Call of Duty: WWII - Cracking the Code

The early days of World War II saw the birth of modern covert operations with the formation of organizations like the American Office of Strategic Services and the British Special Operations Executive. These pioneering clandestine agencies, working in concert with groups of brave men and women trapped in enemy occupied territory, exploited cracks in the walls of Fortress Europe to create openings for Allied forces to gain a foothold on the continent.

At the core of this collaboration was cryptographic communication. Plain English? Coded messages. If a member of The Resistance wanted to get a message out of France, they couldn’t just pick up the phone and call Allied HQ. Using code, members of resistance groups throughout Europe could post messages in plain sight for days until an Allied operative could spot it, decipher it and put it to good use. Resistance fighters had to get creative with how where they relayed their intel, utilizing newspapers, postcards and even radio broadcasts. In the days leading up to the allied invasion of Europe, operatives reported on enemy troop movements, positions and emplacements. This intel was instrumental in the success of Operation Overlord, the codename for the D-Day invasion.

The Call of Duty team revived these tactics and put them into action in the days leading up to the Call of Duty: WWII global reveal event in London and again before E3 in Los Angeles. Codes were hidden in posters and billboards in Los Angeles, New York City, Paris and London, waiting for Call of Duty fans to find them – and find them they did. Once discovered, fans collaborated to find out what was hidden behind the codes.

Clever fans cracked the code using the cypher machine on callofduty.com/classified. Once all five ciphers were entered, fans were granted access to a secret cache of exclusive intel from Call of Duty: WWII, as well as limited-edition multiplayer items.

The reveal events in London and Los Angeles gave the Call of Duty community a treasure trove of intel from deep with Call of Duty: WWII. With Beta around the corner and a multitude of events in the works, who knows where and when the next code from behind enemy lines will come.