I was wondering if an archive of intercepted british (+translated) transmissions (ULTRA and the like) existed either in TNA or other archives. I've had a look but can only find decodes relating to shipping convoys, not messages. Also did armies have their own intelligence network, and are their documents available at TNA?
Phaethon ALL British Armies had an Itelligence Corps unit attached - one of the more famous was Brigadier Williams AND Major Enoch Powell M.P. who served in the 8th Army......why did you think it took so long to win the war....Intelligence Corps !!! Cheers
Paethon I think that you need to do a search on Bletchley Park and see what that brings up. They broke the codes so you could strike it lucky
There's a list as a atarter under DEFE 3 (Admiralty Ops Int Centre): Records about the administrative arrangements for Hut 3 at Bletchley Park can be found in the Hut 3 directives (pieces 126-127 include appreciations of work on ULTRA by senior military commanders, including Eisenhower) in:: HW 3/124 HW 3/125 HW 3/126 HW 3/127 Another file of ULTRA material, relating to the sinking of the SCHARNHORST along with reports of the ULTRA Representatives with US Army Groups is in ADM 223/36 Records relating to signals intelligence passed to the Prime Minister from the Government Code and Cypher School during the Second World War are in HW 1 Reports are in PRO 31/20 Summaries of tactical signals intelligence forwarded to allied commands by the Government Code and Cypher School are in HW 20 The station and allied forces codes for transmission of material decoded are contained in HW 3/165 Ultra signals were sent to relevant higher formations via the SLUs (Special Liaison Units) that were attached to the HQs. HW 49 has some histories of the SLUs but HW 20 looks like the best starting point.
Thanks Idler, ULTRA has proved to be a dead end as it deals with a higher level then i'm after; i'm after sigint radio traffic. It makes sense that ULTRA is mostly involved in the atlantic war after all. I think the area i'm interested in will be DEFE 3 "Admiralty: Operational Intelligence Centre: Intelligence from Intercepted German, Italian and Japanese Radio Communications, WWII" .... I just hope that the admiralty were in charge of military (i.e non naval) intercepts ; otherwise i'm in for a lot of shipping information. What I'm really after is decoded information from the north west african theatre (tunis). Does anyone have any experience to the sort of information I might encounter in DEFE 3? (or even any of the DEFE files?) Intelligence has proved to be a bit of a maze in TNA. I'm still pretty sure the 1st and 8th armies (my areas on interest) would have had records for their intelligence sections; but my searches have been in vain so far. If anyone has come across a PROCAT record (not the odd report) of decoded/translated intercepts from this theatre then i'd really like to hear about it. It would be really helpful. Seriously; there's enough information burried in the archives to warrant a year of searching never mind the day i'll end up having to do this!!!!!
Hi Adam, They are available at the National Archives. Takes some digging to find them. Here's something of interest to the North Irish Horse: Intercepts Gerry
Hi Andrew, Apologies for the late response to your question. For the last five months I have been constantly on the move, most times without having access to the interent. Now in London for a few days before flying off again some catching is is taking place. Your surmise as to the source is probably correct - on return from Belfast I will try to found if indeed it is HW-1. Cheers, Gerry
Thanks Idler, ULTRA has proved to be a dead end as it deals with a higher level then i'm after; i'm after sigint radio traffic. It makes sense that ULTRA is mostly involved in the atlantic war after all. I think the area i'm interested in will be DEFE 3 "Admiralty: Operational Intelligence Centre: Intelligence from Intercepted German, Italian and Japanese Radio Communications, WWII" .... I just hope that the admiralty were in charge of military (i.e non naval) intercepts ; otherwise i'm in for a lot of shipping information. What I'm really after is decoded information from the north west african theatre (tunis). Does anyone have any experience to the sort of information I might encounter in DEFE 3? (or even any of the DEFE files?) Intelligence has proved to be a bit of a maze in TNA. I'm still pretty sure the 1st and 8th armies (my areas on interest) would have had records for their intelligence sections; but my searches have been in vain so far. If anyone has come across a PROCAT record (not the odd report) of decoded/translated intercepts from this theatre then i'd really like to hear about it. It would be really helpful. Seriously; there's enough information burried in the archives to warrant a year of searching never mind the day i'll end up having to do this!!!!! I have extracted information on The Alamein Battle from DEFE 3 which has been very precise. Never looked beyond Nov 1942 but there has been no reason to believe that later information is not the same. They are ULTRA decrypts which cover both Military and Naval aspects. The paper Catalogue at Kew gives more information as to what individual Files may hold. With this series of Files being on 35mm Film you can just start viewing them without Registering for a Readers Card.
