The SG-41 was called the Hitler Mill as it looked like a coffee grinder

A rare Nazi codemaking machine that baffled Allied intelligence experts has been dug up by two treasure hunters in a wood near Munich.

The so-called Hitler Mill was intended to replace the Enigma machines that turned Nazi war commands into complex codes. The SG-41 encryption machine earned its nickname because it had a large handle on one side, which gave it the appearance of an oversized coffee grinder.

Only 500 were made by the Nazis and they were supplied to German army units in October 1944. The two treasure hunters, armed with metal detectors, came upon one in a forest at Aying in Bavaria.

Max Schöps, a carpenter, and Volker Schranner were alerted when their detectors began to beep. They dug 15in beneath the surface