TokyoBayer:
Well past edit time. I should note that Japanese intelligence was aware of the unit and was tracking its training flights, but was not able to determine the purpose.
The Americans would transmit in code but they started the transmission with the group(?) identification number which they were tracking.
The Japanese SIGINT collection was limited to traffic analysis (that is, measuring the quantity and location of signals even if you cannot read the content) and exploiting messages in the clear. I’m not going to say that this is useless, but they were definitely playing in the Little League of SIGINT compared to what the Allies were capable of.
Malthus
February 26, 2016, 5:03pm
82
Also, the Japanese were totally deficient in speakers of Navajo.
“Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” - Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division
A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is now usually associated with United States service members during the World Wars who used their knowledge of Native American languages as a basis to transmit coded messages. In particular, there were approximately 400 to 500 Native Americans in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was to transmit secret tactical messages. Code talkers tran...
stosh
February 27, 2016, 1:06am
83
Asuka- Thanks, I looked it up on Amazon and I’m gonna order it. It sounds like a good read.
