Georges Painvin

Georges Painvin
Georges Painvin in French military uniform 1914
Born	28 January 1886 Paris
Died	21 January 1980 (1980-01-22) (aged 93) Paris
Nationality	French
Education	École polytechnique École des mines de Paris
Occupation(s)	Cryptanalyst, Mathematician, Engineer
Known for	Code Breaking during the First World War; especially the German ADFGX/ADFGVX-cipher
Spouse	Marianne LEFORT
Military career
Allegiance	France
Years of service	1914-1918
Rank	Captain
Unit	Artillery
Battles / wars	First World War
Awards	Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour
Paris Chamber of Commerce
President
In office January 1944 – October 1944

Georges Jean Painvin (French: [ʒɔʁʒ pɛ̃vɛ̃]; 28 January 1886 – 21 January 1980), French geologist and industrialist, is best known as the cryptanalyst who broke the ADFGX/ADFGVX cipher used by the Germans during the First World War.

Early life

A former student of the École polytechnique and the École des mines de Paris and member engineer of the Corps des mines, Painvin worked as a professor in geology and palaeontology for several years until his career was interrupted in 1914 on the onset of the First World War by conscription in the French Army artillery regiment. On befriending a Captain Paulier of the French Army, who introduced him to telegram and communication systems, Painvin would later perform cryptanalysis for the French war effort. Painvin had no training in cryptology but showed considerable passion for these "ciphers".

Painvin was also a keen cello player, and in 1902 he was awarded First prize for cello at the Nantes Conservatory of Music.

Initial cryptanalyses

Painvin asked that he be given intercepted cryptograms transmitted by the invading Imperial Germany. These encrypted telegram messages consisted of both military and diplomatic communications, some transmitted as far as between Berlin and Constantinople, and it did not take long before Painvin made himself known in the field of cryptanalysis. On January 21, 1915, Painvin proposed a method, the ARC system, which made it possible to discover the cryptographic key used for the encryption and this with a single text.

Thereafter, Painvin was transferred to the "Cabinet noir", the French black room which he would occupy until the end of the War. There, he concentrated on the ciphers of the Imperial German Navy, then of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which until his joining had remained entirely incomprehensible. He managed to break the ciphers, allowing a more efficient hunt for German submarines (U-boats). The German troops used several cipher systems, but this did not discourage Painvin, on the contrary. Accompanied by a Colonel Olivari, Painvin set upon attacking the triliteral ABC cipher. After two weeks of work, the two cryptanalysts managed to reconstruct the encrypted messages despite having false messages voluntarily sent by the Germans.

In 1917, the Germans introduced the KRU field cipher. More complex with one cryptographic key per army unit, it would nevertheless be the subject of a meticulous analysis on the part of Painvin and a Captain Guitard.

The "Radiogram of Victory"

File:Georges Painvin.jpg

Georges Painvin in 1914

During the spring of 1918, Paris was constantly being bombarded by German Gotha G.IV bomber aircraft and heavy artillery. The French were unable to crack the newly introduced ADFGX cipher (designated by the German Imperial Army as "Geheimschrift der Funker 1918", in short: GedeFu 18) being used by the Germans and thus could not predict their attacks. On April 5, 1918, Painvin discovered two cryptographic keys used for the new ADFGX cipher and could decipher the new German cipher system. He relied on it for messages dated from April 1.

In June 1918, the German Imperial Army was preparing for a final push on the Western Front to cover the 100 kilometres that separated it from Paris. The Allies needed to know where the German attack would come. But, at this worst stage of the War, the German cipher system became more complex from May 30, by adding the letter "V" (ADFGVX cipher) to the earlier ADFGX cipher method. Painvin assumed that this letter matches the numbers 0-9 and returns work on the cipher. He discovers peculiarities between encrypted messages. After 26 hours of hard work, he succeeded in reconstructing the grid and permutation used for the encryption, and thus managed to decrypt it.

