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Crypto Pin-wheel Germany
Hitlermühle
- wanted item
Schlüsselgerät 41 (cipher machine 41), 1 or SG-41, was a mechanical
pin-wheel cipher machine,
developed during WWII
by Regierungsoberinspektor Fritz Menzer as a replacement candidate
for the Enigma-G machine
that was used by the Abwehr
[2]. It was manufactured by Wanderer Werke
in Siegmar-Schönau (Germany) 2 and was introduced on 12 October 1944.
Although 11,000 units were ordered, just 1000 to 2000 units
had been delivered by the end of the war.
The machine is also known as Hitlermühle (Hitler mill), most likely
because of the large crank at the right side.
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Unlike Enigma,
the SG-41 is not based on the common principle of the
rotor machine,
but is an improved version of the
pin-and-lug principle of the C-machines,
developed by Boris Hagelin in Sweden
(later: Switzerland).
Similar systems were developed by Hagelin before the war
(e.g. C-36
and C-38)
and were used during the war by the American Army
as the M-209
and the BC-38.
Although the SG-41 is clearly based on the
BC-38 and
M-209,
it is more advanced in a number of ways.
In particular, it features irregular wheel
movements, plus an inversion feature, controlled by the 6th wheel,
that makes it difficult to break.
The image on the right shows an SG-41 that was auctioned at
Herman Historica in May 2019 and that was fully restored by Klaus
Kopacz later that year, which gave us the opportunity to research it in
detail [6].
The machine shown here is the alphanumerical
variant with 26 letters on the keyboard (A-Z). The letter J
is marked in red, as it used instead of the (missing) SPACE character.
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When unused, a panzerholz cover can be placed over the machine,
after which is can be stowed safely.
The serial number tag at the rear
shows that it was made in 1944 by Wanderer-Werke AG (manufacturer code CXO) in Siegmar-Schönau [4].
At the time, Wanderer was one of the leading manufacturers of typewriters
in Germany.
At the outbreak of WWII, Siegmar-Schönau was a large industrial city
in the eastern part of Germany. Today, the former city 2 is a suburb of Chemnitz.
➤ Technical description of the SG-41
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On the device itself, abbreviated as 'Schl. Ger.'.
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Wanderer Werke was located in Siegmar-Schönau, at the time a city west
of Chemnitz. On 1 July 1950, Siegmar-Schönau was merged with and
became a neighborhood of
Chemnitz (note than from 1953 to 1990,
Chemnitz was known as Karl-Marx-Stadt) [5].
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A
The exterior of the SG-41 is quite different from the
Hagelin C-machines
(or actually the BC-machines) on which it is clearly based. The case is
higher than that of the Hagelin BC-38
and it features a large paper storage compartment at the bottom
which is accessible from the front.
The machine is not driven by a motor but is hand-operated with the foldable
crank at the right. At the front left of the top surface is a character
counter that can be reset with a large knob to its right.
Below a rectangular cover at the top are the
six pin-wheels
that can be released (i.e. unlocked) with a lever at the right.
Once unlocked, the initial position of the wheels can be set.
The leftmost four wheels have letters on them, whilst the the remaining
two are marked with numbers. In order to increase the cipher period of
the machine (i.e. the number of steps before it repeats itself),
some wheels have a different number of steps. From left to right:
25 25 23 23 24 24
1 2 3 4 5 6
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The SG-41 was also available in a numbers-only variant,
the SG-41Z, shown in the image on the right. The outer dimensions of
the machine are identical to the 'full' version, but the keyboard
has only 10 keys that are divided over two rows.
The SG-41Z was intented for use with numeric messages (i.e. messages that
consists solely of numbers) such as weather reports. Apparently, 550
units were built in the final months of the war for Luftwaffe
weather reports [7].
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The SG-41 was first encountered by the codebreakers of ISK
at Bletchley Park (BP)
on 12 October 1944. According to former codebreaker
Mavis Batey in [2],
they knew that the machine had six cipher wheels that moved irregularly,
sometimes even backwards. 1 Even when the pure key was available to them,
they were not able to reconstruct the wheel settings and the pin patterns.
