Canada Ping!
Posted on 12/18/2012 12:25:21 PM PST by BenLurkin
Gord Young, from Peterborough, in Ontario, says it took him 17 minutes to decypher the message after realising a code book he inherited was the key.
Mr Young says the 1944 note uses a simple World War I code to detail German troop positions in Normandy.
GCHQ says it would be interested to see his findings.
Blocks of code
The message was discovered by 74-year-old David Martin when he was renovating the chimney of his house in Bletchingley, Surrey.
Among the rubbish, he found parts of a dead pigeon - including a leg, attached to which was a red canister. Inside the canister was a thin piece of paper with the words "Pigeon Service" at the top and 27 handwritten blocks of code.
The message - which attracted world-wide media attention - was put in the hands of Britain's top codebreakers at GCHQ at the beginning of November, but they have been unable to unlock the puzzle.
Using his great-uncle's Royal Flying Corp [92 Sqd-Canadian] aerial observers' book, he said he was able to work out the note in minutes.
He believes it was written by 27-year-old Sgt William Stott, a Lancashire Fusilier, who had been dropped into Normandy - with pigeons - to report on German positions. Sgt Stott was killed a few weeks later and is buried in a Normandy war cemetery
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I bet they also want their code book back.
Well, that will be the end of the , “Be sure to drink your Ovlatine” replies.
Parachuting down in a cage would be an interesting experience for a pigeon.
Canada Ping!
you beat me to it...
t
"What-ho chaps,
I rather hate to be a bother, but we seem to have run out of tea. I rather think we're no better than the huns if we expect the lads at the front to go on without tea! Sent along a couple of crates of good Indian stuff, if you would. Rather excellent for the morale and all that sort of thing, ay-what?
-Terribly grateful,
Captain Lord Alfred Manning-Tree Manning-Tree"
END OF MESSAGE.
I love how they use the word “Jerry” to refer to the enemy.
Just like in Hogan’s Hero’s, Great Escape, Blackadder, etc...!
Don’t Forget to Drink Your Ovaltine!
I expected it to be:
“Send new pigeon. STOP This one keeps flying down chimneys STOP
So what’s the message? Totally useless BBC crap article.
Those pigeons must've been in really good shape.
“Send More Chuck Berry”
“Drink Your Ovaltine”
“Needs More Cowbell”
“All your base are belong to us.”
The movement starts to the rear of the glass before dawn. A tree covered house with lakes in-between can be taken. Must have sand by the hour with all urgency.
In no way has this been decrypted by Young. I doubt that it will ever be, by anyone.
Why do you say that? You think his claim to having the key is false?
Because they likely dropped an Enigma-type code generator to instantly scramble his messages in situ. Why would they send the trooper and pigeon with only a code book? /sarc
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks BenLurkin. |
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Not everyone jumped. Some were dropped off in remote grass pasture, landing, dropping, and running.
These guys had guts similar to our special ops folks.
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