Encrypt radio operators

The first known case of using the language of the Indians by the US Army to transmit messages during the battle took place during the Second Battle of the Somme in September 1918 during the First World War . Here, the 30th US Infantry Division, operating in coordination with British forces and under British command, had several Cherokee Indian units ^[2] .

At the end of World War I, Captain Lawrence (US Army) heard his soldiers, Solomon Louis and Mitchell Bobb, talking to one another. Having asked them, he learned that in one battalion he had 8 Choctaw native speakers ^[3] . As a result of his research in the US Infantry Division 36, 14 Choctaw signallers were trained to encrypt messages. They helped the US Expeditionary Forces win a number of battles during the Myus-Argon campaign in France. This campaign was one of the final in the victory over Germany. Within a day after the Chokto language was used in combat conditions, there was a turn in the fighting not in favor of the German troops, but in less than three days the Allied forces pursued the retreating German troops. ^[3]

Adolf Hitler , Western-lover of Karl May , did not ignore the use of Indian languages during the First World War. However, due to the fact that there were too many languages ​​and dialects, this did not play any role in the war. Knowing this, the American command did not rely solely on the Indians in the European theater of military operations. However, 14 co-op signalmen took part in the operations in Normandy. ^[four]

In January 1941, twenty-seven Fox Indians voluntarily joined the US Army (16% of the Indians of this tribe in Iowa ). In North Africa, they used their native language in radio communications. ^[five]

The missionary’s son en: Philip Johnson , who grew up on the Navajo Indian reservation, suggested using their language in radio communications. The Navajo language did not have a written language, an alphabet, there were no manuals, and no scientific work was conducted on its study. Only 30 non-Indians spoke it fluently. The idea was approved, a code for radio communications was developed, and over a hundred Navajo radio operators participated in hostilities with Japan in the Pacific. They also participated in the Korean War, and briefly in the Vietnam War. ^[6]

In May 1942, at a meeting of 60 Marines of Basque origin in the San Francisco area , the idea was put forward of using Basque in radio communications ^{[7] [8] [9]} .

The proposal was greeted by the command with caution, since the people who knew the language lived in the territories controlled by Japan : 35 Basque Jesuits lived in Hiroshima , Basques lived in China , the Philippines and other parts of Asia , some of whom were supporters of the Franco regime.

For this reason, Basque radio operators were not used in these areas, and were originally used in Hawaii and Australia for the transmission of secondary information. On August 1, 1942, a warning was issued in Basque about the start of Operation Apple against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands , as well as the announcement of the date of commencement of the operation on Guadalcanal (August 7).

As the theater of military operations expanded, there was a shortage of Basque radio operators; therefore, the use of Navajo Indians for this purpose was considered more promising.

While an artificially created cipher that changes messages in a known language can be decrypted once by the adversary, ensuring that further communication is understandable, understanding the cipher based on natural language requires language skills that are acquired over a considerable time.

When broadcasting, the likelihood of the enemy interfering with false messages significantly decreases, because even with the fame of the language and the non-use of code substitutions by radio operators, the phonetics of the Indian languages ​​are almost impossible for a person who has learned the language in adulthood without emphasis.

The most famous film dedicated to the role of encryption in a war is “ Speaking with the Wind ” ( English Windtalkers ), where an artistic plot develops around the fate of radio cipherists who transmit messages in the Navajo language in the battle for Saipan . This is a 2002 film directed by John Woo , gained fame largely due to the participation of the actor Nicholas Cage in the lead role (he plays a marine, who is obliged to destroy the coder in case of a threat of his capture by the enemy).

• Navajo ciphers
• Wind Talkers (film)
• Klingon # Existence

• Aaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers: America's Secret Weapon in World War II. New York: Walker & Company, 1992.
• Durrett, Deanne. Unsung Heroes of World War II: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers. Library of American Indian History, Facts on File, Inc., 1998.
• McClain, Salley. Navajo Weapon: The Navajo Code Talkers. Tucson, Arizona: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2001.
• Meadows, William C. The Comanche Code Talkers of World War II. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
• Stanley, Captain John W. Commander and Brigade Signal Officer, 105th Field Signal Battalion in the Somme Offensive, Sept. 29-Oct. 12, 1918. USArmy, 1932.
• Gawne, Jonathan. Spearheading d-day. Paris: Histoire et Collections, 1999.
• David Kahn, "The Codebreakers - The Story of Secret Writing", 1967. ISBN 0-684-83130-9

• National Museum of the American Indian Codetalkers
• Listen online - The Story of The Code Talkers - The American Storyteller Radio Journal
• Samuel Tom Holiday - 4th Marine Division - 25th Regiment - H & S Company
• Origins of the Navajo Code Talkers
• Dept. of Navy Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary
• Dept. Code Nights: World War II fact Sheet
• Northern Arizona University Special Collections, on Navajo Codetalkers
• Teaching with Documents: Memorandum Regarding the Enlistment of Navajo Indians. US National Archives.
• "Semper Fidelis, Code Talkers," US National Archives. Prologue Magazine: Winter 2001, Vol. 33, No. four
• Smithsonian Institution: American Indian Codetalkers
• Native Americans in the US Army
• US Sen. Bingaman: Navajo code talkers page
• The Navajo Code Talkers: Code Talkers (Part of the Story)
• How Effective Was Navajo Code? "One Former Captive Knows" Captured Navajo
• Hopi code talker
• Code Talkers Exhibit, Burger King, Kayenta, Navajo Nation
• Windtalker
• Navajo Code Talkers Association
• Code Talkers roll of honor and images