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B-Dienst
The B-Dienst (German: Beobachtungsdienst, observation service), also called xB-Dienst, X-B-Dienst and χB-Dienst, was a Department of the German Naval Intelligence Service (German: Marinenachrichtendienst, MND III) of the OKM that dealt with the interception and recording, decoding and analysis of the enemy. In particular, it focused on British radio communications before and during World War II. B-Dienst worked on cryptanalysis and deciphering (decrypting) of enemy and neutral states' message traffic and security control of Kriegsmarine key processes and machinery.
B-Dienst was instrumental in moulding Wehrmacht operations during the Battles of Norway and France in spring 1940, primarily due to the cryptanalysis successes it had achieved against early and less secure British Naval ciphers.
B-Dienst broke British Naval Combined Cypher No. 3 in October 1941, which was used to encrypt all communications between naval personnel, for Allied North Atlantic convoys. This enabled B-Dienst to provide valuable signals intelligence for the German Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. The intelligence flow largely ended when the Admiralty introduced Naval Cipher No. 5 on 10 June 1943. The new cipher became secure in January 1944 with the introduction of the Stencil Subtractor system which was used to recipher it.
The B-Dienst unit began as the German Radio Monitoring Service, or educational and news analysis service (German: Funkhorchdienst / Horchdienst), by the end of World War I in 1918, as part of the navy of the German Empire.
A counterpart to the B service on the British side was the Y-service or Y Service. The Y was onomatopoeic for the initial syllable of the word wireless, similar to the B initial for the German service.
Little was known outside about the internal organization and workings of the B-Dienst section. After the armistice of Italy (Armistice of Cassibile), officers of the Italian naval communications intelligence (SIM, Italian: Servizio Informazioni Militari) in conversation with the allies, informed them that even though they had worked in close collaboration with B-Dienst, they had little understanding of the workings or internal structure of B-Dienst, thereby affirming the secretive nature of the organization and its effective security.
B-Dienst personnel numbered around 5000 people by the end of 1944. B-Dienst originally started as the 3rd section of the 3 Naval Operations (German: Seekriegsleitung) (3/SKL) of the OKM, became part of the 2/SKL, stayed with 2/SKL when it rose to a division, and became in effect 4/SKL. Technically it was the Radio Reconnaissance Branch of the Naval Communications Services Division.
In 1938 before the start of the war, B-Dienst had insufficient personnel to work on the more complex ciphers, so instead concentrated on the Royal Navy Administrative Code, which was a 5-figure code reciphered on a subtractor table. By October 1939, B-Dienst had around 40 men working at the English desk on Naval Cypher, specifically in those areas that interested them, i.e. North Sea and the Atlantic. By the time of the British expeditionary force to Norway (Norwegian Campaign), personnel had almost doubled. By the end of 1940, numbers increased again to 150. Service personnel were recruited from all areas of the armed forces, specifically those who had foreign language skills and were given a short six week training course. By December 1942, the English desk had 275 personnel employed, and around 300–360 cryptanalysts by spring 1943, which was the peak. Including clerks and evaluators, the number was around 1100. From 1942 onwards, due to the high demand for men at the front, B-Dienst was forced to employ women cryptographers. By the end of the war, employment was split at 50% women and 50% men.
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B-Dienst
The B-Dienst (German: Beobachtungsdienst, observation service), also called xB-Dienst, X-B-Dienst and χB-Dienst, was a Department of the German Naval Intelligence Service (German: Marinenachrichtendienst, MND III) of the OKM that dealt with the interception and recording, decoding and analysis of the enemy. In particular, it focused on British radio communications before and during World War II. B-Dienst worked on cryptanalysis and deciphering (decrypting) of enemy and neutral states' message traffic and security control of Kriegsmarine key processes and machinery.
B-Dienst was instrumental in moulding Wehrmacht operations during the Battles of Norway and France in spring 1940, primarily due to the cryptanalysis successes it had achieved against early and less secure British Naval ciphers.
B-Dienst broke British Naval Combined Cypher No. 3 in October 1941, which was used to encrypt all communications between naval personnel, for Allied North Atlantic convoys. This enabled B-Dienst to provide valuable signals intelligence for the German Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. The intelligence flow largely ended when the Admiralty introduced Naval Cipher No. 5 on 10 June 1943. The new cipher became secure in January 1944 with the introduction of the Stencil Subtractor system which was used to recipher it.
The B-Dienst unit began as the German Radio Monitoring Service, or educational and news analysis service (German: Funkhorchdienst / Horchdienst), by the end of World War I in 1918, as part of the navy of the German Empire.
A counterpart to the B service on the British side was the Y-service or Y Service. The Y was onomatopoeic for the initial syllable of the word wireless, similar to the B initial for the German service.
Little was known outside about the internal organization and workings of the B-Dienst section. After the armistice of Italy (Armistice of Cassibile), officers of the Italian naval communications intelligence (SIM, Italian: Servizio Informazioni Militari) in conversation with the allies, informed them that even though they had worked in close collaboration with B-Dienst, they had little understanding of the workings or internal structure of B-Dienst, thereby affirming the secretive nature of the organization and its effective security.
B-Dienst personnel numbered around 5000 people by the end of 1944. B-Dienst originally started as the 3rd section of the 3 Naval Operations (German: Seekriegsleitung) (3/SKL) of the OKM, became part of the 2/SKL, stayed with 2/SKL when it rose to a division, and became in effect 4/SKL. Technically it was the Radio Reconnaissance Branch of the Naval Communications Services Division.
In 1938 before the start of the war, B-Dienst had insufficient personnel to work on the more complex ciphers, so instead concentrated on the Royal Navy Administrative Code, which was a 5-figure code reciphered on a subtractor table. By October 1939, B-Dienst had around 40 men working at the English desk on Naval Cypher, specifically in those areas that interested them, i.e. North Sea and the Atlantic. By the time of the British expeditionary force to Norway (Norwegian Campaign), personnel had almost doubled. By the end of 1940, numbers increased again to 150. Service personnel were recruited from all areas of the armed forces, specifically those who had foreign language skills and were given a short six week training course. By December 1942, the English desk had 275 personnel employed, and around 300–360 cryptanalysts by spring 1943, which was the peak. Including clerks and evaluators, the number was around 1100. From 1942 onwards, due to the high demand for men at the front, B-Dienst was forced to employ women cryptographers. By the end of the war, employment was split at 50% women and 50% men.