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Agent ZigZag Mystery Cache

Hidden : 6/13/2015
Difficulty:
5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This is not a challenge or field puzzle, so don’t go to the coordinates above. Most geocachers attempting to reach the coordinates can expect to at least be arrested, if not shot. Just don’t go there even though it could be considered an appropriate location to go since many of the employees there might be able to easily solve this puzzle.


Edward Arnold "Eddie" Chapman was an English criminal and spy. He was part of the “Jelly Gang,” so called because their primary tool for breaking into safes was gelignite. During the Second World War he incarcerated on the Channel Islands when the islands were invaded by the German Army (the only part of the British Commonwealth occupied by the Germans in WWII). He offered his services to Nazi Germany as a spy and a traitor in exchange for his freedom. However when the Germans dropped him back into England to begin his mission, Eddie immediately turned himself into British authorities and subsequently became a British double agent. His British Secret Service handlers code named him ZigZag in acknowledgement of his rather erratic personal history. He had a number of criminal aliases known by the British police, amongst them Edward Edwards, Arnold Thompson and Edward Simpson. His German codename was Fritz.

He would communicate disinformation to his German handler, Captain Stephan von Gröning, using a code developed by the Abwehr. Agent ZigZag was considered so important by the Germans that the British could track the efficacy of the disinformation via the intelligence they retrieved from German communications via Ultra where his “intelligence” was commonly disseminated. One of the missions assigned to ZigZag required him to sabotage the de Havilland aircraft factory in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where the Mosquito was manufactured. The Mosquito was a multipurpose plane that was bombing the Germans with impunity—it was made of wood and even when it was carrying a full load of bombs it could out-run the German fighters. The British made sure that ZigZag “successfully completed” this mission using the skills of Jasper Maskelyne, a magician, who used camouflage and subterfuge to convince the Germans that the factory had been taken out of production by ZigZag. Maskelyne is also credited with creating a fake army in North Africa fooling German General Rommel into expecting the Ally attack from the wrong direction.

The below are the encrypted instructions that should lead you to the cache using ZigZag’s code. Good luck.

 

GNMFK YXKWU MTWHF ZVOSK WQYKI

ZKZFM MIAKW FVLQR DBJBB DJYXK

WUMTW HFZVF TAUCD UXCRN JDLSJ

BHWMS PUQOJ BBDJD AGEDB

 

The information for this cache was derived from “Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal” by Ben Macintyre.

 

Thanks to Serrabou for the technical help with this, though as he’ll tell you it didn’t provide any help with the solve.

 

Congratulations to Gaiter Man for FTF

 

 

 

Best Mystery/Puzzle Cache

 

 

You can check your results at Geochecker.com

 

 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Nyy bs Mvtmnt’f zrffntrf ortva jvgu SSSSS hayrff gur zrffntr vf orvat frag haqre qherff. Gurer ner gjb fbyhgvbaf gb guvf chmmyr (bar vf pbeerpg naq bar vf boivbhfyl vapbeerpg). Vs lbh svaq lbhefrys fbzrjurer gung qbrfa'g frrz evtug gura vg'f cebonoyl abg, purpx lbhe fgnegvat ybatvghqr. Orggre lrg hfr Trbpurpxre. V unq gb zbir gur pnpur. Vg’f abj ng gur obggbz bs gur tenl thl pnoyr. V nyfb envfrq gur greenva engvat fvapr orpnhfr gur pnpur vf abj zber qvssvphyg gb ernpu.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)