Tap code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:12, 11 February 2022

Revision as of 11:51, 11 March 2022

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The origins of this encoding go back to the [[Polybius square]] of [[Ancient Greece]]. Like the "knock code", a [[Cyrillic script]] version is said to have been used by [[nihilist movement|nihilist]] prisoners of the [[Russian czars]].<ref>[[David Kahn (writer)|David Kahn]], ''The Codebreakers – The Story of Secret Writing''. 1967. {{ISBN|978-0-684-83130-5}}.</ref> The knock code is featured in [[Arthur Koestler]]'s 1941 work ''[[Darkness at Noon]]''.<ref>Koestler, Arthur, ''Darkness at Noon'' (1941). Translated by Daphne Hardy. See page 19 of the Bantam Publishing paperback, 1981 printing for more info.</ref> [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s 1952 novel ''[[Player Piano (novel)|Player Piano]]'' also includes a conversation between prisoners using a form of tap code. The code used in the novel is more primitive and does not make use of the Polybius square (e.g. "P" consists of sixteen taps in a row).

United States prisoners of war during the [[Vietnam War]] are most known for having used the tap code. It was introduced in June 1965 by four [[Prisoner of war|POWs]] held in the [[Hỏa Lò Prison|Hỏa Lò Prison ("Hanoi Hilton") prison]]: Captain [[Carlyle "Smitty" Harris]], Lieutenant [[Phillip N. Butler|Phillip Butler]], Lieutenant Robert Peel, and Lieutenant Commander Robert Shumaker.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_tap.html | title='Return with Honor': The Tap Code | work=[[American Experience]] | publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] | year=1999 | access-date=2008-04-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110134840/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_tap.html | archive-date=2012-11-10 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton|last=Borling|first=John|publisher=Master Wings Publishing|year=2013|isbn=978-0-615-65905-3|___location=Priztker Military Library|pages=1–9}}</ref> Harris had heard of the tap code being used by prisoners in World War II<ref name="au">{{cite news | url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-pow.htm | title=Vets, Flyers discuss ideology, time in POW camps | author=Staff Sgt. Jason Tudor | publisher=[[Air Force News Service]] | date=1998-03-18 | access-date=2008-04-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203095911/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-pow.htm | archive-date=2007-12-03 | url-status=live }}</ref> and remembered a [[United States Air Force]] instructor who had discussed it as well.<ref name="pbs"/><ref>{{Cite book|title=Defiant : the POWs who endured Vietnam's most infamous prison, the women who fought for them, and the one who never returned|last=Townley, Alvin.|date = 4 February 2014|isbn=9781250006530|edition=First edition : February 2014|___location=New York|oclc=862575088}}</ref>

In Vietnam, the tap code became a very successful<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Peterson|first=Gordon I|last2=Taylor|first2=David C|date=March 2016|title=Intelligence Support to Communications with US POW's in Vietnam|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence|journal=Studies in Intelligence|publisher=Center for the Study of Intelligence Publications|volume=60|pages=1–15|access-date=2019-05-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508044337/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence|archive-date=2019-05-08|url-status=live}}</ref> way for otherwise isolated prisoners to communicate.<ref name="au"/><ref>{{Cite book|title=Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton: Six Characteristics of High Performance Teams|last=Fretwell|first=Peter|last2=Kiland|first2=Taylor Baldwin|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=2013|isbn=978-1-61251-217-4|___location=Annapolis, Maryland|pages=63–67}}</ref> POWs would use the tap code in order to communicate to each other between cells in a way which the guards would be unable to pick up on.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship that saved two POW's in Vietnam|last=Hirsch|first=James S|publisher=Houghton-Mifflin|year=2004|isbn=0618273484|___location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/twosoulsindivisi00hirs/page/161 161-162]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/twosoulsindivisi00hirs/page/161}}</ref> They used it to communicate everything from what questions interrogators were asking (in order for everyone to stay consistent with a deceptive story), to who was hurt and needed others to donate meager food rations. It was easy to teach and newly arrived prisoners became fluent in it within a few days.<ref>{{cite book | last=McCain | first=John | author-link=John McCain |author2=Mark Salter |author2-link=Mark Salter | title=Faith of My Fathers | title-link=Faith of My Fathers | publisher=[[Random House]] | year=1999 | isbn=0-375-50191-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/faithofmyfathersmcc00mcca/page/211 211]–12}}</ref><ref name="brace"/> It was even used when prisoners were sitting next to each other but not allowed to talk, by tapping on another's thigh.<ref name="brace">{{cite book | last=Brace |first=Ernest C. |author-link=Ernest C. Brace | title=A Code to Keep: The true story of America's longest held civilian prisoner of war in Vietnam | publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] | year=1988 | isbn=0-7090-3560-8|pages= 171–72, 187–88}}</ref> By overcoming isolation with the tap code, prisoners were said to be able to maintain a [[chain of command]] and keep up morale.<ref name="au"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Naughton|first=Robert J|date=1975|title=Motivational Factors of American Prisoners of War Held by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam|url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol28/iss1/2|journal=Naval War College Review|volume=28|access-date=2019-05-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504141451/https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol28/iss1/2/|archive-date=2019-05-04|url-status=live}}</ref>