On June 2, 1918, Painvin provided the high authorities of the French army with a deciphered message sent on June 1, towards the German army outposts in the region of Remaugies, north of Compiègne. The text, later called the "Radiogramme de la Victoire", appeared in this numbered form:

FGAXA XAXFF FAFVA AVDFA GAXFX FAFAG DXGGX AGXFD XGAGX GAXGX AGXVF VXXAG XDDAX GGAAF DGGAF FXGGX XDFAX GXAXV AGXGG DFAGG GXVAX VFXGV FFGGA XDGAX FDVGG A

The French translation of the above quoted radiogram is: "Hurry up the ammunition supply, do it even during the day as long as you are not seen".

The deciphered message was sent to Ferdinand Foch's military headquarters, which was convinced of an imminent attack on Compiègne. The last reserve troops were placed around the city and repulsed the German attack. Breaking the German ADFGVX cipher took its toll on Painvin's physical and mental health and shortly after the message was delivered, he collapsed, exhausted by all his efforts.

For Painvin's painstaking efforts and determination, he was honoured and made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in a military capacity on July 10, 1918. He would, however, not be able to disclose or talk about his work accomplishments for a large part of his later lifetime, because the activities of a number of French government services were under cover of secrecy for 50 years. Despite this, in December 1962, Painvin's contribution to the war effort in the field of code decryption was described by French General Desfemmes. On December 19, 1973, Painvin was elevated to the rank of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.

The inventor of the ADFGX/ADFGVX cipher, the German signal corps officer Fritz Nebel, did not learn of Painvin's achievement until 1967. The American cryptologist Herbert Yardley in The American Black Chamber would say of Painvin:

"Captain Georges Painvin, the greatest coding expert that France had, a first-rate analytical genius, had a way of solving messages in code which resembled witchcraft ..."

After 1918

Painvin resumed and continued his teaching activities part-time during the interwar period. He was also chairman of several companies, and participated in the strong growth for the company of Electrochemistry, Electrometallurgy and Electric arc furnace Steelworks of Ugine during the 1920s, of which he was appointed director general in 1922.

The company mobilised new methods of electrochemistry to produce on a large scale the first stainless steels at affordable prices, helped by the French inventor and industrialist René Marie Victor Perrin (1893-1966), who developed the Ugine-Perrin process. The company would remain at the cutting edge of technology 40 years later with the inauguration of the giant Fos-sur-Mer steel plant in Rhône.

Several articles have studied Painvin's activity during the German military Occupation of France (1940-1944). In addition to the steelworks company in Ugine, Painvin chaired Crédit Commercial de France from 1941 to 1944. He was also chairman of the chemical industries organizing committee, as well as of the Paris Chamber of Commerce (from January 1944). Painvin was considered "a large-scale industrialist, who works very sincerely and very honestly with the German services"; and, "in the minds of many people, Mr. Painvin was regarded as pro-regime".

Under two instructions before the court of justice of Seine and the CNIE (National Interprofessional Purification Committee) for acts of collaboration by French civilians during the German occupation of France, Painvin resigned as president and administrator of Ugine steelworks on December 12, 1945.

In 1948, Painvin moved to Casablanca where he was entrusted in 1950 with the presidency of the industrial, financial and services conglomerate Omnium Nord-Africain, being also delegate president of the Société Chérifienne d'Exploitation d'Ouvrages Maritimes, of the Société Chérifienne du plâtre and member of the Casablanca Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Painvin returned to France in 1962 and died in 1980 at the age of 93.

Literature

• "The Codebreakers", Kahn, David (1996). The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-83130-5.
• Friedman, William (1935). FIELD CODES, used by the German Army during the World War, Technical Paper (PDF). Washington: War Department, Office of the Chief Signal Officer.
• The Annals of Mines: Georges Jean PAINVIN (1886-1980) (in French).

References and notes

• Singh, S. The Code Book, Fourth Estate, 1999. ISBN 1-85702-889-9