page_title: Cipher Department of the High Command of the Luftwaffe
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cipher Department of the High Command of the Luftwaffe / History
caption_attribution_description: Org chart of Luftwaffe Luftnachrichten Abteiling 350 Signal Intelligence Service.
context_page_description: Cipher Department of the High Command of the Luftwaffe was the signals intelligence and cryptanalytic agency of the German Air Ministry before and during World War II. In 1945, the unit was known as the Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350, abbreviated as OKL/Ln Abt 350 and formerly called the. It was the successor in November 1944 of the unit formerly named as the Chi-Stelle Ob.d.L., which was often abbreviated to Chi-Stelle/ObdL.
context_section_description: As early as 1935, civilian employees of the Luftwaffe had been sent to fixed intercept stations of the German Army for training. A Luftwaffe officer, a technician and a civilian inspector who has been associated with the German Army Intelligence Service during World War I were transferred to the Luftwaffe Chi-Stelle. The two people canvassed for assistants among their old circle of acquaintances, former soldiers who had served in World War I as intercept technicians or cryptanalysts. Their numbers were no means sufficient for the task at hand. They consisted of people who at one time, either in civilian or military life, had received radio training or who were fluent in foreign languages. Among them were old soldiers, former seamen, professional travellers, adventurers and political refugees. In contrast to the Army, security measures taken in admitting people to the Agency were superficial, and a great number were found to be of questionable character. These trainees made training more difficult. Owing to their privileged position, they had a derogatory influence on the Luftwaffe Agency.
  In creating the Chi-Stelle, the fundamental error was committing to choosing personnel indiscriminately, without any regard to their previous training for this special work. The civilian employees had training, but no training in Chi-Stelle type of work. The first technical equipment was very deficient. Old receivers from World War I were being used, and the installation alone was a technically difficult task, and therefore naturally unsuitable for the SIS. Even the later-installed multiple dial receivers were in part improvised. Therefore, the importance of the Chi-Stelle in these first years remained slight, when it should have been assuming operation direction of the Luftwaffe Signal Intelligence Operation. A small nucleus had been assembled, with independent Luftwaffe intercept experiments begun, and by the summer of 1936, traffic from Italy, Britain, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russian air forces had been intercepted. The training of radio operations was supervised by a small cadre obtained from the Reichswehr cypher bureau. On 1 January 1937, the agency was officially launched, under the Luftwaffe banner, with one officer and twenty civilians. It was called Chiffrier Stelle.  New Luftwaffe fixed intercept stations were founded in Munich, Münster, and Potsdam (Eiche) in 1937 and given the cover name of Weather Radio Receiving Stations (German: Wetterfunkempfangsstellen) (abbr. W-Stellen). The Luftwaffe fixed intercept stations at first monitored only the air force point-to-point networks taken over by the Army. Since in peacetime, almost all countries sent their radio traffic in plaintext, the work was simple, and direction finding was unknown. Personnel consisted at first of an officer in charge, two or three technicians and 30–40 civilian employees. Early training flights with the Zeppelin were carried out under the direction of the Chi-Stelle.
  Mobile intercept platoons were established at the same time, to operate in the field. These small sections, about 10 analysts who undertook evaluation locally, corresponding to the monitoring areas of the three out-stations, were formed. The first dealt with England, France, and Belgium; the second with Italy, and the third with Russia, Poland and Czechoslovakia. To these were added a small cryptanalysis group, that was called the Chi-Stelle which served all three sections. The intercept stations were supplemented by direction finding stations which were called Weather Research Stations (German: Wetterforschungsstellen) (abbr. Wo-Stellen), after the start of World War II. The small sections were expanded into mobile Radio Intercept Companies (German: Lufnachrichtenfunkhorchkompanien Mot) which collaborated with the fixed stations in the intercept of foreign air force traffic.
caption: Organization chart with a legend for Luftwaffe Signals Organization.
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