大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Philippa on behalf of Joyce Baxter and has been added to the site with her permission. Joyce fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was 18 when war started and living in London.

I was suddenly called to London from a quiet posting in Hertfordshire and put on a train. I had no idea where I was going but the mystery was solved when I got out at Bletchley and was taken to the grounds of Bletchley Park - a not very distinguished stately home.

Whilst there I learned the thrilling news that we had broken the German code. To everyone's eternal credit, the secret of having cracked the fiendishly difficult Enigma was never revealed by anyone, although thousands were handling the material and mostly went back to their own homes when off duty.

It was not until 1973 when a book about Bletchley was published that I, and others, felt free to reveal our own share in the code-breaking. Until then we had not breathed a word, not even to our nearest and dearest.

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