Wilhelm Gimmler

Wilhelm Gimmler (13 October 1890 in Kontschwitz; 19 August 1963 in Hamelin) was a careers signals officer, with the rank of general in German Army, who became Commander in Chief of Signals in the west OB West and Chief of the Armed Forces Signal Communications Office during World War II. By 1933, Gimmler had obtained the rank of major in the Reichswehr and had been subordinated to the 7th Division in Munich, with responsibility for the monthly distribution of keys for the Enigma I rotor cipher machine. He became the main liaison between the Wehrmacht and the company who manufactured the Enigma machine, in matters relating to the further improvement to the device. From April 1936 to April 1941, Gimmler was commanding officer of intelligence department (Nachrichtengerätabteilung) (WaPrüf 7) at the German Army Weapons Agency (WaA). In the following month, in August 1944, Thiele was succeeded by Gimmler when he became Group Commanding Officer of Wehrmacht Communications of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht .

Security conferences From November 1944 to January 1945, Gimmler hosted a series of security conference known as Chi-conference, ostensibly to discuss the security of own processes and physical security. The first conference took place in late 1944 and lasted four days, one day for each subject. The subjects discussed on each day were: 1) Speech Encryption 2) Security of Teletype Cipher Machines 3) Enigma Security 4) Security of Hand Ciphers. Erich Hüttenhain chaired the conferences. 1939 Cross of Honour