Focus on
Olga Gray and the Woolwich Arsenal Spy Ring
In 1938, thanks to years of work by a remarkable female agent, MI5 ensured a package of British defence plans stayed secret.
Series
Government Code and Cypher School: Signals Intelligence on Japanese Communications
Catalogue reference: HW 67
What's it about?
HW 67
This series contains records relating to the interception and decyphering of Japanese military, naval and diplomatic communications.
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
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HW 67
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Title (The name of the record)
- Government Code and Cypher School: Signals Intelligence on Japanese Communications
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Date (When the record was created)
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1928-1945
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Description (What the record is about)
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This series contains records relating to the interception and decyphering of Japanese military, naval and diplomatic communications.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
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Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
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English
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Creator(s) (The creator of the record)
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- Government Code and Cypher School, 1919-1946
- Government Code and Cypher School, Japanese Section, 1935-1946
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
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18 files and volumes
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
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Open
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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From 2004 Government Communications Headquarters
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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- Topics
- Intelligence
- Navy
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Accumulation dates (The dates the record was accumulated)
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1928-1946
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Accruals (Indicates whether the archive expects to receive further records in future)
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No further accruals are expected
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Selection and destruction information (Information about how the record was selected for archiving)
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Records selected under acquisition policy criterion 2.2.1.3, documenting British defence efforts against Japanese communications. All surviving records selected.
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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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The British decyphering effort against Japanese communications after the First World War focused initially on the problem of coping with translation, and there was not really a need to decypher Japanese communications until the late 1920s. There was no Japanese Section at the Government Code and Cypher School until 1935. From around this time, GC&CS began to read intercepted Japanese communications. Separate sections handling Japanese diplomatic and military communications were established as needed during the Second World War.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C16235/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
17,110 records
Within the department: HW
Records created or inherited by Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)
You are currently looking at the series: HW 67
Government Code and Cypher School: Signals Intelligence on Japanese Communications
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