M-209 around the world

Introduction

During WWII

During WWII, the Converter M-209 was issued to allied troops, including the French, Brazillians, Mexicans and Philippines.

After WWII

After the war, in Feb. 1949, there are approximately 32,000 M-209's in Z/I (*1) depot stock. The T/E (*2) of an infantry division calls for the issue of 117 of the device.

(*1): Z/I = Zone of Interior = U.S.A.
(*2): T/E = A table of organization and equipment is a document published by the U.S/ Department of Defense which prescribes the organization, staffing, and equippage of units.

After WWII, the Converter M-209 has been furnished to various countries, principaly those which were members of military organizations whose U.S. was the principal constituent, i.e. NATO and Rio Pact.

Note : Even U.S. has given M-209 to different countries, it does not include any keying or operating instructions, especially, the TM 11-380, 1947 version.

Surplus

After the WWII, Army Security Agengy (NSA ancestor), attempted to block sale of Converter M-209 on the open market as surplus property. These attempts were not successfull because it was claimed that the machine was unclassified and can be obtained from the Hagelin Company by anyone. On the other hand, the feeling in Army Security Agency is that the sale of the machine would not materially benefit the civilian economy, while its availability in large quantities at a low price would offer aid to any clandestine operators, would benefit cryptographers of some foreign governments, and would raise the level of cryptographic knowledge throughout the world.

Mr Hagelin was not happy with all these M-209 sales from military surplus, for example, he wrote to Friedman : "Some Dutch authority had been offered M-209's from some surplus dump, at a price of $15 each. And today we have confirmation that the Netherlands purchasing Commission in the US has bought a first sample order of 100." Remark : The cost of the commercial device, comparable to the M-209, manufactured in Sweden is approximately $250.00.

France

WWII

All French troops fighting with the Allies received the M-209 since 1943. The TM 11-380 manual was translated to French for them.

After WWII

On 23 September 1952, MAAG(*1) France, requested an addition of 450 M-209. MAAG France was further informed that France had on hand 1,850 M-209. On 22 September 1953, the French in Indochina requested an addition of 350 M-209, for the FY(*2) 1954, Indochina MDA(*3) Materiel Program for use in expanding Associated Forces communication networks. The Department of the Army was unfavorable, but in the end the request was accepted.

Message from Chief MAAG INDOCHINA States : "300 M-209 converters in hands French mil forces except as fol : 100 in French Sig Depot stock, 24 issued to Laos Army, 10 issued Cambodia Army and 24 in EMIFT (*4) crypto storage under control Ch Crypto Officer. Also French have 482 converters M-209 from other sources..."

(*1) MAAG (Military Assistance Advisory Group) is a designation for United States military advisers sent to other countries to assist in the training of conventional armed forces and facilitate military aid.
(*2) FY : Fiscal Year
(*3) MDA : Mutual Defense Assistance
(*4) EMIFT : Emergency Mobilization Issue for Troops

Philippine

During WWII

During the Japanese occupation in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement, which opposed the Japanese with active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years. General MacArthur's Headquarters supplied radios, technical personnel, codes, ciphers, signals operating instructions and even M-94 and M-209 cipher devices for the guerrillas to use.

After WWII

In 1953, the Philippine Armed Forces had on hand 369 M-209, which were cryptographic backbone of the communication systems between the Armed Forces General Headquarters and the units in the field. On 12 June 1951, approval was given by the Department of the Army, to release a total of 229 M-209, to the Philippines via MDAP (Major Defense Acquisition Program) channels.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, U.K.) plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Greece and Turkey also joined the alliance in 1952.

M-209 and Typex were used before the choice of KL-7 as the principal cipher means to communicate between members of NATO.

Belgium

Mr Preneel stated he used a M-209 lent by Belgium Army.

Turkey

By letter, dated 16 August 1950, Chief of TUSAG (*1), Turkey, requested procurement of M-209 for the Turkish Army. Eighty thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars had been budgeted and approved in the FY (*2) 1950, MDAP(*3), Program for Turkey to institute procurement of M-209 from any source available. The decision was finally made that in lieu of M-209, ASA(*4) and AFSA(*5) would produce and provide strip cipher for low-level use in the Turkish Army.

