MESSAGES DECODED

Southland Times, Issue 21822, 27 September 1932, Page 6

MESSAGES DECODED

SECRETS OF ROOM 40/0.8. London, September 17. How the secret German message announcing unrestricted submarine warfare was intercepted by the British is described by Mr Hugh Cleland Hoy in his book “40/0.8., or How the war was won.” In “room 40, old building,” for which “40/O.B.” stands, Sir Alfred Ewing, this year’s president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and his staff, deciphered in the greatest secrecy German code messages snatched from the ether. Even members of the Cabinet knew nothing about 40/0.8.’s work, says Mr Hoy, who claims that it was the disclosure of the plan for unrestricted submarine warfare which was the decisive factor in America’s decision to enter the war. The decoding of the rest of the message, he says, taxed the ingenuity of the greatest cipher experts. Finally it was discovered that it meant that Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico in the event of war with America. Room 40/0.8. secured a warning of the great attack on Verdun from an American, who had learnt the plans from a German at an official dinner at Warsaw. Publication of Mr Hoy’s book was delayed for four months at the request of the Admiralty, in order that certain alterations and excisions could be made.