval Attach^ in Rome to Tokyo, 18 June 1940) reads: England is reported to have surrendered. We are transmitting this information for what it may be worth!