This challenge closed on 20/05/2020. See below for the correct answers.
Challenge 7A, Birdwatching
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Correct Answer
Phil, Sorry I haven’t been in touch much, Churchill asked BOSS to set up an operations wing in the UK under the name of the Special Operations Executive and that has occupied a lot of my time. As soon as we got set up I was put in touch with Einar Skinnarland, an engineer from Vemork who had hijacked a coastal steamer and sailed to Aberdeen to join the war effort here. Churchill ordered us to work up plans to attack the plant and Einar helped us to brief an intelligence gathering team to infiltrate the region. Operation Grouse was launched in October with an advance party of four officers and NCOs led by Jens-Anton Poulsson. They were parachuted into the Hardangervidda as German patrols tended to avoid it, and after a period of observation they prepared the ground for a glider assault. Under the codename Operation Freshman we sent over two gliders carrying commandos equipped with explosives and everything they needed to effect an escape, but a combination of bad weather and bad luck killed the mission. Both gliders made it to the Norwegian coast, but one crashed early on, and the other in the mountains. We were not aware of survivors, and unfortunately the Germans now knew that the plant was a target and stepped up security. They lit up the place with floodlights, mined the approaches and, for a while, stepped up the guard rotas. Grouse volunteered to stay in place, changing their callsign to Swallow and continued to send intelligence reports. They reported that although the mines and lights were still in place there were signs that security was beginning to slacken. With these updates we decided to try again, and launched Operation Gunnerside. Six Norwegian commandos led by Joachim Ronnenberg were parachuted in from an RAF Halifax and joined up with Swallow. The attached document is their mission report. They sent it from the plateau while retreating from the plant in case they didn’t make it back, so have used a standard combination of basic ciphers to make it hard to crack but easy to implement. In training we recommended a combination of Casear shift and basic transposition. I leave it to you to decipher.Challenge 7B, Gunnerside
ODBBY YZYKB XODZY XESQX XBONO SPCYK GBCVW YDPVK OGBFY BMOOS ECBQZ XVPCZ OBSWW OYRSD CMXCY YSDOX XSBKB BCNZY YXOLX XBOCW KQOCD DDDOE YYYZE TXGSD KGSCV RYORV DDGYW KGOCD ODPWK ODCBO BFKON YCVIP KBMCM CYYXC IEBUD SXKSQ NXRBK DZDOW SOIND KGYDC IFKWG UOBRY VDKSZ BOVNK YRBCN NOOMP EYORB DRWQO BSPAR ODIEM RXDGO KRODB RMRKD WCVLO KSDRY PCNVO YQXVS YGOSD ZKYBP RCXOW BXLOK RBDNZ CSOKQ XDQXX RSBXS OFOKF RDYBO OKOBW KWXSP NKOEX VKEVQ BIONX NKDNO WWRYK MNYBX QEYPD DZVRO DBSKN OKDKC MCEKD VEVYN GOBZL XYEEF SNDOM DNCSK OGSDN MORND KOKDW KRNVC ENYCN XOODM YNXGE BRNOD OOBWS DYCDR XBXSO FOKYR DPNOB SLBBO OFYNX VKMGS RDVLO WSXYR VDVOC BRKSP OOBNX KYRDQ MXRSB BOOFL SNKGO DCSYD NPXYE OCCLY SZVPY LDYOV CKVGS YQBDX OKVUN YMYCQ KKGBV ISXRD SYODV KDZXX KDXON ODRIM CBKKG BYNBO ESGYR DDESO EYDMX XOQXD SKBIB KXENQ DYVCO MRVCC KYKLO XSQDD XOXKR VDZES VCZOZ NSKND VONXK OVCZX RMKCO NEKCN OXVDK BNOSR SKZNQ BXINO DCDEK QYRDK DXDBS ERPBO MOMCK FMKCK KSVXE LDXOV GNOXS KNXOX GMYEB OYDSX QIVXX DYOOB RKDMU YTKBR OXGXK ORCKK ZYKDC SMSBD XYBSQ YOKGG YWXCB KDGXO KSRVD QVXYS YBOMZ KYOCO DRKDZ ZCZBV OMSWK NXOCR DOSDG WEPSN COCRD OXOYV BDOMY OIMCV SRCWC BKOKL ZXXCK OVDKI NOVRY DPCOK VRCZD WYYCK WXLME SEQRO XXDCO KRMDX ZYODB OFKRY DDORK GDCCS XKDKD MKLSB ULDIC BYSPM RCOZO YPRVR DEIKV GZVDV BSFBD OXOOB VKZCC SQCXK SDKRM YDVKO COOVR HDVFS ZCOYR OQMBC KOKXN YDDND COOBN IDQYX RSODM OOBVV CSYCO IEOWA ZXSKR DDNOX NOMKK XTCKB DYQDM LWOKO RCMOB RYDLN OWXDS KVSOG VWYVZ XCSGE DXDSY ZRQOD OBBEO DYCKZ KORWC KSSEY NQDXY NODGO CPHOX BPYVD KSBSD XWKYO LDSOR GVKVD VCNYY YYXSD YETGW RZDSS YODVQ KBMVV WSBGW SXOSX KVSOZ MXKRQ ODBSO XNXYO SZQDB XERPB DCOXB SMXYE SCD