Bletchley Park carrier pigeon found dead 70 years after it disappeard with coded message.....

[StefanM]

A WWII PDSA Dickin medal for bravery awarded to "Commando" a pigeon was auctioned in 2004 and sold for £9200. The medal was awarded to 32 pigeons, 18 dogs, three horses, and one cat

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[Horrido]

A WWII PDSA Dickin medal for bravery awarded to "Commando" a pigeon was auctioned in 2004 and sold for £9200. The medal was awarded to 32 pigeons, 18 dogs, three horses, and one cat

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I'd love to know about the cat!

[Adrian]

I'd love to know about the cat!

The cat was dropped behind enemy lines. Owing to bad weather over the drop zone it parachuted out 150 miles west of the intended LZ.

Luckily it escaped capture and made it to the intended target three weeks later - The Berghof.

After casing the joint for two nights under cover of darkness and working out exactly how it was going to carry out the plan, on the third night it crept out of cover, evaded the SS guards and other various members of household staff, snuck round to the flower border outside of Uncle Adolf's study, dug a small hole amongst the marigolds and took a massive dump.

When the job was completed it melted away into the darkness undetected, paused briefly and turned round to look at the devestation caused to the neatly kept flower bed. Purring softly it licked it's backside and disappeared into the night.



Isn't that what all cats do...........?



Apologies to Reynard if she reads this........

[lithgow]

Assume the cat caught Luftwaffe carrier pigeons-NOW that's what cats do...

[Reynard]

Hahahahahaha, ROFLMAO! Oh myyyy, that's just soooo funny! Thanks for making me laugh Adrian.

Besides, my tortoiseshell assistant does a good line in digging random holes in my garden. I've given up keeping it neat LOL. She also does a good line in catching pigeons - maybe she zapped said Bletchely Park one in a previous life

[CARL]

There is absolutely no truth in that tale Adrian. That would never have happened, not on Blondi's watch...



Wait, but what if she was in Berlin at the time...?

[Bill T]

I'm thinking the only thing that might be plausible in Mr Youngs theory is the Date/time. Interesting stuff tho.

[Wagriff]

I'm still speechless that someone 8 years ago paid £9200 for a medal given to a Pigeon....

[sandgroper]

The cat was dropped behind enemy lines. Owing to bad weather over the drop zone it parachuted out 150 miles west of the intended LZ.

Luckily it escaped capture and made it to the intended target three weeks later - The Berghof.

After casing the joint for two nights under cover of darkness and working out exactly how it was going to carry out the plan, on the third night it crept out of cover, evaded the SS guards and other various members of household staff, snuck round to the flower border outside of Uncle Adolf's study, dug a small hole amongst the marigolds and took a massive dump.

When the job was completed it melted away into the darkness undetected, paused briefly and turned round to look at the devestation caused to the neatly kept flower bed. Purring softly it licked it's backside and disappeared into the night.



Isn't that what all cats do...........?



Apologies to Reynard if she reads this........

I detest cats normally ..........however, I like this one!

[DioMac]

I don't think so.

1. An SOE operative using an outdated code from WW1 to send highly important information that needed almost instant reaction to be initiated upon by carrier pigeon?

By the time the bird got home, the message was passed on, then decrypted and forwarded to either the RAF or in theatre artillery to attack the enemy armour would take literally hours. By that time the Germans could have given their tanks a full service, put their feet up with an ersatz coffee and sausage sandwiches to the strains of 'Lilli Marlene' on the gramaphone for a couple of hours and still done a 'Lord Lucan' way before any bother from our chaps!

2. Mr. Young states that the message was encrypted by using an obsolete code book used by the RFC in WW1. He avoids any parts of the 'code' he has, that do not fit with the message, by saying they are 'acronyms' for certain words and meanings. Really?? There must be a bloody thick book of those lying around somewhere. For instance, he states that using his WW1 code, the letter 'J' is an acronym for 'Jerries', as in the coded line 'FNFJW' which he claims reads "Final Note (confirming) Found Jerries Whereabouts". As far as I know, the name 'Jerry' or 'Jerries' was not used in WW1, and only came into use in WW2, so how does he explain that? I think it's all bollocks and the guy is a fantasist making up a story that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny by a long straw.

I look forward to his sending his method to GCHQ as requested so that it can be proved unequivocally.

3. If the code was a tactical code, it would have been designed to only be proof against decoding for a couple of hours. This would allow it to be encoded and decoded while the information in it was still of tactical value. If the code were of this form, I would have expected GCHQ to have cracked it by now.

If the code were of strategic importance, or if it contained critical personal details, you wouldn't want the Germans to crack it. Here time was less important and a 'one time pad' would have been used. These codes are genuinely unbreakable - and this is probably the reason GCHQ failed to crack it.

In which case the message is lost forever, particularly as both sides were meant to throw away the page of the one time pad as soon as the message had been encoded/decoded.

This is going to remain one of life's little mysteries I'm afraid, and Mr. Young is a sad fantasist, but let's wait and see how his evidence stacks up when scrutinised by the real Sneaky Beaky's.....

Regards, Ned.

I'm with you Ned. I was reading the full letter (which can be found here - Letter to David Cameron from Gordon Young - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)), and it sounded like someone trying to make a story fit when it clearly didn't.

The writer / society seems to have a grasp of historical matters, but it seems strictly amatuerish to me.

Have a read of the letter. I think you'll agree with me!