Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers

by Parker Hitt

3	E B R D O	R F B H L	R E N E N
2	W E E T N	E S E T S	N I O D C
1	S L C O F	P E R H O	A S C B H
5	F F E D I	O P T A U	L A C Y E
7	R O I A R	R T E T T	S G U F N

The addition of line 6 above line 3 and line 4 below line 7 will complete this cipher. The successive columns should be read downward.

Case 2-c. In this case, both lines and columns are rearranged by means of a key word or key words. The method of solution is the same as Case 2-a and 2-b except that the lines must be rearranged after the columns have been correctly arranged, or in some cases, vice versa. This cipher is not infrequently met with because it seems to offer safety by use of two key words and by the great but only apparent complexity of the method.

Message

WVGAE	EGENL	TFTOH	TEIEF	RBTSE
INENG	ONWRM	GXIXN	GOITN	ROMRO
ESPAL	HNEAC	UDNNH	DERME

This is a transposition cipher, English text and the number of letters, 70, leads us to try rectangles of 10 × 7 and 7 × 10.

	Vowels		Vowels
W V G A E E G E N L	4	W V G A E E G	3
T F T O H T E I E F	3	E N L T F T O	2
R B T S E I N E N G	3	H T E I E F R	3
O N W R M G X I X N	2	B T S E I N E	3
G O I T N R O M R O	4	N G O N W R M	1
E S P A L H N E A C	4	G X I X N G O	2
U D N N H D E R M E	3	I T N R O M R	2
		O E S P A L H	3
		N E A C U D N	3
		N H D E R M E	2

The first form looks the more likely from the vowel count. We proceed to number the columns and lines and try rearrangement of columns so as to obtain possible letter combinations from every line.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	W	V	G	A	E	E	G	E	N	L
2	T	F	T	O	H	T	E	I	E	F
3	R	B	T	S	E	I	N	E	N	G
4	O	N	W	R	M	G	X	I	X	N
5	G	O	I	T	N	R	O	M	R	O
6	E	S	P	A	L	H	N	E	A	C
7	U	D	N	N	H	D	E	R	M	E

Among other combinations we have these: