大象传媒

London High Grade Cipher School
By Jessie Dunlop

High Grade Cipher School was in Half Moon Lane in London. We were about twenty in number and very mixed. There were some men back from Singapore and the Far East and some from the Desert Army. There were six girls and a 45-year-old Sergeant Major from the Home Office who was supposedly in charge of us but was also there to learn Cipher. Our billet (the girls) was in a large terraced house higher up the Lane. I shared a room with a corporal from Northern Ireland. She was married to a civil servant who was stationed in Africa. She had two children and her parents in Northern Ireland were looking after them. She had been with her husband in Africa and when their leave was due in 1942 they were told that if they both came back for their furlough, they'd still be able to both go back together. But this didn't happen and she found herself left behind. She had joined the ATS hoping that she'd get back to her husband.

Meanwhile we had lessons daily on High Grade Book Cipher and how to use the various headings for different categories of secrecy. We were told about xyco machines but we didn't see any and we had obscure lessons on how to use them. We also had instructions on National Security and the necessity to not talk in public about where we were and what we were doing. We were close to London and the City, just a short train ride to London Bridge, and the Irish lass and I often went up in the early evening to a show or concert. On one occasion we planned to go to the Proms at Albert Hall and asked the other girls to leave the outer door open so that we could get in late. We met one of the corporals on the course on London Bridge Station, she was with two very smartly dressed men and we were surprised to find that they were German. The men spoke excellent English and when they found we were going to the Proms they said that they also had tickets and asked if we could all meet after the concert. We agreed, and when we met in Oddenino's afterwards they asked us all sorts of questions about what we were doing. We soon left them and said quite plainly that we didn't talk about work outside. As we walked down Half Moon Lane we removed our ties and jackets and hats and shoes, ready to sneak in and get in bed quickly. I pushed the outside door but it didn't budge. There was nothing for it but to ring the bell. The sergeant major opened the door in her dressing gown and threatened us with all sorts of charges in the morning. We weren't very worried because she needed us to help with her homework. Evidently as soon as we left a young soldier had tried to force his way in and she had to call the Military Police to restrain him, which was why the door was secured.

I was posted to 1 AA Division at Uxbridge when I had passed the exams with sergeant's stripes up too. The offices were in Hillingdon House and I spent a very happy year there. After a spell in hospital with suspected rheumatic fever, I went back to find I had been posted to SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) in Central London. At this time, the beginning of 1944, there were V1s all the time and a barrage of balloons had been set up to protect the city, but lots got through.

You can read what happened next to Jessie in her story "Uxbridge SHAEF and London Bushey". Jessie has written these stories herself and given us permission to put them in the archive.

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