Catalogue description Government Code and Cypher School: Directorate: Second World War Policy Papers

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Details of HW 14
Reference: HW 14
Title: Government Code and Cypher School: Directorate: Second World War Policy Papers
Description:

This series provides day to day detail of the workings of the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) following its move from Broadway Buildings in London to Bletchley Park (BP) at the start of the Second World War.

The directorate papers reflect the enormous expansion of the British Signals Intelligence (Sigint) Organisation and the ever-increasing demands placed on GCCS to break the numerous Enigma cyphers used by diverse elements of the German war machine and also other important codes and cyphers in use throughout the world.

Miscellaneous papers include a large number associated with BP's daily liaison with the Sigint Combined Bureau (CBME) in Cairo and with sigint operations by all three Services both in the Middle East (ME) and in other areas and with the Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry.

Other papers reflect the initial Sigint liaison between GCCS and the United States from July 1940 until July 1942, including the visit to Bletchley Park in Feb 1941 of the first US Joint Services Sigint delegation and the historic successful visit to the US in Aug/Sept 1941 by Cdr AG Denniston, then Head of GCCS.

Date: 1933-1949
Arrangement:

Apart from HW 14/45-47, all papers are placed in chronological order as pieces covering periods of from ten days to two months. An attempt has been made in each piece to group associated items together in the listing although no attempt has been made to group associated papers in each piece. After HW 14/ 47 all other UK-US liaison is incorporated in chronological order with other Bletchley Park related papers.

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Foreign Office, Government Code and Cypher School, 1922-1946

Physical description: 164 files and papers
Access conditions: Open
Immediate source of acquisition:

1998-2004 Government Communications Headquarters

Accruals: Series is not accruing
Unpublished finding aids:

There is a key to abbreviations with the series list in the reading rooms at The National Archives, Kew.

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