In WW2 ,World War 2, Bletchley Park was the Buckinghamshire house and estate that played host to Britain’s code-breaking triumphs – from the success in breaking the ‘insoluble’ Nazi Enigma codes to its incredible work on Japanese cryptology.Its role was so secret – everyone who worked there signed the Official Secrets Act for life – that we only really started to learn about its achievements decades afterwards. And there is still much to emerge.
Bletchley Park was purchased by the government in 1938 to house the Government Code and Cypher School. It was run by the Secret Service and commanded by Commander Alastair Denniston. Bletchley Park was barely suitable for its task and many worked in an environment that could only be described as basic. Even one of the centre’s chiefs worked in a child’s nursery – complete with ‘Peter Rabbit’ wallpaper. The house itself was too small to accommodate all those who worked there and many worked in huts dotted around the main house. Each hut had its own specialisation.
Work at Bletchley Park was done around the clock on eight-hour shifts – 08.00 to 16.00, 16.00 to 00.00 and 00.00 to 08.00. Codes could come in at any time as service operators stationed around the country listened out for German messages also around the clock. When a message got to Bletchley Park, it was colour coded dependent on what branch of the German military it involved. The code was then sent to the relevant hut to be deciphered. Initially the process took time but the use of the Bombe computers meant that most coded messages could be processed in hours. Once broken, the codes were translated into English.
