WORLD WAR TWO: GERMAN ARMED FORCES REGULATIONS FOR THE USE OF MILITARY CODES AND CYPHERS.

Allgemeine Schlüsselregeln für die Wehrmacht. [General Code Rules for the Wehrmacht.] Berlin: Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei, 1940 [updated to January 1944].

Allgemeine Schlüsselregeln für die Wehrmacht. [General Code Rules for the Wehrmacht.] Berlin: Gedruckt in der Reichsdruckerei, 1940 [updated to January 1944]. Printed booklet, marked "Geheim" [secret], numbered 2939S at upper right corner of the front cover, 17pp, including the final blank and an additional updated title sheet pasted in at the end. 8vo, 8 x 5.75 inches (210 x 150mm). This copy corrected (updated) on 22.1.44, with 6 sections crossed through and new partial page texts from a later printing tipped in. Pages 7-10 slightly detached, but otherwise fine.
Provenance: Issued to John Theisser on 21.3.44 (stamp on the additional title page).

A RARE EXAMPLE OF A SECRET GERMAN MILITARY CODE BOOKLET, laying out the rules for the use of codes in military situations. It describes the basic terms of encryption, confidentiality requirements, key procedures with their validity and instructions on how to compose messages to be encrypted using a code. This was also applied to Enigma machines, which were the main means of military radio messaging and entirely communicated in code. I can find no copy of an original example of this booklet on the market, and it is undoubtably very rare, even though it was obviously used in the training of signal, enigma and telex operators. Almost certainly there were instructions to destroy this booklet to avert its capture by the enemy, just as 80-90% of all Enigma machines were destroyed in the field.