Catalogue description Government Code and Cypher School: Reports on Second World War German Army and Air Force Communications

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Details of HW 45
Reference: HW 45
Title: Government Code and Cypher School: Reports on Second World War German Army and Air Force Communications
Description:

This series contains weekly reports compiled by the Government Code and Cypher School of details of intercepted German army and air force wireless communications traffic during the Second World War. The reports give details of traffic volumes and call-signs, frequencies and operating schedules used.
Date: 1941-1945
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Government Code and Cypher School, 1919-1946
Physical description: 50 file(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 2002 Government Communications Headquarters
Accumulation dates: File series ran from 1939 to 1945
Selection and destruction information: Selected under Acquisition Policy criterion 2.2.1.3 documenting the use of communications traffic analysis for defence and intelligence purposes during the Second World War. All surviving records selected.
Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

For periods during the Second World War, particularly in the early period, staff at the Government Code and Cypher School were not able to break or interpret the codes being used in intercepted enemy wireless communications. In this situation, intelligence assessments of enemy activity and intentions could be inferred by analysis of communications traffic volumes. The reports in this series were compiled to facilitate such traffic analysis, so that variations in traffic volumes on particular networks or in particular locations could be analysed and interpreted.

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