WW1 Codes and Ciphers - ADFGVX Mystery Cache

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Hidden : 2/19/2014
Difficulty:
4.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


It should come as no surprise that the need to send secret messages during a conflict vastly increases the development and use of codes and ciphers.

In the spring of 1918 the Germans started using the ADFGVX cipher. This is a fractionating transposition cipher combining a modified Polybius Square with a single columnar transposition. The Germans thought it unbreakable, but the Allies broke it in June of that year.

Now they managed it without the use of computers or the internet – so you should have no problem , especially as the keys used are topical and not random.

Alert: You are about to download a file that contains further details needed to find this geocache. As the cache owner, I represent that this file is safe to download although it has not been checked by Groundspeak or by the reviewer for possible malicious content. Download this file at your own risk.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to decipher this intercepted transmission.



Please bring your own pen to sign the log sheet.


Please do not include any sort of cipher text, codes or hints in your logs. Any logs that do will be deleted.


Report from the Analysis team.

Preliminary investigation results of the German transmission received today:
The cipher text has 276 characters.
The transposition key length will be a factor of this, most likely between 4 & 10.
We expect the transposition key word has no duplicate letters.
It is more than likely that there is more than one word in the square key.
We think the plaintext was padded.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Onpx bs gerr, nccebk 4sg hc.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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