Mr Fieldman stated that Turkey adopted 500 of 1,000 of them after WWII.

(*1) TUSAG: The United States Air Force Group
(*2) FY: Fiscal Year
(*3) MDAP: Major Defense Acquisition Program
(*4) ASA: Army Security Agency (NSA ancestor)
(*5) AFSA: Armed Forces Security Agency (NSA ancestor)

Latin America - Rio Pact

Rio Pact was an agreement signed in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro among many countries of the Americas. The central principle contained in its articles is that an attack against one is to be considered an attack against them all; Members : Argentina, Bahambas, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Savaldor, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, United States of America, Uruguay.

Since the war, the Converter M-209 has been furnished in token quantities to various South and Central American countries through militatry aid programs.

By letter, dated 26 January 1951, from U.S. Army CAPIB, G-2, was informed that M-209 are in the possession of the Governments of Argentina, Colombia and Peru, and that converters were obtained by Ecuador in July 1947 and Venesuela in December 1948.

Note: G-2 is a key component of Military Intelligence Corps.

India

On 1951, India was interested in the procurement of M-209. G-2, suggested that the Indian request be handled on a Governmental level.

VietNam and Korea

France had provided the South Vietnamese army and police force with M-209s in the 1950s.

In mid-1964, the United States supplied itself M-209 cryptomachines to RVN (Republic of VietNam) and ROK (Republic Of Korea) forces for use at battalion level, and in January 1965 it distributed the AN-series operations code for encryption at any echelon (replacing the SLIDEX).

The Falling of Saigon (April 1975).
All current or sensitive equipment and material had been removed or destroyed by the Americans and South Vietnamese. However, a large amount of material was lost such as M-209 cipher devices

Dahomey

In the summer of 1975, M-209 was used during the Marxist-Leninist revolution in Dahomey / West Africa, which is now Benin, in the rebels north of the capital Cotonou. Perhaps these M-209 machines arrived as booty along with the Vietnamese and Chinese trainers and military advisers to Benin.

Other countries

A document of the AFSA dated June 1951 lists the countries using Hagelin's cipher machines. This does not be necessarily the M-209. It may also be C-36, C-38, C-446 or C-48 cipher machine.

       Argentine         Iraq              Sweden            Switzerland
       Belgium           Iceland           Turkey            Hong Kong
       Brazil            Italy             Germany           USA
       Denmark           Japan             Pakistan          Indonesia
       Egypt             Lebanon           United Nations    Syria
       England           Norway            Vatican           Jordan
       Eire              Portugal          Poland            India
       Ethiopia          Rumania           Jugoslavia        Malaya
       Finland           Spain             Russia            Israel
       Holland           France

References

The most interesting references:
NSA - Countries supplied M-209 Converters (1953)
NSA - Issue of Converter M-209 to foreign nations (1949)
NSA - Release of the M-209 to foreign nations (1953)
NSA - Transfer of M-209S to French Indo-China Forces (1954)
NSA - M-209S sent to French Indo-China (10 Dec 1954)
NSA - Release of M-209S to Indo-China (8 Jan 1954)
NSA - M-209S sent to French Indo-China (5 Nov 1954)
NSA - Hagelin letter to Friedman; Dutch Army ...
NSA - Disposal of surplus crypto-equipment (1952)
NSA – Transmittal of correspondance on Converter M-209
A.E. Feldman – The Eerie World of Espionage Has Created Some Truly Strange Hardware
(usage of M-209 by Turkey Army, ...)
Cryptographic Challenges : The Past and the Future, by B. Preneel. Formal Aspects of Security, First International Conference, FASec 2002, London, UK, December 2002, Revised Papers, Springer
Die deutsche ENIGMA und die kleine, einfache HAGELIN M-209 der USA
(Using of M-209 in Dahomey)
NSA - List of countries using Hagelin machines (1951)