Iodine Vapour, Secret and Indented Writing
Let's start the ball rolling with an image of a handkerchief, above, that contained secret writing and which was apparently taken from a German Uboat commamder, U234, in 1945. This particular handkerchief had been treated with iodine which clearly shows up the secret writing in code I believe. The correct term for this form of writing is 'Indented Writing' similar to that found on the Somerton Man Code page where the SA Police, using a UV light, discovered impressions on the back page of the copy of the Rubaiyat, they then used a recover ytechnique to lift the images of the writing so that they were visible. Iodine Vapour or other lifting technique was very probably used.George Dasch Case
Two 4 man teams landed by U Boat in 1942 |
Chemical Reagent Technique
George Dasch's Handkerchief |
Fingerprinting techniques
Using fingerprints as well as Indented writing recovery techniques was an essential aspect of finding and successfully prosecuting espionage agents. In this video taken in 1948, a US Police officer is seen 'dusting. a car dash to recover fingerprints after which he photographs them. There is a serious question related to the Somerton Man case as to why the only fingerprints taken were from the man himself and not from any of 14 or more items that could have been treated/dusted to reveal fingerprints:Fob Watch encoder & Other Examples
This is a fob watch encoder, not the sort of thing that an agent would necessarily carry around but maybe a handler would.Extremely well made and as good looking as any fob watch, this kind of instrument saw lots of use and action during both World Wars.
There are similar devices that were used and hopefully we will be able to bring more images of some of the more inventive and readily concealed versions before too long.
This is actually one of a pair of signal disks carried signalers, it is a prompt and reminder of the various common codes. Not hard to envisage a miniature version custom made for agents in the field and the hunt is on.
This is a Wheatstone Cryptograph, WW1 vintage. The device itself was invented in the 1960's and was used through both wars.
Miniature Cameras
This is a miniature camera from the WW2 and cold war years, American in fact. For it's time it was very advanced and proved to be very effective in the filed.Light weight, very small and relatively easy to conceal from a normal cursory search, an excellent piece of tradecraft.
Whilst such tools were very useful they were of course also a liability, being found with one of these was tantamount to a potential death sentence.
Onto something a little more lethal in nature, a concealed 'sleeve' dagger used by SOE and OSS operatives.
Many of these weapons were made in Sheffiled UK and then finished in the US by Military Manufacturer John Ek.
Sleeve daggers and similar items could be sewn into clothing or strapped to your arm and were an ideal surprise weapon for use in close combat situations.
This is a particularly clever instrument, it's a shoe dagger:
You'll notice how this weapon has been carefully crafted to fit within the sole of a normal shoe, easily detectable in this day and age but at the time it would not have been an easy matter and by the time the would be discoverer found it it may have been too late.
Worth considering is that many of these weapons would have been tailor made to fit particular sized shoes and no doubt male and female.
GC, with regard to the miniature camera, how many photographs per cartridge?
ReplyDeletePete: The Minox of the same era had 16 pics, this one differs in that it was also a movie camera so I have no quick answer. Here's a better image to view:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/universalcam.html
You could try the guys at Herberton Spy Museum near Cairns:
http://www.spycameramuseum.com.au/Site/Home.html
They have quite a range of cameras and a lot of knowledge of the craft.
.. thanks Gordo, and now a question; would I see a code on each photo, if I was examining the negs?
ReplyDeleteIf you were examining the code page then you would look at both positive and negative views of the image and would see whatever the camera had captured. Specifically on the code page there are numerous instances of number sets and letters in various locations. Part of the process is to look at each letter from different angles and in both views. I print out a high res image for each and then put them under a 10X magnifier with backlight to see just what the camera caught. If when you change from positive to negative the markings first noticed disappear then what you observed in the first instance is very pobably a digital artefact.
DeleteI hope I'm answering the right question here, if not please repost and I'll do my best.
not quite, I meant the negative exposures in the miniature camera's cartridge of 16
ReplyDeleteThen answer would be yes if you had taken a picture of some code, you get what the camera captures even though the negs would be quite small, they would be of reasonable definition.. Sorry if I am not following your line of thought.
DeleteWasn't there something I'd guess similar to the Sleeve dagger in the briefcase found in the train station?
ReplyDelete[A new twist in the case occurred on 14 January 1949, when staff at Adelaide Railway Station discovered a brown suitcase with its label removed, which had been checked into the station cloakroom after 11:00 a.m. on 30 November 1948.[32] In the case were a red checked dressing gown, a size seven, red felt pair of slippers; four pairs of underpants, pyjamas, shaving items, a light brown pair of trousers with sand in the cuffs, an electrician's screwdriver, a table knife cut down into a short sharp instrument, a pair of scissors with sharpened points, and a stencilling brush, as used by third officers on merchant ships for stencilling cargo.] -Wikipedia
Aseer, There were many items in the suitcase which could have had additional uses and the sharpened knife would qualify for that. As you dig deeper into this you will find inconsistencies well above the norm. Thanks for your comment, look forward to hearing more from you.
DeleteThanks..
ReplyDelete