Alastair Denniston - World War II

World War II

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, GC&CS greatly expanded and relocated to Bletchley Park.

In February 1942, GC&CS was reorganised, and Denniston was placed in charge of a civil and diplomatic division in London, while Edward Travis succeeded him at Bletchley Park, overseeing the work on military codes and ciphers.

In October 1941, Alan Turing had written to Churchill on behalf of the cryptanalysts, over the head of Denniston, to alert Churchill to the fact that a shortage of staff at Bletchley Park was preventing them from deciphering many messages. An addition of man or womanpower, small by military standards, could make a big difference to the effectiveness of the fighting effort. The slow response to previous requests had convinced them that the strategic value of their work was not understood in the right quarters. There was praise for the "energy and foresight" of Commander Travis.

Churchill had ordered "Action this day". Resources were transferred as fast as possible. When Travis took over, he "presided over an administrative revolution which at last brought the management of Intelligence into line with its mode of production" (Hodges).