"PURPLE" MACHINE
OR "J" MACHINE
USED BY JAPANESE JAPANESE DIPLOMATS
DURING WW2

During World War 2, Japanese diplomats used cipher machines which were known as the "Purple" machine by the American military. The machines used a series of telephone selector switches to encipher and decipher top secret messages.

These messages were often intercepted by and decrypted by American Army and Naval Intelligence staff.

No complete "Purple" machine was ever captured during WW2. A fragment of one "Purple" machine was found in the courtyard of the Japanese Embassy in Berlin when the city was overrun by the Russians and Americans in 1945.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 14 October 2001

This page last updated 17 January 2020