From the Archives: A Lady Codebreaker Speaks: Joan Murray, the Bombes and the Perils of Writing Crypto-History From Participants' Accounts

Abstract

A declassified 1970s article by Joan Murray, the World War II–Cold War British codebreaker who worked on the German naval Enigma problem, and who was engaged to Alan Turing, gives some new insights into the battle against the U-boat Enigma. As important, in the light of documents released by the British and the American since the 1990s, the article shows the ganders in using a participant's memories as final evidence. Although privy to the secrets of Bletchley Park, Murray was, for example, unaware of the near equal power of England's own four-wheel Bombes compared to those designed in America.