Book review: Codebreakers, the Inside Story of Bletchley Park

This is NOT David Kahn's excellent book "The Codebreakers".  This is a
British volume full of personal stories of thirty people who worked at
Bletchley Park or at British code-breaking in the field during WW2.
I found it a very touching and personal book.  Each person tells their
own story in a five- or six-page essay, and the stories cover a whole
range of activities, from cryptanalytical work to typing-and-filing
to the people who constructed and maintained the physical buildings.

As the introduction says, "...few of the events described here were
chronicled at the time, and those who worked at Bletchley and its
outstations were forbidden to talk or write about it -- almost to
remember it.  The compiling of this book has rested almost entirely on
personal memories; and that is unusual in an account which pretends to
any sort of accuracy.  Moreover, nobody who worked at Bletchley can
now be under 65; several contributors are in their mid-80s.  For all
of us clear and accurate recollection of highly specialized Top Secret
facts across fifty years has been a demanding task, requiring much
cross-checking."

There are lots of details about how real live wartime code-breaking
worked fifty years ago -- details I have seen nowhere else.  I
recommend this book to any cypherpunk.

Codebreakers: the inside story of Bletchley Park.  ed. by Francis
Harry Hinsley and Alan Stripp.  Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1994 (hardback issued in 1993).  ISBN 0-19-285304-X.  US$13.95,
at my local bookstore.

--
John Gilmore                gnu@toad.com  --  gnu@cygnus.com  --  gnu@eff.org
 A well-regulated intelligentsia, being necessary to the security of a free
 State, the right of the people to keep and bear books, shall not be infringed.

Let me wholeheartedly echo John's recommendation; this is a terrific
book, one from which I learned a great deal.  You'll get more out
of it, however, the more you already know about the Bletchley Park
efforts and the principles on which the Enigma and Lorenz machines
operated.  In particular, Welchman's "The Hut Six Story" (McGraw
Hill, 1982) makes good preparatory reading.  Unfortunately, that
book has been out of print for some time, but is fairly widely
available at used book shops.

I had the opportunity to visit Bletchley Park a couple of weeks
ago.  Most of the original huts are still standing, albiet in
various states of disrepair.  Walking around the site, knowing
something of what went on there in complete secrecy 50 years ago,
I could only imagine the sense of urgency and bustle that must have
been in the air with 12000 people working (day and night, over
three shifts) in a relatively small space.  The more I learn about
the effort the more impressed I am with the accomplishments that
took place there.  In particular, the path from basic research to
operational functionality was far shorter than one would think
possible.

After the war, the site was used by GCHQ and by British Telecom as
a training center.  It was recently saved from redevlopment and is
now being converted into museum.  Among the projects taking place
there is a construction of a working model of the original "Colossus"
machine, arguably the first electronic computer ever built (it was
used in breaking the Lorenz teleprinter cipher).  I believe the site
is currently open for visitors on alternate weekends.

-matt