Part of the "General Report on Tunny", the Newmanry History, formatted by Tony Sale (c) March 2001 INTRODUCTION This is part of a very large (200 page) document. This section has been tackled first because of the interest in Colossus and the need to fully understand and debate the wartime use of Colossus to enable the completion of the Colossus rebuild by the Colossus Rebuild Project under the direction of Tony Sale. A complete copy of the original document is held in the Public Record Office, UK. It was written by Donald Michie, Jack Good and other members of the Newmanry, after the end of World War II and has only recently been declassified. It was found to be impossible to meet the original objective of a "photo-copy" reproduction because many pages contained over 70 lines of text. As a compromise, Courier Font has been retained, together with the original page numbers. However, a wider page width has allowed re-formatting of paragraphs to "gain some lines" and fit it onto an A4 page. The document has been produce using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), from photo copies of the original. This is a notoriously error prone task. I am indebted to Frode Weierud, Andrew Hodges and many others for correcting "garbles". Any remaining that are reported would be gratefully received and corrected. Tony Sale March 2001 Part of the "General Report on Tunny", the Newmanry History, formatted by Tony Sale (c) March 2001 31B Page 276 __________________________ 31 - MR. NEWMAN'S SECTION __________________________ 31A. Growth 31B. Staff Requirements 31C. Administration 31D. Cryptographic Staff 31E. W.R.N.S. 31F. Engineer. 31G. Education 31H. Statistics Bureau 31A GROWTH In December, 1942 Mr.M.H.A.Newman was given the job of developing machine methods of setting Tunny. In April, 1943 the first machines arrived, a Robinson and a Tunny, pilot models of somewhat uncertain behaviour. Mr. Newman formed his section with one cryptographer, two engineers and 16 Wrens. The section was founded and lived (for the most part) in a single room. After three months two or three messages were set each week. By May, 1945 there were 26 cryptographers, 28 Engineers, and 273 Wrens with 10 Colossi, 3 Robinsons, 3 Tunnies and 20 smaller electrical machines. The section moved into Block F in Nov. 1943, and expanded into a new and additional Block (H) in September, 1944 in which all chi-breaking was done. In the week ending March 31st, 358 messages were set on Chis, 151 on Motors and Psis and 23 sets of new wheels were broken. The total number of log books used in 2 years was about 500. 31B STAFF REQUIREMENTS The allocation of staff at 6 monthly intervals is shown in the following table. Apr.43 Sep.43 Apr.44 Sep.44 Apr.45 (Administration | - | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | (Cryptographers | 2 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 22 | | | | | | | Engineers- (Maintenance | - | 3 | 9 | 12 | 15 | (Construction | - | 4 | 9 | 11 | 13 | | | | | | | Wrens | 16 | 16 | 28 | 180 | 273 | | | | | | | TOTAL | 18 | 28 | 93 | 225 | 325 | Finally the staff per shift was as follows: 7 Cryptographers : DO in charge of setting ( TS note: DO is Duty Officer) 1 Wheel-man in charge of wheel-breaking 1 in charge of Cribs and Robinson work 2 to supervise Colossus setting 2 to supervise Colossus wheel breaking 67 Wrens : 7 Registrars 17 Tunny Operators 2 Robinson operators 20 Colossus operators Part of the "General Report on Tunny", the Newmanry History, formatted by Tony Sale (c) March 2001 31D Page 277 15 computers 1 "Cribs" assistant 5 "Room 11" maintaining contact with Knockholt. 5 Engineers and a daily requirement of 2 Research cryptographers 2 Research Wrens 13 Construction Engineers 6 Administrative Staff. 31C ADMINISTRATION As the section expanded, administrative problems became considerable. Co- ordinated policy was established through a "Fish Committee" under Mr. Welchman's chairmanship during the period of fastest development (May 1944 - January 1945) to determine the policy of machines to be ordered and staff to be recruited. A good deal of attention was given by this committee to the slip-reading and perforation of tape at Knockholt and every effort was made to encourage the production of material at Knockholt on a scale commensurate with the rapidly expanding capacity at this end. The administration had to keep in touch with operational results. It did this by collecting and analysing facts about success achieved in each part of the section and issuing suitable reports. The log books kept by all operators provided the required information in addition to making operators conscious of their own efficiency. 