Enigma rotor details

This article contains technical details about the rotors of the Enigma machine.

Understanding the way the machine encrypts requires taking into account the current position of each rotor, the ring setting and its internal wiring.

Physical design of rotors

Detail of rotor internal structure and wiring on display at the US National Cryptologic Museum


Exploded view of an Enigma rotor   Three rotors in sequence
  1. notched ring
  2. marking dot for "A" contact
  3. alphabet tyre
  4. plate contacts
  5. wire connections
  6. pin contacts
  7. spring-loaded ring adjusting lever
  8. hub
  9. finger wheel
  10. ratchet wheel


Rotor electrical view

The scrambling action of the Enigma rotors shown for two consecutive letters current is passed into set of rotors, around the reflector, and back out through the rotors again.

Note: The grayed-out lines represent other possible circuits within each rotor, which are hard-wired to contacts on each rotor.


Rotor offset

In order to understand the effect of rotation on the rotors we demonstrate this by some examples.

As an example, let us take rotor type I without any ring setting offset. You can see that an A is encoded as an E, a B encoded as a K, and a K is encoded as an N. Notice that every letter is encoded into another.

In the case of the reflectors, we take Wide B where an A is returned as a Y and the Y is returned as an A. Notice that the wirings are connected as a loop between two letters.

When a rotor has stepped, you must take into account the offset to know what the output is, and where it enters the next rotor.

If for example rotor I is in the B-position, an A enters at the letter B which is wired to the K. Because of the offset this K enters the next rotor in the J position.

With the rotors I, II and III (from left to right), wide B-reflector, all ring settings in A-position, and start position AAA, typing AAAAA will produce the encoded sequence BDZGO.

Ring setting

The ring settings, or Ringstellung, are used to change the position of the internal wiring relative to the rotor. They do not change the notch or the alphabet ring on the exterior. Those are fixed to the rotor. Changing the ring setting will therefore change the positions of the wiring, relative to the turnover-point and start position.

The ring setting will rotate the wiring. Where rotor I in the A-position normally encodes an A into an E, with a ring setting offset B-02 it will be encoded into K

As mentioned before these encodings only happen after the key is pressed and the rotor has turned. Tracing the signal on the rotors AAA is therefore only possible if a key is pressed while the rotors were in the position AAZ.

With the rotors I, II, III (from left to right), wide B-reflector, all ring settings in B-position, and start position AAA, typing AAAAA will produce the encoded sequence EWTYX.

Rotor wiring tables

This table shows how the internal wiring connects the right side of the rotor (with the springloaded contacts) to the left side. Each rotor is a simple substitution cipher. The letters are listed as connected to alphabet order. If the first letter of a rotor is E, this means that the A is wired to the E. This does not mean that E is wired to A. This looped wiring is only the case with the reflectors.

