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Darwin Enigma Challenge Mystery Cache

Hidden : 12/26/2007
Difficulty:
5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:


The cache is a medium sized container and holds log book and pencil. There is room for travel bugs and coins. I have included a First to Find prize of a unactivated LizardToad Decypher Coin for the first to crack the code. Good luck and happy hunting.

The listed coordinates are false and will take you to the middle of a lake. The cache is within 800m of the posted coordinates. To find the cache you must break the Enigma code first. How you achieve this is up to you. The Cache should be an easy find after you have mastered the Enigma machine. There is no hidden tricks, all the information needed has been given to decipher the coded message. All you need to do is work out what to do with this information.
...............................
ENIGMA CODED MESSAGE FOLLOWS
...............................
8th January 1942 Beginnen Sie Position = LPW

MPXBB AHKDM AZHCT QVAFP TGCKZ
KTGHU CWNDF QIXDK QJFYM SAWGA
VADCM NRMKE KYDHL ZDNVE QNWFS
WGYVD YJRIE QCJAF LVGXB HQFRS
IMCMC SEZGJ QCFOS OVQJW NMJTX
PSCXZ QCBNV PSFDN JUTKU OZRZQ
LXSAO VKVJF UYBGW NSTFN DHDPW
IXFVM ZMREN WAEZF BODHT HATIX
ZLDDB QBWXC HJRIX

The Enigma message above was intercepted on the 8th January 1942 and we were lucky to find a code book in a captured enemy submarine. This is a copy from the actual code book.


08 | C | IV V III | 22 16 09 | BF CP EG IL KY MU NW OQ RX ST | LPW YKI HBB KDS

Some Potentially Useful Information:
Machine Type: Wehrmacht
Umkehrwalze: C
Walzenlage: IV V III
Ringstellung: 22 16 09
Steckerverlendungen: BF CP EG IL KY MU NW OQ RX ST
Message Grundstellung: LPW

for a full copy of the code book page refer to the photo below.

 

The story of the famous Enigma cipher machine combines ingenious technology, military history and the mysterious world of espionage, codebreakers and intelligence into a real thriller. Never before has the fate of so many lives been so influenced by one cryptographic machine, as in the Second World War. Enigma is the most famous and appealing example of the battle between codemakers and codebreakers. Enigma showed the importance of cryptography to military and civil intelligence.

Origin of the Enigma Machine.

With the rise in the early 1900's of wireless communication the need for secure communications for both military as civilian use became essential. The search to replace the impractical and time-consuming hand ciphers began. In 1917, the American Edward Hugh Hebern developed a cipher machine with rotating disks, each disk performing a substitution cipher. Hebern's idea was the base for many similar machines, developed in several other countries.

In 1918, Engineer Arthur Scherbius patented a cipher machine using rotors. The German Navy and Foreign Offices were approached, but were not interested. In 1923, the rights for the patents went to Chiffriermaschinen-AG, a firm with Scherbius on the board of directors, that commercialized the machine. In 1927, Scherbius bought the 1919 patent from of a similar machine from the Dutchman Koch, in order to secure his own patent, approved in 1925.

The first cipher machine, Enigma A, came onto the market in 1923. It was a large and heavy machine with an integrated typewriter and weighed about 50 Kg. Soon after the Enigma B was introduced, a very similar machine. The weight and size of these machines made them unattractive for military use. The development of the reflector, an idea of Scherbius' colleague Willi Korn, made it possible to design the compact and much lighter Enigma C. Also, the type writer part was replaced by a lamp panel. In 1927, the Enigma D was introduced and commercialized in different versions, and sold across Europe to military and diplomatic services.

The Swiss army used the Enigma K. The Italian Navy bought the commercial Enigma D, as did Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Several intelligence services succeeded in breaking some civil and military versions. The British codebreakers for example cracked the Spanish Enigma that was operated without a plugboard. Japan used the Enigma T, also called Tirpiz Enigma, an adapted version of the Enigma K. Japan also developed their own version, with horizontally placed rotors. The messages of both models T and K were broken as well.

 

Additional Hints (No hints available.)