by Leo Marks
K33
K33
K33
"
S34
S34
S34
"
K36
K36
K36
"
S42
S42
S42
"
O54
O54
O54
Couldn’t we find what followed this? Couldn’t we, sir? Couldn’t we? After more subliminal prodding he eventually concluded that the word COULDN’T could be in the bottom message.
Top message:
C
O
L
O
N
E
L
O
Z
E
A
N
N
E
Bottom message:
T1
S11
G26
S11
H2
S4
G26
S11
D41
S4
I3
H2
H2
S4
"
E29
L12
I39
L12
F8
D10
I39
L12
D10
A24
F8
F8
D10
"
Y16
U43
Y16
O13
N18
U43
Y16
N18
T49
O13
O13
N18
"
H23
H23
A14
W19
H23
W19
N51
A14
A14
W19
"
E25
E25
D27
S20
E25
S20
D27
D27
S20
"
A48
P30
P30
A48
A48
P30
"
C52
B31
B31
C52
C52
B31
"
E32
E32
E32
"
K33
K33
K33
"
S34
S34
S34
"
K36
K36
K36
"
S42
S42
S42
"
O54
O54
O54
Progress to date:
Top message:
C
O
L
O
N
E
L
O
Z
E
A
N
N
E
Bottom message:
T
H
I
S
C
O
U
L
D
N
T
This couldn’t what?
The letters under NNE were aching to tell us.
Top message:
N
N
E
Bottom message:
H
H
S
F
F
D
O
O
N
A
A
W
D
D
S
A
A
P
C
C
B
E
K
S
K
S
O
Ozanne considered HOP was a promising combination. ‘This couldn’t hop?’ I guided him on to HAP. ‘This couldn’t hap—’? What did hap—suggest? ‘Happy,’ he said. I told him this word hadn’t yet manifested itself in SOE’s traffic. Nor did I expect it to happen. He got there.
Top message:
C
O
L
O
N
E
L
O
Z
E
A
N
N
E
Bottom message:
T
H
I
S
C
O
U
L
D
N
T
H
A
P
P
E
N
The letters above PEN would tell us what Colonel Ozanne was up to.
Letters above PEN (printed downwards for convenience):
P
E
N
E
S
E
S
S
I
E
A
C
C
S
O
M
S
I pointed to the five Ss, and asked if he had any suggestions. None were forthcoming.
‘There is one word beginning with S that everyone associates with you, sir!’
He looked at me suspiciously and demanded to know which word I meant.
‘Signals.’
‘Of course,’ he said.
I chalked it up.
Top message:
C
O
L
O
N
E
L
O
Z
E
A
N
N
E
S
S
I
G
N
A
L
S
Bottom message:
T
H
I
S
C
O
U
L
D
N
T
H
A
P
P
E
N
There was a real eye-catcher, though Ozanne’s were half-closed, in the letters beneath GNALS:
I
H
I
G
E
N
F
A
I
P
O
T
U
E
A
N
M
D
G
A
E
C
E
I put to my comatose colonel that the word IF was a natural to follow ‘this couldn’t happen’, and that AGE could be the start of the most important word in our joint vocabularies: AGENTS.
C
O
L
O
N
E
L
O
Z
E
A
N
N
E
S
S
I
G
N
A
L
S
–
–
–
T
H
I
S
C
&nbs
p; O
U
L
D
N
T
H
A
P
P
E
N
I
F
A
G
E
N
T
S
The letters above NTS offered us mercifully little choice (printed downwards for convenience):
N
T
S
H
C
E
F
R
O
O
R
E
A
A
E
D
E
A
H
C
F
FROM was a likely starter; there was an M waiting to oblige at number 22 in the code groups. But ARE was also a possibility.
I asked which of them he fancied.
‘I can see a B up there,’ he announced, ‘and an F …’
And I could see a BF in the room.
‘Let’s leave Signals, sir,’ I said, knowing that I might have to shortly. ‘What else should we be looking for?’
‘SOE,’ he said. ‘Everyone else is.’
A bullseye for Ozanne. SOE would take us in sight of the finish!
Letters beneath SOE (assuming it was in the top message):
S
O
E
E
S
S
P
L
D
E
Y
N
M
H
W
G
E
S
E
P
E
B
E
K
S
K
S
O
We didn’t need to look further than MES. Nor would the Germans. Message begins, message ends, message indecipherable were part of the standard litany at the poem-code’s funeral service. The orisons were:
Top message:
S
O
E
Bottom message:
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
The principal mourners may approach the grave and scatter handfuls of SAGE. Letters above SAGE (printed downwards for convenience):
O
N
L
S
E
A
D
S
H
N
E
F
C
E
O
E
M
E
The ‘END’ was nigh.
I needed one more guess from him. I pointed to the last letter in the E column of SAGE: the letter M.
‘That M comes immediately after the word END. So what word is it likely to be the start of?’
‘Marks, I should think. I can’t believe you haven’t signed it.’
‘It’s the agent who has! They usually sign off in the same way, no matter what we tell them. It starts with an M, sir …’
The word was MESSAGE, and the letters beneath ESSAGE completed the internment.
Top message:
S
O
E
E
N
D
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
Bottom message:
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
S
E
E
I
N
S
D
P
P
A
I
D
N
E
E
I
N
W
M
M
N
W
S
G
G
S
P
E
E
P
B
E
E
B
E
E
K
K
S
S
O
O
The messages now shared a common grave.
Top message:
S
O
E
E
N
D
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
Bottom message:
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
B
E
G
I
N
S
A few seconds later we had the full texts of both messages:
Top message:
COLONEL OZEANNES SIGNALS ARE THE
NERVE CENTRES OF SOE END MESSAGE.
Bottom message:
THIS COULDN’T HAPPEN IF AGENTS USED
WORKED OUT KEYS MESSAGE ENDS.
They appeared on the blackboard like this:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Top message:
C
O
L
O
N
E
L/
O
Z
E
A
N
N
E
S/
S
I
G
N
Bottom message:
T
H
I
S/
C
O
U
L
D
N
T/
H
A
P
P
E
N/
I
F/
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Top message (cont.):
A
L
S/
A
R
E/
T
H
E/
N
E
R
V
E/
C
E
Bottom message (cont.):
A
G
E
N
T
S/
U
