Abstract

The Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871) was the first major European conflict during which extensive telegraph use enabled fast communication across large distances. Field officers would therefore have to learn how to use secret codes. But training officers also raises the probability that defectors would reveal these codes to the enemy. Practically all known secret codes at the time could be broken if the enemy knew how they worked. Under Kerckhoffs’ impulsion, the French military thus developed new codes, meant to resist even if the adversary knew the encoding and decoding algorithms, that were simple enough to be explained and taught to military personnel. Many of these codes were lost to history. One of the designs however, due to Major H. D. Josse, has been recovered and this article describes the features, history, and role of this particular construction. Josse’s code was considered for field deployment and underwent some experimental tests in the late 1800 s, the result of which were condensed in a short handwritten report. During World War II, German forces got hold of documents describing Josse’s work, and brought them to Berlin to be analyzed. A few years later these documents moved to Russia, where they have resided since.

摘要

普法战争（1870-1871 年）是欧洲第一次重大冲突，在此期间，大量使用电报实现了远距离快速通信。因此，外勤人员必须学习如何使用密码。但训练人员也增加了叛逃者向敌人透露这些代码的可能性。如果敌人知道它们是如何工作的，那么当时几乎所有已知的密码都可以被破解。在 Kerckhoffs 的推动下，法国军方因此开发了新的代码，即使对手知道编码和解码算法也能抵抗，这些算法很简单，可以向军事人员解释和教授。其中许多代码已被历史遗忘。然而，由于 HD Josse 少校的设计，其中一个设计已经恢复，本文描述了其特征、历史、以及这种特殊结构的作用。Josse 的代码被考虑用于现场部署，并在 1800 年代后期进行了一些实验测试，其结果被浓缩在一份简短的手写报告中。二战期间，德国军队掌握了描述何塞工作的文件，并将其带到柏林进行分析。几年后，这些文件搬到了俄罗斯，从那以后就一直居住在那里。