Codebreakers: Arne Beurling and the Swedish Crypto Program During World War II by Bengt Beckman (PDF)

Description

One of the greatest accomplishments in the history of cryptography occurred in 1940 when a Swedish mathematician broke the German code used for strategic military communications. This story has all the elements of a classic thriller: a desperate wartime situation; a moody and secretive mathematical genius with a talent for cryptography; and a stunning mathematical feat, mysterious to this day. Arne Beurling, the man who inherited Einstein’s office at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, was the figure who played this role at a crucial moment in world history. Though the cracking of the code from the Geheimschreiber (G-Schreiber) device is every bit as impressive as the breaking of the Enigma code by the Poles and English, this secret has been kept for over 50 years! Through the eyes of a former head of Sweden’s signal intelligence organization, Bengt Beckman, the reader will learn about the events leading up to the breakthrough and make the acquaintance of not only a remarkable mathematician, but also a remarkable human being. Arne Beurling was a leading international figure who achieved beautiful results in mathematical analysis. By the arrival of World War II, he was one of the most powerful and original mathematicians in the world and widely considered a genius. During his military service, he demonstrated a flair for code and was well known within Swedish cryptology circles. The natural choice of the Swedish intelligence service was to place Beurling at the center of the group charged with breaking the G-Schreiber code. His single-handed effort “broke the unbreakable”. Using only teleprinter tapes and cipher text, he deciphered the code that the Germans believed impossible to crack–in two weeks! The feat, in a word, was astonishing. Many wonder how he did it. But Beurling took his secret to the grave, retorting when asked, “A magician does not reveal his secrets.” The author, Bengt Beckman, for many years was the head of the cryptanalysis department of the Swedish signal intelligence agency. In writing this book, he made extensive use of its archives. He also interviewed many people who participated in the Swedish wartime intelligence effort. He describes in detail Beurling’s attack on the G-Schreiber system as well as attacks on several other wartime crypto systems, noting high points from the history of Swedish cryptology. The book will appeal to a broad audience of readers, from historians and biography buffs to mathematicians to anyone with a passing interest in cryptology and cryptanalysis. This English edition has been translated by Kjell-Ove Widman, Director of Sweden’s Mittag-Leffler Insitute. Also on cryptography and available from the AMS is “Cryptography: An Introduction.”

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review Credit is due to the American Mathematical Society that now an English translation, carried out with great competence by Kjell-Ove Widman, has appeared. The translation allows a wide general public with no knowledge of the Swedish language to compare the Swedish successes with the Polish and British cryptanalytic achievements against the communication lines of the German Wehrmacht. … Beckman’s book has completed the picture of the great cryptanalyst Arne Beurling. … Bengt Beckman has produced a well-written, fascinating book showing the mathematician Arne Beurling … as well as the part-time cryptologist Beurling in the depressing atmosphere in Sweden during the Second World War. This is an unforgettable book, even for those not addicted to cryptology. –F.L. Bauer, Notices of the AMSIf you are interested in the history of cryptography, or perhaps even in history in general, then you’ll find much to enjoy in this book. … The book presents the history of Swedish cryptography well; but where it truly shines is in the stories of the people. Not just stories about Beurling, but of many of the other characters as well. Stories about the cryptographers dealing with military bureaucracy, their working conditions, the occasional public gaffe, and their methods for getting the job done in less-than-ideal circumstances, make for some fun reading. –Donald L. Vestal, MAA ReviewsAll stories about cryptanalytical work prior and during the World War II read like a thriller. The book under review is no exception. The author, the former head of the cryptanalytical section of FRA (The Radio Agency of the Swedish Defence Forces), presents a well of information. Its highlight is the detailed description of Arne Beurling’s solution of the German Siemens machine, one of the most magnificent achievements of cryptanalysis of that time. …The book can be highly recommended to anyone interested in the role of mathematics in classical cryptology and in the history of the 20th century. –EMS Newsletter

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a true story about codebreaking during WW2. The parallells with Bletchley Park are numerous: the common opponent in the war between cryptologists, the race against time during most of 1940, the crucial importance of a single person, to name but a few. And the lack of champagne and party crackers afterwards. Only several decades later when the war records were cleared from red tape, we learned about the feats conducted by the Bletchley Park team. (For myself, the brilliant book by Simon Singh was an eye-opener.)In the case of Arne Beurling’s cracking of the Siemens Geheimschreiber – no less impressive, given the vastly higher complexity of this 10-rotor device in comparison with the 3-rotor Enigma – there have been additional obstacles. For one, Arne Beurling, who after the war moved to Princeton where he inherited Albert Einstein’s office (though not chair), took his secret with him into the grave. The likely chain of thought has been reconstructed recently and the rendition is fascinating reading. Another obstacle, to reach a non-Swedish audience, should not be underrated in this context, but has now been overcome, with this second edition, translated into English.For those of you captivated by the story about Enigma and Bletchley Park and desperately looking for more reading of the same sort, this book is good news!

⭐I love the book!

⭐Revealing book about a great mathematician. Beurling’s birth number is 20/2!

⭐Partly a biography of Beurling, partly a desciption of the Geheimschreiber breaking. You will not really get to understand exactly how Beuring did it since he has never revealed in any details.

⭐ドイツで使われた有名な暗号機、ゲハイムシュライバーを解読したスウェーデンの数学者、Arne Beurlingとスウェーデンの暗号解読組織である Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA)の活動についての内容となっています。個人的にはガチガチな暗号解読理論に関する内容を期待していたのですが、そこまでのものではなく、史実と暗号理論のイロハも含まれています。この本を買いたいと思う方は恐らくはゲハイムシュライバーの解読理論に興味があるのではないかと思うのですが、それに該当する部分はP75〜P86の一章分の記述になります。実例を挙げて分かりやすく書かれているのでしっかりと読みこめば分かるかもしれないのですが、もう少し時間をかけないと何とも言えない段階です（すいません…）。他にはいわゆる「サイファー」「コード」についての説明、ソ連海軍の暗号表、テレプリンターの仕組み、ゲハイムシュライバー自体の説明、double transposition（2回暗号化すること）、それに伝記的な内容が続きます。暗号解読の解説書の記述は別に短くても的確な記述ならば（経験的に）理解できます。しかし、長い時間がかかりますね…例えば

⭐

⭐暗号解読―ロゼッタストーンから量子暗号まで

⭐と

⭐

⭐甦るチューリング―コンピュータ科学に残された夢

⭐の記述でエニグマ解読の方法を理解するのに、私は10年もかかりました…今回は何年かかるのか…

⭐

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