Such advanced features were not available on the Hagelin machines
until much later with the CX-52.
Although GC&GS
managed to read a few messages in depth, they were
not able to solve the machine during the war. The machine remained a
complete mystery to them.
According to Batey, a post-war US Signal Security Report
described it as a 'remarkable machine' [2].
The machine was designed by Regierungsoberinspektor Fritz Menzer,
who had caused the intelligence sections
ISK and ISOS at Bletchley Park (BP)
problems before, with the introduction of numerous reforms and improvements
to the Abwehr's ciphers.
The SG-41 was intended to replace the Enigma-G —
used for the Abwehr's European communication — but by the time
the war was over, it was only in use on some internal networks.
Had it been rolled out widely, as intended, it would
have posed a real problem for the Allied codebreakers at BP.
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This is clearly a misunderstanding, as the wheels do not move backwards.
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Below is a short film from the
Deutsches Museum,
about the preservation of an SG-41 that was found
at the bottom of a lake. Although it is not possible to restore this
machine to its former glory, it is important that it is protected against
further deterioration. In the film, curator Dr. Carola Dahlke explains
the problems of toxic fumes that are emitted by the Nitrocellulose keys.
The toxic gasses may cause deterioration of the keys themselves, but also
of the remains of the machine, and potentially also of any other objects in its
vicinity. Until a proper solution is found, the machine will therefore be
stored under controlled conditions when it is not on public display.
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- GCHQ, Photographs of SG-41 and SG-41Z from the collection of GCHQ
Photographs kindly supplied by GCHQ.
3 December 2012. Crown Copyright.
- Mavis Batey, Dilly, The Man Who Broke Enigmas
2009. Hard cover, ISBN 978-1-906447-01-4.
- Wikipedia, Schlüsselgerät 41
German. Retrieved January 2014.
- Liste der Fertigungskennzeichen für Waffen, Munition und Gerät
Oberkommando des Heeres. Reichsdrückerei Berlin 1944.
Reprinted by Pawlas, Nürnberg, 1977.
ISBN 3-88088-214-2
- Wikipedia, Siegmar-Schönau
German. Retrieved January 2914.
- Klaus Kopacz & Paul Reuvers, Schlüsselgerät 41
Crypto Museum, 6 February 2021.
➤ Info
- Michael Pröse, Chiffriermaschinen und Entzifferungsgeräte im 2.WK
Dissertation (German), December 2004. p. 64.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Sunday 19 January 2014. Last changed: Tuesday, 06 September 2022 - 09:14 CET.
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![The alphanumerical version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_01t.jpg "image # sg41_01.jpg")
![SG-41 ready for use. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_03t.jpg "image # sg41_03.jpg"){kind=small}
![SG-41 with its paper compartment opened. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_04t.jpg "image # sg41_04.jpg"){kind=small}
![The alphanumerical version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_01.jpg)
![SG-41 ready for use. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_03.jpg)
![SG-41 with its paper compartment opened. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_04.jpg)
![The six cipher wheels. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_05t.jpg "image # sg41_05.jpg")
![The 6 cipher wheel, the release lever and the cover. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_06t.jpg "image # sg41_06.jpg")
![Serial number plate. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_07t.jpg "image # sg41_07.jpg")
![Waffenamtabnahmestempel (acceptation stamp). Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_08t.jpg "image # sg41_08.jpg"){kind=small}
![The six cipher wheels. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_05.jpg)
![The 6 cipher wheel, the release lever and the cover. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_06.jpg)
![Serial number plate. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_07.jpg)
![Waffenamtabnahmestempel (acceptation stamp). Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_08.jpg)
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_11.jpg)
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_11t.jpg "image # sg41_11.jpg")
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_12t.jpg "image # sg41_12.jpg")
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_13t.jpg "image # sg41_13.jpg")
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_14t.jpg "image # sg41_14.jpg")
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_15t.jpg "image # sg41_15.jpg")
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_12.jpg)
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_13.jpg)
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_14.jpg)
![SG-41Z, the numbers-only version of the SG-41, with the top lid removed. Photograph GCHQ [1].](img/sg41_15.jpg)