Unmasking Sargo
"Nazi rally in Buenos Aires, April 10, 1938." rarehistoricalphotos.com.
Robert Gordon and Elizebeth S. Friedman at a Desk. 1940. George C. Marshall Foundation.
Elizebeth had originally led a unit of cryptologists at the Coast Guard, but was transferred to the Navy in 1941. She monitored intercepted messages from South America under the supervision of a man who had less experience than her.
"That is the matter of Mrs. Friedman. She is very discontented about the prospect of having to work for the Navy... She has a good organization. Perhaps it is as good as there is in the Government, as you know, on cryptanalysis."
-Herbert Gaston, Treasury Undersecretary
The Queen Mary
The Queen Mary was the largest of the Allies’ supply ships, carrying 8000 Americans, tanks, and disassembled airplanes. Its sinking would greatly weaken Britain, so it was well sought after by Hitler. While Nazi U-boats received the Queen Mary’s coordinates, Elizebeth sent decrypts to the supply ship’s captain, who was then able to perform evasive maneuvers.
"The Queen Mary was often called the Gray Ghost during the war because of her color and the way she traveled secretly about the globe." Sterling.rmplc.co.uk
"U-boat returning to base in 1939." Naval-history.net
Decrypting these messages revealed Sargo, his correspondent Gustav Utzinger (alias Luna), and the location of three clandestine radio towers.
Her code-breaking team had only just begun understanding the network of spies when a sudden roundup occurred. J. Edgar Hoover, the first Director of the FBI, saw to the premature arrest of many spies, but missed Sargo.
“No code is ever completely solved, you know."
-Elizebeth Smith Friedman
By February 1943, Sargo and Luna had created an entirely new radio system and enigma machines. Sargo had struck a deal with Argentina’s president, Juan Domingo Peron, who offered protection from the FBI in exchange for the staging of coups and creation of fascist regimes. The messages they exchanged were easily broken, with the exception of those that ran along a circuit from Argentina to Berlin.
Elizebeth cracked it in fall of that year, allowing her team to regain the progress lost by Hoover. Her findings allowed her to understand the new networks that ran through South America and undermine the political influence of the spies on the unstable governments of Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, and other nations.
A cipher message from Circuit 3-N, the Nazi clandestine radio link between Argentina and Berlin, solved by Elizebeth's coast guard unit. The Woman Who Smashed Codes.
"Enigma with extra rotors." National Security Agency.
THE TRUNK TRANSMITTER WITH ACCESSORIES AND ENIGMA ARRIVED VIA RED. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. FROM OUR MESSAGE 150 WE SHALL ENCIPHER WITH THE NEW ENIGMA. WE SHALL GIVE THE OLD DEVICE TO GREEN. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE BY RETURN MESSAGE WITH NEW ENIGMA.
-LUNA (Gustav Utzinger), November 4th, 1943
The Nazi rings only managed to overthrow the Argentinian and Bolivian governments before the FBI, backed by Elizebeth’s findings, began hunting down Sargo and his associates.