Wiktor Michałowski (1895-1967) was a Polish Army officer who worked at the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Cipher Bureau's German section, ''B.S.-4''. Reportedly he participated, as a lieutenant, in the initial, unsuccessful Polish attempts to break the German

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York–based data-technology startup *Enigma machine, a famil ...

cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

, along with then-Lieutenant

Maksymilian Ciężki Maksymilian Ciężki (; Samter, Province of Posen (now Szamotuły, Poland), 24 November 1898 – 9 November 1951 in London, England) was the head of the Polish Cipher Bureau's German section (''BS–4'') in the 1930s, during which time— ...

and civilian civil engineer

Antoni Palluth Antoni Palluth (11 May 1900, Pobiedziska, Province of Posen – 18 April 1944) was a founder of the AVA Radio Company. The company built communications equipment for the Polish military; the work included not only radios but also cryptographic e ...

. From 1936, Captain Michałowski was an Enigma-intelligence contact of Major

Jan Leśniak Jan Leśniak (1898 – 1976 in Vienna) was a Polish military intelligence officer in the Interbellum and World War II. Career Leśniak was from fall 1935 deputy director of the Polish General Staff's Germany, German Office and for a year, fro ...

of the Polish General Staff's German Office. After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, then-Major Michałowski made his way to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where he became part of

PC Bruno ''PC Bruno'' was a Polish– French–Spanish signals–intelligence station near Paris during World War II, from October 1939 until June 1940. Its function was decryption of cipher messages, most notably German messages enciphered on the Enigma ...

's Polish ''Team Z'', which broke German ciphers, including Enigma. After France's capitulation to Germany in June 1940, he served with his Polish cryptologist comrades at Polish intelligence ''Station 300'' (French codename: "

Cadix ''Cadix'' was a World War II clandestine intelligence center at Uzès, in southern France, from September 1940 to 9 November 1942. During this period southern France was under the control of Vichy France and not occupied by Nazi Germany. At ''C ...

") near

Uzès Uzès (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon, and southeast of Alès. History Originally ''Ucetia'' or ''Eutica'' in Latin, Uzès wa ...

in southern,

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

's "Free Zone." After Germany occupied Vichy France in November 1942, Major Michałowski escaped to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. He died on January 6, 1967.

References

Władysław Kozaczuk Władysław Kozaczuk (23 December 1923 – 26 September 2003) was a Polish Army colonel and a military and intelligence historian. Life Born in the village of Babiki near Sokółka, Kozaczuk joined the army in 1944, during World War II, at B ...

, ''Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two'', edited and translated by

Christopher Kasparek Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a Scottish-born writer of Polish descent who has translated works by numerous Polish authors, including Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski, and Wł ...

, Frederick, MD, University Publications of America, 1984, pp. 58, 65, 82, 220. *Tessa Stirling ''et al.'', eds., ''Intelligence Co-operation between Poland and Great Britain during World War II'', vol. I: the Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee, London, Vallentine Mitchell, 2005, pp. 259, 443. Cipher Bureau (Poland) Polish Army officers 1973 deaths 1895 births {{Poland-mil-bio-stub