Oddball
04-30-2005, 11:32 AM
British SIGINT and the Bear, 1919-1941.
Some discoveries in the GC&CS archive
Essay by Dr. Craig Graham McKay.
Introductory remarks
With the release of material relating to the work of GC&CS, the Government Code and Cypher School, an important British archival collection becomes available to historians at the Public Record Office, Kew. Within the collection it is convenient to distinguish between two basic types of source material. The first consists of the products of GC&CS in the form of intercepts passed to the Prime Minister. This so-called Director/C Archive, apart from the intrinsic interest of the intercepts it contains, provides indirectly a glimpse of the extent of Allied cryptanalytic success in breaking diplomatic cryptosystems, including those of non-enemy powers. The second group of material which is more technical in orientation, is made up of internal historical memoirs and papers compiled by the sectional heads and other members of GC&CS, giving an account of their work before and during the Second World War.
This latter group is the chief source of the present article which is an exploratory attempt at examining the exertions of British SIGINT as regards Russia in the period 1919-1941. The essay will be found to break important new ground. The archival discoveries of Anglo-Estonian and Anglo-Finnish SIGINT cooperation and of a brief episode in British SIGINT on Swedish territory at the end of 1939 should be of particular interest to Swedish military historians.
http://www.kkrva.se/sve/kkrvaht/972/british_sigint.shtml
Some discoveries in the GC&CS archive
Essay by Dr. Craig Graham McKay.
Introductory remarks
With the release of material relating to the work of GC&CS, the Government Code and Cypher School, an important British archival collection becomes available to historians at the Public Record Office, Kew. Within the collection it is convenient to distinguish between two basic types of source material. The first consists of the products of GC&CS in the form of intercepts passed to the Prime Minister. This so-called Director/C Archive, apart from the intrinsic interest of the intercepts it contains, provides indirectly a glimpse of the extent of Allied cryptanalytic success in breaking diplomatic cryptosystems, including those of non-enemy powers. The second group of material which is more technical in orientation, is made up of internal historical memoirs and papers compiled by the sectional heads and other members of GC&CS, giving an account of their work before and during the Second World War.
This latter group is the chief source of the present article which is an exploratory attempt at examining the exertions of British SIGINT as regards Russia in the period 1919-1941. The essay will be found to break important new ground. The archival discoveries of Anglo-Estonian and Anglo-Finnish SIGINT cooperation and of a brief episode in British SIGINT on Swedish territory at the end of 1939 should be of particular interest to Swedish military historians.
http://www.kkrva.se/sve/kkrvaht/972/british_sigint.shtml