I was watching an old WWII movie this morning (circa '45). When one group of American soldiers met up with another group of American solders that they were unfamiliar with, they would exchange “pass codes” to verify they were actually American solders and not the enemy dressed in American uniforms (apparently a sneaky tactic used on the battle field).
Does anyone know any more of these pass codes? Is there an unofficial list of them somewhere? If other countries used them to identify their “brothers”, any ideas on what trivia they used?
I remember reading something that happened during the Battle of the Bulge. An American officer was taken prisoner when a sentry asked him who the first president of the USA was. He answered “George Washington.”
“Wrong,” The soldier replied, “it was Abraham Lincoln.”
The hysteria was caused by German soldiers dressed as Americans in Operation Grief, headed by Otto Skorzeny. The rumour was spread that they were coming to assassinate Eisenhower, who was confined to HQ for weeks as a result. I seem to remember he was arrested at one point, as well. The MPs who arrested him thought he was a German impersonating Ike…
…although I’ve probably got some of the details wrong. I have a habit of doing that.
In one of the period movies the GIs used a little “clicker” to sound out a recognizable greeting to each other. Unfortunately, the “clicker’s” sound was closely replicated by the sound of a German’s rifle being chambered, thereby allowing our soldiers to walk right into the sights of a waiting enemy. Don’t know if this was apocryphal or not but I’m thinking it was The Longest Day.
This is a Challenge and Password. Seeing as how they are still used today, a list - either official or unofficial - would be pretty silly to put out.
But really, almost any random words can be used. In Saving Private Ryan they used Flash/Thunder, which I hear was pretty accurate for that time period.
On the battlefield, Simple Number Combinations or even single words are better. But when in a safe environment, the Challenge/Passwords will be used in a sentence.
For instance, let’s say that the C/P for today, between Noon and Midnight is “Sniper/Beagle”. So when you approach a gate or something, the sentry would say something like, “Hey, you need to be careful of Snipers”. The you would respond with “Thanks. I’m sure my Beagle will smell them”.
… Or something stupid like that.
As long as the sentences have the Challenge and Password in them, they’re good.
Number Combinations
I mentioned them earlier, so I might as well explain them too. Number Combos are another technique for determining bona fides. If the Number Combination is currently 9(n), then you will have to add or subtract a number® from the sentry’s number(q) to get that number(n). This number® is your reply. … (I think an example will be better than my explanation)
Number Combo is 7:
You’re walking along and a guard stops you. He says, “Four” or maybe “I have Four Large Coconuts”.
Then your answer would be “Three” or possibly “Great! We can make three cocktails.”
If he said “Nine”. Then your answer would be “Two”.
But number combos suck because infantrymen are pretty shitty at math. ; )
You and the OP have just solved a mystery for me. My father used to greet me with “Whatta ya know, Joe?” I was born during the war and can’t remember a time when the phrase wasn’t used. I had no idea what the origin was. I’m sure I’ve used it myself.
I’ve heard that soldiers used to ask Jack Benny’s age and who Harry James was married to (Betty Grable), but maybe that’s something that I saw in the movies.
I don’t know of any specific pass codes, but I recall from some documentary that WWII Allies in the European theater generally used challenges that required the letter “w” in replies. Apparently, it helped weed out disguised Germans, who’d be more likely to mispronounce, say, “George Washington” as “George Vashington.” I’d assume that similar ruses would be used in other fields of operation – perhaps words with “r” and “l” sounds to weed out potential Japanese imposters during WWII.
(I can’t believe I registered just to post about a vague memory of WWII trivia, but “Hi, all!” nonetheless.)
I think the “George Washington/Abe Lincoln” story was in ‘Citizen Soldiers’ by Stephen Ambrose, but all my books are packed away at the moment, so I can’t check.
Call and response on passwords is mainly movie effect. In reality, when someone unfamiliar approaches a guard post, he will be challenged with “Halt! Who goes there?” If the guard doesn’t like the response he gets, he may then ask (quietly)for the password. The guard should never give the countersign, even if he receives the correct password. This is information that can be overheard by enemy, thus giving them access to friendly lines.
In the case of two units coming upon each other in the field, a sign and countersign may be used to insure that both units know they are dealing with friendlies. But shouting it out is not appropriate unless no other choice is available, for the reason given above.
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