Wireless Weirdness: A Strange Selection of Canadian Radio Intercepts from the Second World War
During the Second World War, Canada intercepted radio transmissions, both foreign and domestic, but for a long time the specifics of these signals intelligence activities were kept secret. Newly declassified documents reveal how Canadians from the Department of National Defence, Department of Transport, Department of External Affairs, Department of Public Works—and more—worked together to intercept wireless communications and to share information about intercepted messages throughout the war. These intercepts came in from across Canada and around the world, in many different languages, codes, and ciphers.
This briefing book contains some of the most curious intercepted messages the Canadians saved from 1940-1942, newly declassified and displayed here for the first time. It must have been challenging for Canadian radio interceptors and intelligence officers to receive all of these messages from diverse sources, often without context, and try to make sense of them all. While reading this briefing book, imagine what it was like for the Canadians working in signals intelligence poring over these very intercepts, trying to discern what information could be useful to Canada and its allies’ war effort. If these papers were moving across your desk, how would you make sense of them?
These documents are not only interesting in their own right, but also for what they reveal about the realities of Canadian signals intelligence during the Second World War—from close cooperation with Britain and the United States, to spying on friend, foe, and neutral countries alike, from technological challenges to human error. These pages also contain glimpses into the lives of Canadians who devoted themselves to secret work in wartime, who were stationed in large and small communities across Canada like Stewart (British Columbia), Regina (Saskatchewan), Dartmouth (Nova Scotia), Toronto (Ontario), Saint John (New Brunswick), and Fort Simpson (Northwest Territories). This collection is a fascinating amalgam of local, national, and international history, some of which has been missing from the historical record for decades due to the secrecy of intelligence work.
Are you ready to dive into some potentially unsolved mysteries of the Second World War? If so, read on!
Page Summaries:
The Japanese on Whether the U.S. is Prepared to Wage War (September 1940)
Intercepts between the United States and Japan containing speculation by Japanese authors on the likelihood of the U.S. going to war with Japan and/or Germany in the near future.
Hola from Mexico to Vichy (October 1940)
An intercepted message from the President of Mexico to Vichy, France asking for the release of a Spanish Republican prisoner of the Gestapo.
The Weather Cipher that Never Was (January 1941)
A suspicious intercept, part weather broadcast, part unidentifiable cipher… Or was it?
MEIN KAMPF SEITE 5 (February 1941)
An intercepted German broadcast, containing at least one cipher and a recitation from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Deciphering Romanized Russian (February—March 1941)
An intercepted broadcast from a Navy Coast Station in the U.S.S.R.’s Arctic, which Canadian intelligence had a difficult time parsing.
Spying on the Swiss Consulate in Montreal (July 1941)
An intercepted message from neutral Switzerland to its consulate in Montreal, Quebec.
The Atoms of an Orange (October—December 1941)
A cryptic and repetitive broadcast originating in the United States, destined for Germany.
Rio to Hamburg just before the Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941)
An intercept detailing U.S. ship movements sent from Brazil to Germany in December 1941.
A Message from “Mother” (March 1942)
A strange message picked up on Canada’s East Coast, apparently from “Mother”—but whose?
Lawrence’s Letter (June 1942)
Suspicious Danish broadcasts observed by Sydney G. Lawrence of the Government Telegraph Service, a veteran of Canadian signals intelligence from the First World War.
Thwarted by the U.S.S.R. (July 1942)
When the Anglo-American allies lose their ability to listen to a Japanese government channel, they wonder: what or who is causing this radio interference?
Who Is Bullying the Americans? (July 1942)
This final transmission was heard by the Americans, and the U.S. military believed that these verbally-abusive broadcasts had a Canadian origin. Were they right?
| Acronym | Meaning |
| D.M.I. | Director of Military Intelligence |
| D.M.O. & I. | Director of Military Operations and Intelligence |
| D.O.C. | District Officer Commanding |
| G.O.C.-in-C. | General Officer Commanding-in-Chief |
| G.S.O. | General Staff Officer |
| H.Q.S. [7428 or 8706] | folder number that the document was filed in |
| F.C.C. | U.S. Federal Communications Commission |
| Kc/s | Kilocycles per second (a measure of frequency) |
| M.D. 7 | Military District No. 7 (in Saint John, New Brunswick) |
| N.D.H.Q. | National Defence Headquarters (Ottawa) |
| O.C. | Officer Commanding |
| O i/c | Officer in charge |
| R.C.A.F. | Royal Canadian Air Force |
| R.C.C.S. | Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (also sometimes written R.C. Signals) |
| S.W.S. | Special Wireless Station |