Georges Painvin.

This is coolbert:

"This cipher [ADFGVX] was so extremely difficult to solve that many have 

marveled at the brain that originally discovered the underlying principles of solution."

That "many" marveling at the brain and the analytical ability of the French Army Captain and cryptanalyst of World War One [WW1] fame, Georges Painvin.

A man, Georges, to which the famous H.O. Yardly gives the highest possible accolades:

1. From the: "American Black Chamber" by H.O. Yardley.

"When I explained my mission to Colonel Cartier, he immediately called in Captain Georges Painvin, the great cipher genius of France. For weeks I had looked forward to meeting the brilliant Painvin, the most skillful cryptographer in all the Allied Governments . . . . when Painvin entered the room, Colonel Cartier was talking on the telephone, and I had the opportunity to this slender cold-eyed young man . . . Painvin's swarthy drawn face registered zero, as Colonel Cartier introduced me and explained my mission. If anything, he seemed slightly bored at the idea of an American coming to Paris to study French cipher methods. When we were alone in his office, however, and he saw that I followed his analysis of several difficult problems, he gradually thawed out . . . I became an intimate member of his household and spent many quiet evenings there, listening to his brilliant discussion of cryptography."

2. From the "Chinese Black Chamber" by H.O. Yardley:

"The situation in Europe [May 1940] has given all of us the jitters . . . I went to the French embassy and volunteered for service in France . . . The great Captain Georges Painvin must be back at his old job in Paris, doing his old tricks. I think he would like to have me with him. The little I know about ciphers I owe to study in France under him during the World War."

"Georges Jean Painvin (1886-1980) was a French cryptanalyst during the First World War. His most notable achievement was the breaking of the ADFGVX cipher in June 1918."

"Before the First World War, Painvin taught paleontology and geology. He performed cryptanalytic work for the French army after a chance encounter with a member of the French Bureau du Chiffre."

Painvin in those years prior to WW1:

* A mining engineer.
* A professor of geology and paleontology.

And during those war years, an autodidact, a self-taught genius at the esoteric and arcane art and skill of making and breaking ciphers and codes. A CRYPTOLOGIST of the highest order as defined in the modern terminology.

"cryptology - - noun - -  2. the science and study of cryptanalysis and cryptography."


The solution of the ADFGVX cipher coming at a time when it did, during those German final offensives [1918] on the Western Front, allowing French reserves to be massed at the time and place where most needed, thwarting forever the ability of the German to deliver the "knock-out" punch as desired by the High Command in Berlin.

It is undeniably true that the achievement of Painvin did play a crucial role during that latter stage of the war, when the situation was still in doubt, many lives saved in the process!

Georges Painvin however, NOT active in cryptologic pursuits during the inter-war years or for that matter during any time of WW2. Georges not called back to active duty or serving in his prior capacity of cryptanalyst, "reading" German military ciphers and codes.

Georges during those inter-war years very active and very successful in the commercial sphere, an important and esteemed mover and shaker in the French chemical and mining industry, Georges apparently not having any role to play in "war work" prior to the Battle of France and French defeat in 1940.

Painvin and Yardley both for a period of over twenty years had been "out of the loop" as well. NOT so conversant in the latest cryptologic advancements, the development of MACHINE CIPHERS of a complexity far beyond that of the ADFGVX cipher or other hand "paper and pencil" ciphers and codes as used by the various combatants during WW1?

coolbert.