Virtual Hagelin M-209
A 3D simulation of the Hagelin M-209 cipher machine
NOW LIVE! Commemorating D-DAY 80 - 6th June 2024
Find Out More Run Virtual Hagelin M-209A 3D simulation of the Hagelin M-209 cipher machine
NOW LIVE! Commemorating D-DAY 80 - 6th June 2024
Find Out More Run Virtual Hagelin M-209In cryptography, the M-209, designated CSP-1500 by the Navy (C-48 by the manufacturer) is a portable, mechanical cipher machine used by the US military primarily in World War II, though it remained in active use through the Korean War.
The M-209 was designed by Swedish cryptographer Boris Hagelin and manufactured by Smith & Corona in Syracuse (New York, USA). It was based on the C-38 which itself was an improvement of an earlier machine, the C-36.
Crypto Museum says "The cryptographic strength of the machine was reasonable for its time, but was not perfect. As of early 1943, it was assumed that German codebreakers were able to break an M-209 message in less than 4 hours. Nevertheless, it was considered sufficiently secure for tactical messages which, due to their nature, would be meaningless after several hours. This is why the M-209 was later also used in the Korean War."
Hagelin History How does it work? How do I use the simulation?A number of simulations are available of machines which ran at Bletchley Park and in Germany during WW2.
plus Virtual ERNIE, the Premium Bond random number generator, which was designed and build by some of the same engineers as Colossus.
Virtual Enigma, a full 3D simulation of the German Enigma machine!
Also available, try your hand at breaking Enigma using the Turing-Welchman Bombe!
A simulation of the first electronic computer which broke the German Lorenz cipher during WW2 at Bletchley Park.
The Lorenz SZ40/42 was a formidable cipher attachment used by the German High Command. Use the machine that Colossus was built to break.
Enigma machines were a series of cipher machines developed in Germany between 1923 and 1945. The cipher was cracked initially by the Polish and then expanded on and broken daily at Bletchley Park. This is a fully usable 3D simulation of two models of Enigma.
The Turing-Welchman Bombe was an electro-mechanical device used at Bletchley Park and its outstations during World War II to assist in breaking the Enigma cipher.
The Dragon was built by the Signal Security Agency (SSA) at Arlington Hall, Virginia and was used at Bletchley Park to help break Lorenz codes. It was used to search for a crib (a guess at the text) within the cipher message.
E.R.N.I.E stands for the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment and is a hardware random number generator built in 1956 to find winners each month for the National Savings Premium Bond prize draw.
Typex was a British cipher machine which used a very similar method of enciphering to Enigma. It was also used at Bletchley Park to decipher Enigma messages once the Bombes had found the day key.
A simulation of the ICT 1301 2nd generation computer, specifically serial number 6, named Flossie.
A number of people I need to say thanks and tip my hat to...
www.TNMOC.org .. The National Museum of Computing where my obsession was sparked! Make sure you find time to see their rebuilt and fully working Bombe and Enigma demonstrations at the museum but also so much more including Colossus and the galleries on the breaking of Lorenz, the WITCH & EDSAC, Elliott 308 and all manner of home computers you can use.
Deutsches Museum 3D-Cipher project .. Matthias Göggerle is a research associate in the 3D-Cipher project of the Deutsches Museum. They created several 3D CT scans of their historic cipher machines giving an amazing internal view inside these machines without damaging them. Matthias' assistance with the M-209 model was invaluable and allowed me to create a simulation with unprecendented accuracy and detail!
Take a look & download the other scans available on their website:
www.bletchleypark.org.uk .. Bletchley Park is an incredible site with an amazing story to tell and is so worth a visit (or two, or three). I'm still finding out new things about the work of the incredible men & women who served here during the war each time I visit.
Extra thanks to Thomas Cheetham, Research Officer at the Bletchley Park Trust.
Virtual Hagelin M-209 by virtualcolossus.co.uk is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Please feel free to use Virtual Hagelin M-209 to learn about the machine. If you find it useful or if you have any feedback or ideas for making it easier to use or understand, please do let me know.
It takes a long time to research and build these simulations and I love to hear about them being used, whether for your own information or in a classroom for STEM. Do please drop me a line to let me know if you do!
