S.O.E. One-Time Pad on Silk - Opinions Wanted
 

Hello Gentlemen,

I know this is not a badge or insignia, but I assume someone here might know about these. If it is not OK to post this, then moderators feel free to remove it.

I have been offered this one-time S.O.E. code pad and documents to go with my S.O.E. B2 radio. I know there are various reproductions of these out there, but have never seen an original for reference.

Do any of you know if this might be an original or not? I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

John

Best I can do is provide an image of an item in an attributed grouping I have. Not same pattern unfortunately, but I am pretty sure I have seen similar to yours. Of course you are right though - fakes are almost certain to exist.
- Force 133 veteran - alas not accessible at present. Hoping it helps
Mike

Thanks Mike. :)

Hi John, not an expert or claiming it is genuine, but if you look in Leo Mark's - 'Between Silk and Cyanide' he shows the same item, it looks as though it would have been 'cut' from a vocabulary sheet, where yours has been sewn around the edges, maybe to preserve it? Regards Mark

That's a very good point.

The clue is in the name - one time pads - were intended to be used once then destroyed so there is no way that the powers that be would have bothered sewing to make them MORE durable. The only genuine ones that I've ever seen (albeit post WW2) were paper and pretty flimsy paper at that.

John,

I am of the opinion your silk code sheet is original.

It is the same as an example I once owned that came together with the one-time pad both sourced from an ex-soe radio operator.

Keith

Thank you for the feedback gentlemen, I really appreciate it. I did find one picture of a supposed original on the web, and it seems to be similar to the one I am being offered, but on a fuller sheet of silk. Most likely this one was cut down by a collector post-war to keep it from unraveling. Paper versions were used as well, but the silk versions are well documented.

Thanks for mentioning that book MarkGD, I'll have to look into that.

Thanks Keith for your observation.

Sometimes I am too quick to post questions on the forum and forget that I also have reference books. I found the following reference images in the books:

- SOE Equipment Air Dropped in Europe 1940-1945 by Anders Thygesen & Michael Sode
- Mémoire d'Ondes Les transmissions clandestines de la Résistance by Eric Pierret

Useful reference works - Thanks for sharing
Mike

Here is a picture I found on the web and borrowed. It was posted on www.historynet.com. This appears to be an original unmodified version of the silk code sheet. None of the edges have sewn reinforcing, which is probably the reason it is fraying.

One the opposite side of things, here are a couple pictures of a reproduction I found. It does appear to be sewn around the edges, but the material does not look like it has been folded over and sewn like the example I posted at the top of the thread. It is also a single stitch, versus the double "chain" stitch on mine.

I could be wrong, but the reproduction also looks like the entire image has been screen printed on the material, including the light "grayish" background color. Hence the reason the border looks so white.

Just a bit of a follow-up on this subject. I took the advice of MarkGD and picked up the book "Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945" by Leo Marks. For those interested in reading about the history behind these one-time pads, and the S.O.E. codes in general, I highly recommend the book.

Leo Marks was the man at S.O.E. who developed the pads and other codes (he is shown above in my previous post holding one of his silk pads). He is also the author of the poem "The Life That I Have", which you may be familiar with from the film "Carve Her Name With Pride" about S.O.E. agent Violette Szabo.

I just finished reading the book, and could not put it down. It was an easy and enjoyable read, which surprised me because it was a bit technical at times, something my brain doesn't like these days. A great bit of history, and the author's sense of humor made it even better.

Mr. Marks developed two coding aides that were put on silk, the first one that was "numbers" based, he called a WOK (Worked-Out Key), and the second that was "letter" based, he called a LOP (Letter One-Time Pad). I believe the silk pad that is the subject of this thread is a LOP.

I am not positive what a WOK looks like, but I assume it is the numbered silk like those shown in my post above from the books "SOE Equipment Air Dropped in Europe 1940-1945" by Anders Thygesen & Michael Sode, and "Mémoire d'Ondes Les transmissions clandestines de la Résistance" by Eric Pierret. Also the example Mike B posted might be a WOK. Can anyone confirm this?

I just realized that I did not post any closer shots of my pad, so here they are.

This example sold on auction a couple days ago. I was tempted to bid on it, but I have not seen an example of a black ink only version, so I am not sure if it is an original or not.

Hi John, The pattern in your OP has been copied, as you are aware. In this instance I do not believe the edges were sewn. The example here was given to me by an SOE Secretary, who worked at Baker Street. She had a pack of them and the one she gave me included the celluloid-type packing it came in. All the best, Clive.