The Bletchley Park Codebreakers in Their Own Words

by Joel Greenberg

"....will be of great interest to those who wonder about wartime life at Britain’s best known SIGINT organization." ―Studies in Intelligence

"A fascinating anthology which sheds new light on the Bletchley Park story and shows that there is still more to tell." - Tony Comer OBE, formerly Departmental Historian at GCHQ

This important volume tells the story of Bletchley Park through countless letters written by key players to former colleagues and loved ones as the war unfolded.

Having intercepted millions of German communications, the codebreakers had felt bound by the Official Secrets Act and said little about their wartime activities. Some who had stayed on at GCHQ after the war, were concerned that speaking out could jeopardize their pensions. Over one hundred letters have been included in this volume and have either been recovered from family members or declassified by GCHQ. They reveal fresh information about the clandestine operation and disclose the true feelings of the participants at Bletchley Park.

In contrast to early accounts, which lacked detail and were occasionally inaccurate, this book thoroughly lays bare the day-to-day experiences at Bletchley Park and uncovers the operational and technical reasons behind the organization's successes and failures.

Simultaneously intimate and comprehensive, it will interest historians, World War II researchers, and anyone who wants to learn the secrets of Britain's signal intelligence effort.

352 pages, Hardcover

Published September 21, 2022

About the author

Joel Greenberg is a research associate of the Chicago Academy of Sciences Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the Field Museum. Author of three books, including A Natural History of the Chicago Region, Greenberg has taught natural history courses for the Morton Arboretum, Brookfield Zoo, and Chicago Botanic Garden. He helped spearhead Project Passenger Pigeon to focus attention on human-caused extinctions. Greenberg lives in Westmont, Illinois. Visit his blog at Birdzilla.com.

Reviews

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this book- and I barely understood huge swathes of it. In The Bletchley Park Codebreakers In Their Own Words, Joel Greenberg, a writer on Signals and Intelligence in WWII takes us through the people who did the Ultra decrypting, the analysis, and the management of the processes- by reading their letters to each other and other characters in the hierarchy. There are letters from all periods of the work itself, some from the cold war transitional period as one enemy was changed out for a new one, and many from the later "Revelations" period of the 1970s when the secrets came tumbling out. These are witty and urbane folk, and they talk to each other with a wonderful vocabulary that reminded me of my parents, who were of the same generation. It's a great insight into a workplace that held the fate of the Western World in its hands- and to the real humans who made it function.

At this point I want to return to the part about not totally understanding everything you read in this book. I don't understand the exact higher math needed to solve coded messages on a 6 or 7 counter disc machine- but I do understand a process where codes were solved- and then individual messages needed to be properly decoded- then translated, then analyzed, and then the analyzed information turned into Ultra information for Military Intel Officers to use and take to political leaders if needed. This book reminded me that the "bombes" used to do machine solutions of coded material were also the beginning of the modern computer age - and that all these processes were transatlantic, with the US brought in for added material muscle fairly early in the history of the program. Getting to know more of the real characters who made the whole thing tick is compelling. There are b/w pics that help to explain the prose and bring the people to life.

There are a few adult themes but no graphic violence passages , so this is a fine book for the Junior Reader over about 12/13 with a mathematical bent. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast- not much here. The Gamer and Modeler will have to use this as a deep background read- although I do think they will enjoy it too. The Military Enthusiast gets a deep dive into the sausage making of intelligence- and the man (and Woman) management that went into producing such a fine product. I usually dislike books of letters- but I went from letter to letter and just enjoyed the ride, only stopping every now and then to see if I understood the conversation topics. It was fun enough that even if I didn't totally get it- I just kept going until it did make sense. A strong rec from me.

[HistoryBookChat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has selected a rare collection of letters & photos for this new book, many not seen before.
They reveal the thoughts of many people who worked at Bletchley, who have never spoken publicly about their time there. But in letters between themselves, have been much more open.
This book will be of great interest to both researchers and historians, though as a general reader of this period I did find some of the letters of little interest personally.
Saying that, another interesting book revealing the secrets of what happened at Bletchley Park.
Available from Greenhill Books.