Backing Bletchley: The Codebreaking Outstations, From Eastcote to GCHQ

Ronald Koorm's book explores the codebreaking outstations of Bletchley Park, including their development, contributions, and social history. It also examines the relationship between Bletchley and its support codebreaking outstations, the background to the Enigma encoding machine, and the quest for Artificial Intelligence. The book includes previously unpublished diagrams, charts, and illustrations of the story of the outstations, shedding further light on the extraordinary historic events that occurred there.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2020
Publisher: Amberley Publishing

Ronald Koorm has been delivering talks and lectures on the codebreaking outstations of Bletchley Park for several years, and this is the final piece of the remarkable Bletchley jigsaw. The book is filled with fascinating stories, including the creation of the first electronic digital computer by Tommy Flowers, which took place at Dollis Hill, not at Bletchley Park. Koorm's book provides a detailed study of the Bombe registers at the National Archives, offering new insights into the captivating Bletchley story. He delves into the complex relationship between Bletchley Park and its support codebreaking outstations, the background to the Enigma encoding machine, and how Eastcote became the largest codebreaking outstation during the war. Koorm examines the development of improvements on Alan Turing's Bombe machine, the contribution of the WRNS (Wrens) in operating the machines, and the social history of the Wrens, who displayed outstanding teamwork under immense pressure at the codebreaking sites. Post-war, Eastcote became GCHQ before moving to Cheltenham, and it played a significant role in Cold War counter-intelligence operations. Koorm explores the link between Alan Turing and others in the quest for Artificial Intelligence and how talented individuals during the war helped shape the future. Backing Bletchley includes previously unpublished diagrams, charts, and illustrations of the story of the outstations, which shed further light on the extraordinary historic events that occurred there.

Weight: 538g
Dimension: 239 x 150 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781445696522