Gustave Bertrand
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Gustave Bertrand (1896–1976) was a French
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...
officer who made a vital contribution to the
decryption In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plai ...
, by
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
's Cipher Bureau, of German Enigma
cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...
s, beginning in December 1932. This achievement would in turn lead to Britain's celebrated
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Ultra Ultra may refer to: Science and technology * Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II * Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application * Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...
operation.


Life

Bertrand joined the French military as a private in 1914 and was wounded in 1915 at the
Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...
. From 1926, he worked in radio intelligence. In the 1920s, French radio intelligence was decentralized. Decryption of foreign, chiefly German and Italian, ciphers and codes was the responsibility of a General Staff cryptology department, while radio monitoring was conducted by the intelligence service, ''Service de Renseignement'' or ''S.R.'' At the end of 1930, decryption was turned over to the ''S.R.'', which created a Section ''D'' (for ''Decryptement''), of which Bertrand became chief. He later took over all of French radio intelligence. Bertrand's
intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
associates had purchased documents pertaining to the
Enigma machine The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the W ...
from Hans-Thilo Schmidt (codenamed "Asché" by the French), an employee at the German Armed Forces' Cryptographic Agency. In December 1932, then-Captain (later, General) Bertrand turned these documents over to the Polish Cipher Bureau's chief, Major Gwido Langer. Asché's documents, according to cryptologist
Marian Rejewski Marian Adam Rejewski (; 16 August 1905 – 13 February 1980) was a Polish people, Polish mathematician and Cryptography, cryptologist who in late 1932 reconstructed the sight-unseen German military Enigma machine, Enigma cipher machine, aided ...
's testimony, proved in practice crucial to his mathematical solution of the military
Enigma machine The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the W ...
's wiring. During his work with the Poles, Bertrand used the code name ''Bolek'', given him by the Poles. Bertrand was to learn of the Poles' success against Enigma only six and a half years later, at a trilateral Polish-French-British conference held in the
Kabaty Woods The Stefan Starzyński Kabaty Woods Nature Reserve () is a woodland park located in southern Warsaw, between two major arteries, Puławska Street, Warsaw, Puławska and Łukasz Drewny Streets. Administratively the park belongs to southern Warsaw ...
, south of
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, on 25 July 1939, just five weeks before the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Władysław Kozaczuk Władysław Kozaczuk (23 December 1923 – 26 September 2003) was a Polish Army colonel and a military and intelligence historian. Life Born in the village of Babiki near Sokółka, Kozaczuk joined the army in 1944, during World War II, at B ...
, ''Enigma'', 1984, p. 59.
After Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, then-Major Bertrand from October 1939 to November 1942 sponsored the continued work of prewar Cipher Bureau personnel: first at ''
PC Bruno ''PC Bruno'' was a Polish– French–Spanish signals–intelligence station near Paris during World War II, from October 1939 until June 1940. Its function was decryption of cipher messages, most notably German messages enciphered on the Enigma ...
'', outside
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
; then, after Germany's invasion of France (May–June 1940), at the Cadix center in southern France's
Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...
"Free Zone." Over a year after the Cadix center had been scattered to avert capture by the Germans, on 5 January 1944, Bertrand was captured by the Germans as he waited at the famous Church of Sacré Cœur, in Paris'
Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...
district, for a courier from London. The Germans suggested that he work for them. Pretending to agree, Bertrand was allowed to return with his wife Mary to
Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...
to contact British intelligence. There he sent his underground comrades into hiding and went into hiding himself. On 2 June 1944, four days before the
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
, at an improvised airstrip in France's Massif Central, Bertrand, his wife and a Jesuit priest who served as a courier of the Polish Resistance climbed into a small, unarmed
Lysander Lysander (; ; 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end. He then played ...
III aircraft that flew them to southern England. Bertrand and his wife moved into a house in the
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
village of Boxmoor just a short walk from the Polish radio-intercept station and cipher office at the nearby village of Felden where
Marian Rejewski Marian Adam Rejewski (; 16 August 1905 – 13 February 1980) was a Polish people, Polish mathematician and Cryptography, cryptologist who in late 1932 reconstructed the sight-unseen German military Enigma machine, Enigma cipher machine, aided ...
and
Henryk Zygalski Henryk Zygalski (; 15 July 1908 – 30 August 1978) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers before and during World War II. Life Zygalski was born on 15 July 1908 in Posen, German Empi ...
were working. Bertrand retired from the French Secret Service in 1950 and went on to become mayor of
Théoule-sur-Mer Théoule-sur-Mer (; Occitan: ''Teula de Mar'' or simply ''Teula''), popularly known as Théoule, is a resort village in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It lies to the east of th ...
in southern France. In 1973, the Paris publishing house Plon published his book, ''Enigma ou la plus grande énigme de la guerre 1939-1945'' (Enigma, or the Greatest Enigma of the War of 1939-1945). The book, one of the principal primary sources on the history of Enigma
decryption In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plai ...
, for the first time gave a detailed account of the some eleven years of Franco-Polish collaboration in breaking and reading Enigma before and during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


See also

*
Cryptanalysis of the Enigma Cryptanalysis of the Enigma ciphering system enabled the western Allies of World War II, Allies in World War II to read substantial amounts of Morse code, Morse-coded radio communications of the Axis powers that had been enciphered using Enigm ...
*
Wilfred Dunderdale Commander Wilfred Albert "Biffy" Dunderdale, (24 December 1899 – 13 November 1990) was a British spy and intelligence officer.John Bruce Lockhart, "Dunderdale, Wilfred Albert (1899-1990)", rev., ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxfo ...
*
Ultra (cryptography) Ultra was the designation adopted by United Kingdom, British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cyp ...


Notes


References

*Gustave Bertrand, ''Enigma ou la plus grande énigme de la guerre 1939–1945'' (Enigma: the Greatest Enigma of the War of 1939–1945), Paris, Librairie Plon, 1973. *
Władysław Kozaczuk Władysław Kozaczuk (23 December 1923 – 26 September 2003) was a Polish Army colonel and a military and intelligence historian. Life Born in the village of Babiki near Sokółka, Kozaczuk joined the army in 1944, during World War II, at B ...
, ''Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two'', edited and translated by
Christopher Kasparek Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a Scottish-born writer of Polish descent who has translated works by numerous Polish authors, including Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski, and Wł ...
, Frederick, MD, University Publications of America, 1984. *Jacek Tebinka, "Account ythe former Chief of Polish intelligence ated 31 May 1974on hecracking fthe Enigma code," in Jan Stanislaw Ciechanowski, ed., ''Marian Rejewski 1905–1980: Living with the Enigma secret'', 1st ed., Bydgoszcz City Council, 2005, , p. 210, footnote 19. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertand, Gustave 1896 births 1976 deaths French military personnel of World War I French military personnel of World War II