The Role of Bletchley Park for the Allies

1812 Words4 Pages

The Role of Bletchley Park for the Allies

1. The organisation at Bletchley Park and the way in which its people

worked was a key factor to its efficiency and success. It enabled them

to decipher and then retransmit the obtained information received from

the enemy to intelligence offices in London in the shortest amount of

time possible, with complete co-ordination.

The recruitment process was concealed. People targeted for recruitment

would be taken away secretly and made to sign a form called the

Official Secrets Act, swearing that they would not tell anyone of

their work in Bletchley (this was to prevent the enemy finding out

about Bletchley's establishment ).

They recruited people using the 'old boy network', usually from their

old school or university. Chess and crossword competitions were also

held, and winners asked to work at Bletchley. The people chosen

consisted of great mathmaticians, linguists, Personel from the armed

forces, translators and so forth. Some, such as Alan Turing were

geniuses.

The people selected were placed in units at Bletchley Park, which were

split up into different huts. The shifts in these huts were 3 x 8

hours. The workers had to keep complete secrecy, and there was no

discussion about work outside of the huts. Inside the huts information

was given on a 'need to know' basis.

The huts were situated in different blocks. Huts 3, 4, 6 and 8 were

the most important. Huts 3 and 6 dealt with traffic (encrypted German

messages intercepted) from the Army and Airforce, whilst Huts 4 and 8

dealt with the Navy. Hut 6 was responsible for deciphering Enigma

messages. They were received in an Intercep...

... middle of paper ...

...n England. Britain could even have

gone into famine and been forced to surrender.

There would have been greater losses of men in North Africa, Italy and

Sicily and Greece, which would have meant there would have been less

men to stage the invasion of Europe. They would then also have no idea

where enemy forces were positioned and more concentrated and when they

were going to attack during this invasion. The Allies would not know

the vulnerable positions in the German defences meaning they would

have advanced more slowly and lost more men. The invasion may have

even failed completely, which could have affected the final outcome of

the war.

Bletchley Park became a guiding and important asset to the allies

throughout the war. Without it the outcome of the war, and therefore

our lives, may have been very different.

Open Document