Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350

The Luftnachrichten Abteiling 350, abbreviated as OKL/LN Abt 350 and formerly called the (German: Oberkommando der Luftwaffe Luftnachrichten Abteiling 350, was the Signal Intelligence Agency of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, before and during World War II.[1] Before November 1944, the unit was named as the Chi-Stelle O. b. D.L (German: Chiffrier Stelle, Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe), which was often abbreviated to Chi-Stelle/Obdl or more commonly Chi-Stelle. The founding of the OKL/LN Abt 350 dates back to the year 1936, when Colonel (later General} Wolfgang Martini instigated the creation of the agency, that was later setup on the orders of Hermann Göring, the German politician, military leader, and leading member of the Nazi Party.[2] Right from the beginning, the Luftwaffe High Command resolved itself to make itself entirely independent from the German Army in the field of cryptology.[3]

Origin

Organization chart with legend for Luftwaffe Signals Organization.

As early as 1935, civilian employees of the Luftwaffe had been sent to fixed intercept stations of the German Army for training. A Luftwaffe officer, a technician and a civilian inspector who has been associated with the German Army Intelligence Service during World War I were transferred to the Luftwaffe Chi-Stelle. The two people canvassed for assistants among their old circle of acquaintances, former soldiers who had served in World War I as intercept technicians or Cryptanalysts. There numbers were no means sufficient for the task at hand.[2] They consisted of people who at one time, either in civilian or military life, had received radio training or who were fluent in foreign languages. Among them were old soldiers, former seamen, professional travellers, adventurers and political refugees. In contrast to the Army, security measures taken in admitting people to the Agency were superficial, and a great number were found to be of questionable character. These trainees made training more difficult. Owning to their privileged position, they had a derogatory influence on the Luftwaffe Agency.[4]

In creating the Chi-Stelle, the fundamental error was committed of choosing personnel indiscriminately, without any regard to their previous training for this special work. The civilian employees had training, but no training in Chi-Stelle type of work. Therefore, the importance of the Chi-Stelle in these first years remained slight, when it should have been assuming operation direction of the Luftwaffe Signal Intelligence Operation.[5] A small nucleus had been assembled, with independent Luftwaffe intercept experiments begun, and by the summer of 1936, traffic from Italy, Britain, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russian air forces, had been intercepted. The training of radio operations was supervised by a small cadre obtained from the Reichswehr cipher bureau. On the 1st January, 1937, the agency was officially launched, under the Luftwaffe banner, with one officer and twenty civilians. It was called Chiffrier Stelle.[1]. New Luftwaffe fixed intercept stations were founded in Munich, Münster, Potsdam (Eiche) were established in 1937 and given the cover name: Weather Radio Receiving Stations (German: Wetterfunkempfangs-stellen) (abbr. W-Stellen).[6] The Luftwaffe fixed intercept stations at first monitored only the air force point-to-point networks taken over by the Army. Since in peacetime, almost all countries sent their radio traffic in Plaintext the work was simple, and direction finding was unknown.[7]

Mobile intercept platoons were established at the same time, to operate in the field.[8][9] These small sections, about 10 analysts who undertook evaluation locally, corresponding to the monitoring areas of the three out-stations, were formed. The first dealt with England, France, and Belgium; the second with Italy, and the third with Russia, Poland and Czechoslovakia. To these, were added a small cryptanalysis group, that was called the Chi-Stelle served all three sections.[10] The intercept stations were supplemented by Direction finding stations which were called Weather Research Stations (German: Wetterforschungsstellen) (abbr. Wo-Stellen), after the start of World War II. The small sections were expanded into mobile Radio Intercept Companies (German: Lufnachrichten Funkhorchkompanin Mot) which collaborated with the fixed stations in the intercept of foreign air force traffic.[11][9]

Relation to Luftwaffe Headquarters

The material sent from the out-stations to the Chi-Stelle Agecy was classified according to tactical subject, and passed to the General Staff. Since, at this time, the Chi-Stelle itself was part of the General Staff, and as such was responsible for SIS planning and personnel policy, its importance in this early stage was considerable.[12] The intelligence was passed to the General Staff was shared with the Chief of the Air Force, the Army, the Navy, and also the local air force: Luftlotte commanders. The Agency had the further duty of assigning intercept missions to the field units.[13][14] It soon became evident that the intelligence needs of the local air force (Luftlotte) commanders could be more quickly satisfied by having evaluation performed at a lower level than at the Agency. As a result field evaluation centres of company strength were established and given the cover name of: Weather Control Stations (German: Wetterleitstellen) (abbr. W-Leit)[15]

TICOM

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 TICOM Volume 5, p. 23
  2. 1 2 IF-180 Seabourne Report, p. 5
  3. ↑ R. A. Ratcliff (14 August 2006). Delusions of Intelligence: Enigma, Ultra, and the End of Secure Ciphers. Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-521-85522-8. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  4. ↑ IF-181 p. 16
  5. ↑ IF-181, p. 14
  6. ↑ IF-181, p. 14
  7. ↑ IF-181, p. 15
  8. ↑ IF-189, 403, p.2
  9. 1 2 Volume 5, p. 9
  10. ↑ IF-180, p. 2
  11. ↑ IF-189, 403, p. 3
  12. ↑ I-180, p. 2
  13. ↑ I-180, p. 2
  14. ↑ Volume 5, p. 10
  15. ↑ IF-181, p. 16

Bibliography

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