Overview

As part of the History course on the 20th Century we went to Bletchley Park to discover the home of the code-breakers during the Second World War. This was a top secret location that by the end of the war included around 10,000 people working daily for the war effort. Around three quarters of these were women.

Of course, the most famous code-breaker is Alan Turing, but we had a chance to appreciate the contribution of the Polish code breakers, other key code breakers and the whole team at Bletchley. There was a lovely moment when our two Polish speaking students stepped forward to read the memorial dedicated to the Polish code breakers.

Another key moment was when it was explained to us how people working there were not well respected because it appeared they were not contributing to the war, such was the degree of secrecy that was to last well after the war had ended. This would have been particularly hard for the men to endure, of course, as they could not tell anyone about the work they were doing. Today there is a monument with the words ‘we also served’ that acknowledges this significant contribution made by the Bletchley teams.

The highlight of the trip was a learning session where we were invited to break codes ourselves and touch a real Enigma machine. This really brought home the magnitude of the task that the code-breakers were faced with and the seemingly impossible task they were given. All in all it was a very thought provoking trip.

Pictures

Student Experience

It was fascinating to learn about how the mathematicians who broke the Enigma Cipher lived, and encounter the places and things that they would have experienced on a daily basis during WW2, such as the small buildings where they worked on, and an original Enigma Machine. Also, it was interesting to notice how fairly normal things differ from the 1940s and present day, like the covers on the headlamps of cars and bicycles, to make the light shine only on the road and not upwards, so that vehicles couldn’t be spotted from above by enemy planes.

Kai

I admired seeing the interiors of the manor house and the other buildings where the cipher work occurred. It’s interesting to see how many cigarettes, custard creams, and cups of tea were on the desks, most probably to cope with the immense stress that was pressuring the mathematicians.

Rosie

I learnt a lot of interesting facts, not only about the history of Bletchley park but also about the second world war, one fact that I really found interesting is how the enigma was first cracked by the Polish and the instruction on how to crack it was given to the British after the Third Reich invaded Poland.

Veer

Learning a lot about the enigma was interesting, especially when we did a class on it and tried breaking the code for ourselves.

Izzy

On our trip to Bletchley Park, we learnt a variety of new and interesting things about how codebreakers in the 2nd World War cracked the Enigma codes, helping to reduce the war by up to 2 years, and saving thousands of lives.

Maisie

I really enjoyed looking around the mansion and the huts because you could see the conditions that the codebreakers worked in. I also enjoyed being able to interact with an enigma which was really cool.

Esme