Terminology
Rotor Wiring
Rotor # ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Date Introduced Model Name & Number
IC DMTWSILRUYQNKFEJCAZBPGXOHV 1924 Commercial Enigma A, B
IIC HQZGPJTMOBLNCIFDYAWVEUSRKX 1924 Commercial Enigma A, B
IIIC UQNTLSZFMREHDPXKIBVYGJCWOA 1924 Commercial Enigma A, B
Rotor # ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Date Introduced Model Name & Number
I JGDQOXUSCAMIFRVTPNEWKBLZYH 7 February 1941 German Railway (Rocket)
II NTZPSFBOKMWRCJDIVLAEYUXHGQ 7 February 1941 German Railway (Rocket)
III JVIUBHTCDYAKEQZPOSGXNRMWFL 7 February 1941 German Railway (Rocket)
UKW QYHOGNECVPUZTFDJAXWMKISRBL 7 February 1941 German Railway (Rocket)
ETW QWERTZUIOASDFGHJKPYXCVBNML 7 February 1941 German Railway (Rocket)
Rotor # ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Date Introduced Model Name & Number
I-K PEZUOHXSCVFMTBGLRINQJWAYDK February 1939 Swiss K
II-K ZOUESYDKFWPCIQXHMVBLGNJRAT February 1939 Swiss K
III-K EHRVXGAOBQUSIMZFLYNWKTPDJC February 1939 Swiss K
UKW-K IMETCGFRAYSQBZXWLHKDVUPOJN February 1939 Swiss K
ETW-K QWERTZUIOASDFGHJKPYXCVBNML February 1939 Swiss K
Rotor # ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Date Introduced Model Name & Number
I EKMFLGDQVZNTOWYHXUSPAIBRCJ 1930 Enigma I
II AJDKSIRUXBLHWTMCQGZNPYFVOE 1930 Enigma I
III BDFHJLCPRTXVZNYEIWGAKMUSQO 1930 Enigma I
IV ESOVPZJAYQUIRHXLNFTGKDCMWB DEC 1938 M3 Army
V VZBRGITYUPSDNHLXAWMJQOFECK DEC 1938 M3 Army
VI JPGVOUMFYQBENHZRDKASXLICTW 1939 M3 & M4 Naval (FEB 1942)
VII NZJHGRCXMYSWBOUFAIVLPEKQDT 1939 M3 & M4 Naval (FEB 1942)
VIII FKQHTLXOCBJSPDZRAMEWNIUYGV 1939 M3 & M4 Naval (FEB 1942)
Rotor # ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Date Introduced Model Name & Number
Beta LEYJVCNIXWPBQMDRTAKZGFUHOS Spring 1941 M4 R2
Gamma FSOKANUERHMBTIYCWLQPZXVGJD Spring 1942 M4 R2
Reflector A EJMZALYXVBWFCRQUONTSPIKHGD
Reflector B YRUHQSLDPXNGOKMIEBFZCWVJAT
Reflector C FVPJIAOYEDRZXWGCTKUQSBNMHL
Reflector B Thin ENKQAUYWJICOPBLMDXZVFTHRGS 1940 M4 R1 (M3 + Thin)
Reflector C Thin RDOBJNTKVEHMLFCWZAXGYIPSUQ 1940 M4 R1 (M3 + Thin)
ETW ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Enigma I

Technical comments related to Enigma modifications 1939-1945.

Swiss K

Turnover notch positions

The single turnover notch positioned on the left side (plate connector side) of the rotor acted as a one-tooth Leibniz wheel effecting the Stepping motion by engaging the ratchet teeth of the wheel to the left. Later rotors had two turnover notches effecting double-stepping in the Enigma machine. The table below lists the turnover notch point of each rotor.

Rotor Notch Effect
I Q If rotor steps from Q to R, the next rotor is advanced
II E If rotor steps from E to F, the next rotor is advanced
III V If rotor steps from V to W, the next rotor is advanced
IV J If rotor steps from J to K, the next rotor is advanced
V Z If rotor steps from Z to A, the next rotor is advanced
VI, VII, VIII Z+M if rotor steps from Z to A, or from M to N the next rotor is advanced

Normalized Enigma sequences

In the following examples you can observe a normal step sequence and a double step sequence. The used rotors are (from left to right) I, II, III, with turnovers on Q, E and V. It is the right rotor's behavior we observe here (turnover V).

Normal sequence:
Double step sequence:

Fourth rotor

The German Navy 4-rotor Enigma machine (M4) which was introduced for U-boat traffic on 1 February 1942.

The introduction of the fourth rotor was anticipated because captured material dated January 1941 had made reference to the development a fourth rotor wheel;[1] indeed, the wiring of the new fourth rotor had already been worked out.

On 1 February 1942, the Enigma messages began to be encoded using a new Enigma version that had been brought into use. The previous 3-rotor Enigma model had been modified with the old reflector replaced by a thin rotor and a new thin reflector. Breaking Shark on 3-rotor bombes would have taken 50 to 100 times as long as an average Air Force or Army message. It seemed, therefore, that effective, fast, 4-rotor bombes were the only way forward

References

  1. Mahon 1945, p. 62

External links