31D. CRYPTOGRAPHIC STAF F The first thirteen men to join the Section as cryptographers were drawn from other sections of GC & CS. In experience and infectious enthusiasm they preserved their lead to the end, and there were few in the section not affected by their keenness. After July, 1944 they were joined by men from other war jobs and men straight from the universities. The qualifications of men chosen are given in the following table: June 43- Aug.44- Date of Arrival July 44 May 45. Professional Mathematicians etc ) Research Students ) 8 4 Other University Mathematicians 3 11 Others 2 1 Previous cryptographic experience 12 3 Enigma 5 2 Fish 3 1 Age on joining over 30 5 2 25 - 30 3 3 20 - 25 3 5 under 20 1 6 British 11 13 American 2 3 TOTAL 13 16 Part of the "General Report on Tunny", the Newmanry History, formatted by Tony Sale (c) March 2001 31F Page 278 Cryptographers were not organised into fixed shifts, but worked with different people each week and took it in turn to do research work and the various operational jobs. This system kept everybody in touch with up to date technique and alive to possible improvements. A weekly change of job led at times to minor administrative inefficiency and the normal term of offices for Duty officers and wheel-men was eventually extended to three weeks, these two jobs were normally filled by more experienced men. After the Section was fully staffed there were often two research men each week. Most of the important ideas were developed by men as a result of practical routine work and written up in the Research Logs. In a subsequent research period of a week or more they were at leisure to elaborate their ideas and to tackle any other problems of a pressing operational nature. Ideas for new methods, and routines for immediate instruction were discussed at the weekly "Tea Party" - a democratic assembly of cryptographic staff. 31E. W.R.N.S. Wrens were chosen by interview from those in H.M.S.Pembroke V (Category - Special Duties X ). No fixed qualifications were required, though a pass in mathematics in School Certificate or apparently "good social recommendations" was normally considered essential. Though a few of the earlier Wrens were rather older and more experienced, 96 per cent of those who came were between the ages of 17 1/2 and 20. 21 per cent had Higher Certificate, 9 per cent had been to a University, 22 per cent had some other training after school training and 28 per cent had previous paid employment. None had studied mathematics at the university. On arrival a11 Wrens were given up to a fortnight's training in the teleprinter alphabet, the workings of the Tunny machine and (in some cases) in computing. This was followed by a conducted tour of the section and a written test. Wrens (unlike men) were organised in fixed watches and given fixed jobs in which they could become technically proficient. While the section remained small it was possible to try new Wrens at various jobs soon after arrival, but later, allocation was made on the basis of the test held at the end of their initial training period, and on the basis of the jobs available. The cheerful common sense of the Wrens was a great asset. Several of them showed ability in cryptographic work and several others were trained by the engineers to undertake routine testing of machines. 31F.ENG1NEERS It was decided at the beginning of the association of the P.O. Research Branch with GC and CS that maintenance of equipment would be an increasingly important part of the undertaking. It was agreed to recruit the best available men from the automatic telephone construction and maintenance staff throughout the country, to employ them at Dollis Hill and the P.O. Factory at Birmingham to build the equipment so that they should be thoroughly familiar with it, and to give them, before taking up their maintenance duties, any supplementary instruction that was necessary. As the work developed, the complexity and novelty of the equipment increased and further maintenance training was needed but the technical staff were often hard pressed to produce the equipment and instruction was neglected. A number of maintenance men made up for this deficiency by their own initiative and exertions, and passed their knowledge on to others. Full maintenance efficiency can be achieved only after some months Part of the "General Report on Tunny", the Newmanry History, formatted by Tony Sale (c) March 2001 31H Page 279 of experience, and by May, 1945 equipment and maintenance had reached a very high level of performance. Telephone maintenance work is mainly done by unestablished skilled workmen and skilled workmen Class II. Recruitment for the maintenance force at Station X was made almost entirely from men in these grades aged 20 - 22 years. The first eight men came to Dollis Hill in April, 1942 a number of Chief Regional Engineers having been asked to recommend good men.