Used by the Allies

Intelligence organizations were not the only source of codes used in World War II. Prisoners-of -war devised their own codes when necessary. Two examples, one from a British officer held in Germany and another from an American held in Japan, show how home-grown codes got messages through.
Captain Geoffrey Stibbard, captured in Greece in 1941, was imprisoned in Oflag VGB, a camp for officers in Germany. He sent hundreds of letters in code to British intelligence officers through his mother. Though the letters appeared as normal correspondence, they used an elaborate code that he had arranged with his mother before heading overseas. So refined was the code that Stibbard’s mother had to assist intelligence officers with the deciphering.
Held in a prison camp in Japan, Lt. Frank G. Jonelis sent a post card to “Mr. F. B Iers” in Los Angeles. Unaware of the reference to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Japanese censors let the post card go. An FBI agent recognized that the contents contained a “null” code, that is, one in which certain words were to be ignored, and deciphered the message. All but the first two words in each line of the post card were relevant. So the example below really meant, “After surrender, fifty percent Americans lost in Philippines. In Nippon, 30 percent.” (The boldface type has been added.)

 

August 29th 1943

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DEAR IERS

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AFTER SURRENDER HEALTH IMPROVED

50 PERCENT. BETTER FOOD ECT.

AMERICANS LOST CONFIDENCE

IN PHILLIPINES. AM COMFORTABLE IN NIPPON.

MOTHER : INVEST 30%, SALARY IN BUSINESS,

LOVE

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Frank G Jonelis

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Other POWs established sophisticated ways to exchange messages with relatives through the Red Cross mail system. Usually the soldiers had planned out the code ahead of time with a wife, relative, or friend. Their purpose was often to avoid the censors, but they also provided valuable information to Allied intelligence officers.