Catholic Online Forum

The remains of a World War II carrier pigeon - still bearing a secret coded message - have been found in the chimney of a house in England.

Surrey resident David Martin found the bird's bones in his chimney when he was renovating his fireplace.

"About three handfuls of rubbish later, down came the leg with the red capsule on with a message," he said.

"You had to unscrew it and on a piece of paper, cigarette paper thin, was the secret message."

The capsule is the type used by spies who worked in occupied Europe.

The 70-year-old message was written by a Sergeant W Stott and is in code - which points to one destination.

Top code-breakers at one of Britain's intelligence agencies, the GCHQ, say they have failed to decipher a message found attached to the leg of a dead Second World War pigeon.

I think it's a lunch order.

I don't understand why they can't crack it...I'm saying that because I read a headline that said they may never crack it. Don't they have the codes from that era?

I think it's a lunch order.

I don't understand why they can't crack it...I'm saying that because I read a headline that said they may never crack it. Don't they have the codes from that era?

Surrey resident David Martin found the bird's bones in his chimney when he was renovating his fireplace.

"About three handfuls of rubbish later, down came the leg with the red capsule on with a message," he said.

"You had to unscrew it and on a piece of paper, cigarette paper thin, was the secret message."

The capsule is the type used by spies who worked in occupied Europe.

The 70-year-old message was written by a Sergeant W Stott and is in code - which points to one destination.

Val,

It probably required some sort of encryption key known only to the intended recipient(s). It is doubtful that such a key would have been preserved for seventy years. Did you ever read about the Enigma machine?

The code probably could be cracked if somebody wanted to pay the salaries for a team of experts to devote many hours to the project.

Can we send you the bill?

I think it's a lunch order.

Enigma Machine

Val,



Think about it... if you were in France would you send to England for lunch?

Val,



Think about it... if you were in France would you send to England for lunch?

Val,

Quote:
I think it's a lunch order.


Think about it... if you were in France would you send to England for lunch?

Does anyone know if he has bats in his bellfry?

. . . or if he even had a belfry?

A Canadian history buff seems to have cracked a coded World War II message that was found strapped to the leg of a dead carrier pigeon.

But Canadian man Gordon Young says it took just 17 minutes to decipher the message, using his great uncle's code book from World War I.

Mr Young says the message identified German troop and Panzer tank positions, pointing out the location of headquarters and observation posts to target for attacks.

He says the message was sent during the battle for the French city of Caen in the wake of the 1944 D-day landings.

"The observer identifies himself first. Second, he tells them his recorded supplemental report, which is about 330, I think 325 or something on the actual form," he said.

"And then the next one is the most important, what has happened in the last 15, 20 minutes.

"And it's the Panzer assault. And then he explains that the western observer is taking note of how that's unfolding from his angle."