CODEBREAKERS OF BLETCHLEY PARK

In his foreword to this book Prof Christopher Andrew makes a poignant observation. In 1946 the White House was made publicly aware of US decryption of Japanese coded messages, so it was difficult for GCHQ to understand why, for 30 years, no historian had posed the rather obvious question of whether German ciphers had been cracked in WWII, and by whom. The answer was that all involved had been sworn to secrecy for life and all who either took part or who had discovered the truth had kept to their oaths and it was not until 1975 that the government acknowledged the facts and the amazing story of the codebreakers of Bletchley Park began to emerge. Perhaps the most prominent of them was Alan Turing and it is his nephew Dermot, author of many other volumes on codebreaking and early computing, that provides us with rather excellent "Who's Who" of the entire Bletchley Park operation - not just those who worked in the huts, but also the US, French, Polish and British government officials involved. Turing narrates the story from its beginnings Room 40 in the Old Admiralty Building in Whitehall in 1914. As Britain woke up to the threat of Hitler it was decided that the codebreakers needed a new home - out of town, big enough to accommodate a rapidly growing staff, good communications and not too obvious to enemy spies. In 1938 Bletchley Park came onto the market and was snapped up and "Captain Ridley's Shooting Party", the first group of spies and codebreakers, moved in. As the story progresses, Turing provides potted biographies of all who feature, both famed and less well-known, bringing to life the stories of these dedicated men and women who toiled day and night in the service of their country. With many b/w photos and plenty of delightful asides and anecdotes, here is the human face of one of our greatest wartime achievements. 256pp paperback.