Liberty, Harold The Other Codebreakers

Breaking the Non-military Codes at Bletchley Park and Beyond

The work of the military codebreakers at Bletchley Park is rightly recognized today for its contribution to the Allied victory in the Second World War. The ability to decipher enemy communications made it possible to understand and utilize strategic and tactical information. Less attention, however, has been paid to other, non-military codes and the organizations associated with them, despite their immense importance to the course of the war. This report describes how these areas operated, the people involved, and the results achieved. In particular, it examines the work of the Diplomatic and Commercial Department of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which, in the face of impending war, was evacuated to Bletchley Park along with the military codebreakers in August 1939 and remained there until early 1942, before returning to London and being housed in Berkeley Street and other nearby buildings. The department did not process military material unless military matters appeared in diplomatic communications (which, by their very nature, were more strategic than combat-related). This book details the economic, diplomatic, sociological, and even psychological conflicts that shaped the war and affected raw materials, food, energy, and transportation. Neutral states, which by virtue of their status could continue to interact with both sides, also played a crucial role, as did the information that could be gleaned from them. Deciphering numerous neutral messages between representatives provided valuable insights into the enemy's intentions, problems, and situation. This new account of the "other" codebreakers draws on original documents from the National Archives and Bletchley Park and details how the decryption of civilian codes exposed the activities of diplomats, trade groups, spy rings, financial and economic actors, traders, and smugglersall embroiled in a fierce battle of intelligence. The book will be of interest to anyone interested in learning more about codebreaking, the Second World War, and the economics and politics of nations.