Ciphertext:
637952 8452G 75332 49465 45469 R3293 295X5 87250 02XN4 33976 38548 49525 84M85 48967 66478 35459 53553 AVACG RABH4 73553 27335 P2422 54A27 B54GP 6R285 3645 35135 45247 23H28 55X95 4XA22 45352Ciphertext: 637952 84 75332 49465 45469 R3293 295X5 87250 02XN4 33976 38548 49525 84
THE NIHILIST CIPHER
This group used a NHILIST cipher however they did make some modifications in its structure thanks to a very smart radio operator who, incidentally, hailed from Liverpool. As you might expect, there is more than one twist to this story.
The operator concerned, known as (Allan)Alexander Foote, documented and later published the precise methods he used in constructing the messages he was to send to the Moscow Centre.
Very briefly, the Nihilist code originated in Russia in the late 19th Century, it was formulated by an organised group of people who held that Nihilism was the right way forward for not only Russia but for everyone.. They were totally anti-authority, anti-religion, anti-family in fact they were anti-everything that to their minds represented control.
Many of the supporters of the movement were harshly dealt with. The cipher though survived and was later to be adopted by the Soviets and as we have noted before, the mechanisms evolved over the years of its use.
The cipher is a ‘polybius’ cipher it is based on a matrix of 5 x 5 squares representing the alphabet which of course contains one extra letter that exists in this matrix. The letters 'I' was redundant. The other aspect of note is that this cipher had two keywords, the first was a word or set of letters normally 5 or 6 inserted at the beginning of a message. A second keyword was added to each message and it was how this keyword was constructed that piqued my interest.
They formed this second keyword in this cipher using a book, then a page in that book, a paragraph on that page, the position of a letter within a paragraph, a line, and a word. Followers of this blog may recognise the method it being not only a book code but it is very similar to the DANETTA code found in the cases of 4 unusual deaths in Australia including George Marshall, Michael Goreloff, the Somerton Man and Tibor Kaldor.
AN EXAMPLE OF A NIHILIST CIPHER USED BY THE LUCY SPY RING:
Thanks to Alexander Foote, the radio operator for the LUCY spy ring, Based in Switzer we have a very good example and a description of the cipher that he used in his time with the ring. He wrote a book about his experiences as a Soviet Spy.
Here are a few screen grabs from Foote's book with explanations: