Timeline for Why were Navajo code talkers used during WW2?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 3, 2016 at 6:50 | vote | accept | Dan Z | ||
| Oct 30, 2016 at 18:29 | comment | added | Schwern | @uoɥʇʎPʎzɐɹC Asymetric public-private key encryption wasn't invented until the 1970s. If they did have it in WWII, there were no portable computers to run it on. | |
| Oct 30, 2016 at 17:00 | comment | added | noɥʇʎԀʎzɐɹƆ | why not a low-end RSA? | |
| Oct 30, 2016 at 12:13 | comment | added | Murch | I recall that there were instances where Germans used Swabian dialects in a similar manner. | |
| Oct 29, 2016 at 15:18 | comment | added | Clay Nichols | I just started watching WindTalkers (awful movie, great subject). I see now that the benefit was tactical, short range voice "encryption". I always thought it was because it couldn't be decrypted (and wondered why not). Thanks! GREAT answer. | |
| S Oct 28, 2016 at 13:44 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Oct 28, 2016 at 13:44 | comment | added | T.E.D.♦ | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Oct 26, 2016 at 21:07 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Add information about the written Navajo language.
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| Oct 26, 2016 at 17:41 | comment | added | T.E.D.♦ | @SVilcans - Indeed the Japanese were eventually aware what language was being used, and even managed to capture a Navajo and order him under pain of torture to decode the messages. He was unable to do so, because even though he spoke the language, he did not know the code. | |
| Oct 26, 2016 at 12:19 | comment | added | MichaelChirico | worth mentioning that the Americans weren't alone in such obfuscation efforts. As I recall the Japanese used Kagoshima-ben, an almost incognate dialect famously hard to grok even among the Japanese, to encrypt messages. Would be interesting to hear similar stories from others if they have them. | |
| Oct 26, 2016 at 7:18 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 26, 2016 at 7:16 | comment | added | liftarn | Also keep in mind that the code talkers use a code based on their languages, but even if you understood the language as such the code would still be very hard to understand. For instance a tank may be called "turtle", a bomber called "pregnant airplane" and a machine gun called "sewing machine". Also see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker | |
| Oct 26, 2016 at 5:04 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 26, 2016 at 4:54 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 26, 2016 at 4:48 | history | edited | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 26, 2016 at 4:42 | history | answered | Schwern | CC BY-SA 3.0 |