# Wartime Callsign JZA



## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

Hi Guys,

I've received the following e-mail enquiry? Any historians out there who can throw some light on this?

_Hello!

I am conducting some research on a particular aspect of the Second World War and wonder if you can kindly assist me, please?

My question is, can you identify the call sign JZA, which I understand was not one W/T station but a call sign used by several stations? If that was indeed the case, can you tell me where these several stations were and why they would use the same call sign?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

With thanks in anticipation and all best regards,

Martin Pegg_​


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

According to a list I found, the letters JZA-JZZ are allocated to Indonesia. Hard to say if that was the case in WW2 as I think Indonesia started out as a Dutch colony in those days. Japanese call signs are JAA-JSZ. Think we need a little more information.

Could JZA be a collective callsign of some sort? Can I phone a friend?

John T.


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

Bit more info on this subject:-

Hello, Bob,

Many thanks for your kind reply. Not knowing much about the world of coastal radio, I had assumed that there must be some kind of index of call signs somewhere, but clearly things are not that simple. I did, however, manage to discover that GZZ 10 was Wick by Googling the code, but this JZA is a tougher nut to crack.

My research concerns the surrender of Germany at the end of WW II, and I found the reference to JZA in the Admiralty War Diary for 15 May 1945. It reads:

Non-reception of Surrender Signals: Orders have been given to Germans to improve transmissions from JZA. Latter is not one W/T station but call-sign used by several stations. Surrender instructions to U-boats also being broadcast by Rugby on 16 k/cs twice daily after the time signal.

As to its location, I suspect Germany or Scandinavia, perhaps Norway or Denmark. Of course, it might not necessarily have been a coastal station and may well have been an inland station, or series of stations.

I did actually find JZA listed on daveg4otu.tripod.com, which explains that the J indicates Japan, but then says it was one of a series allocated to Indonesia. True, Indonesia was Japanese-occupied in May 1945, but I thought it a bit impractical to expect German authorities, then in a state of almost complete collapse, to be able to improve transmissions in Indonesia. Hence, I had thought it was a station somewhere in Northern Europe rather than Asia, but perhaps not?

Anyway, I hope all this helps and thank you again for your kind assistance.

Best regards,

Martin


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

If it was a military station (and it sounds like it), they often did not follow the ITU rules for callsign allocation.


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

Troppo said:


> If it was a military station (and it sounds like it), they often did not follow the ITU rules for callsign allocation.


Yes, that's the thoughts I'm having, particularly when it seems to be a group of stations using the same callsign. Perhaps a military special operations group or even a resistance group of some type. 

Looking into the history of callsign allocations, it looks like all J calls belonged to Japan pre-war. So I can't see a link between Japan, U-boats and being able to order the Germans to improve the signal !


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Bob

Have put it to a Military Historian I have been in contact with. QRX...

David
+


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## Tony Selman (Mar 8, 2006)

I have asked the Archivist of the Radio Officers Association to research this and let me know. He is a fountain of knowledge of MN radio history and has access to a lot of information that many of us do not.


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

A bit more info from Martin. Looks like our lot blew up the German LF (VLF?) station wherever that was.

=====Quote=====

Hello again, Bob,

I have been going some more digging and think you might have hit the mark when you wrote that JZA might not be a national or international call sign but a military one. 

Browsing the Admiralty war diary again yesterday, I came across an entry for 9 May 1945, i.e. the day surrender terms came into effect, which said _'Details of HF frequencies, times of sending and call signs expected shortly and will be forwarded to Admiralty.'_ 
If Admiralty required Germans to send them details of the call signs they had been using, its suggests that these were not internationally recognised ones. From this, it follows that JZA will not appear in any usual lists.

The thing for me to do now, is find the list the Germans gave to Admiralty (I'm used to looking for needles in haystacks)!!

So, unless you can spot a flaw in my reasoning, this would appear to be the end of the matter until I locate that list. For your interest, though, the following is the full entry (ANCXF is Allied Naval Commander of Expeditionary Force [attached to Eisenhower's HQ], and OKM is Oberkommando der Marine - the German Admiralty):

9 May. ANCXF to Admiralty:
Summary of U-boat situation:
1) Prior to the destruction of stations about 15 days ago, low frequency was normal method of transmission to U-boats.

2) Germans are now broadcasting to U-boats on HF and also on public broadcast wavelengths.

3) Details of HF frequencies, times of sending and call signs expected shortly and will be forwarded to Admiralty. 

4) Germans anticipate only a small percentage of U-boats will now receive signals, (a) because not all U-boats are fitted for HF reception, (b) because U-boats may remain submerged for up to 93 days.

5) For past five days Germans have been broadcasting instructions to U-boats to return to harbour. Am informed that Germans will now alter instructions to comply with Annex A of surrender terms.

6) Germans have been permitted to issue instructions referred to in Para 5 (above) in cipher as they consider U-boats likely to disregard plain language signals.

7) Anticipate this HQ will establish radio communications with OKM shortly. Admiralty will be informed. 


With many thanks for all your kind assistance.

Best wishes,

Martin

=====Unquote=====​


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## Tony Selman (Mar 8, 2006)

The ROA Archivist could not come up with any information but we are going to do two things. Ask any WW2 members who attend the next AGM in April if they can remember anything and also publish a question in the next quarterly journal (QSO) published in June as we still have quite a few active members who served in WW2. If I get anything I will come back to you.


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

Tony Selman said:


> The ROA Archivist could not come up with any information but we are going to do two things. Ask any WW2 members who attend the next AGM in April if they can remember anything and also publish a question in the next quarterly journal (QSO) published in June as we still have quite a few active members who served in WW2. If I get anything I will come back to you.


Thanks Tony (and everyone else) for your input to this.

The German VLF stations went off air towards the end of the war, which seems to be why there was difficulty in communicating the cessation of hostilities to the U-Boats. Their 800kW station "Goliath" at Magdeburg seems to have been totally taken off air about mid-April and their other VLF station at Nauen sometime later. The Soviets then dismantled the Nauen station in May, consigning it forever to the history books (although the site was used for HF broadcasting some years later). Don't yet know what happened to Goliath, but seems reasonable to guess that someone had also put it out of commission.

Still doesn't get us to who JZA might have been - but the answer might pop up one of these days !!


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## Roger Bentley (Nov 15, 2005)

I don't think any countrys combatants used international call signs but rather a series of their own. U Boat communications were on a variety of frequencies and this led to the Allies developing with great success the HF HUFFDUFF system which managed to even get bearings on burst transmissions fom U Boats. I would reccommend the book Type VII U Boat by Robert C Stern which contains some good information on the type of equipment used even giving the set numbers. On another tack on my first trip to sea on a trooper to Korea when we got to Singapore the chief RO met with a RN Commander and we sailed for Pusan under wireless silence using a wartime code book and with a 5 symbol call sign for reception of messages made up of letters and figures similar to the NATO type, when we acknowledged receipt or sent messages we used MVSS followed by a numeral in the series 1 - 9. This only lasted until we reached Pusan and discharged the troops. I believe this only lasted for a short period at the start of the Korean war. Regards, Roger


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