Now that my Codebreaker/WW2 AU Enigma is finally, after almost four years and over 250k words, drawing to a close, I though it might be of interest to its readers and others who are writing fic set in this particular era to reveal some of my sources for the extensive research I undertook to learn more about the period and, hopefully, capture it adequately.
Huge gratitude goes to my brilliant beta rifleman_s who not only checked grammar and spelling (English not being my native language), but also offered valuable Brit-picking and, most importantly, fact checking when it came to historical accuracy. All remain inaccuracies or deliberate anachronisms are mine.
While I tried to stay true to historical events most of the time, in some instances I tweaked their timeline a little for dramatic effect or to better integrate them into the story. This is particularly relevant for the discovery of the German messages that opened the door to finally breaking the Lorenz Cipher. They were indeed intercepted in late August 1941, but of course their significance was not noticed by Jennifer Wilson, who is fictional. The explosion of a left-over bomb in Russell Square is fictional, too, although there were many similar occurrences all over London at the time.
A lucky guess was the address of Sherlock’s and John’s billet in Bletchley. Since the town looks a lot different now than it did in the 1940s (Milton Keynes, the town Bletchley is now a part of, didn’t even exist back then: it was built in ), I looked at old maps and aerial photographs, and decided that the oldest parts of the town must have been built along the major roads. I picked Buckingham Road, and was very pleased to discover during a later visit to the Bletchley Park Museum that there were indeed lodgings for staff of Station X on Buckingham Road.
Two other helpful factual sources were my two remaining grandparents: my maternal grandmother (born 1924) and paternal grandfather (born 1920) who, albeit not living in England at the time but in Germany, were invaluable when it came to remiscing about what life was like during WW2, as seen from both a soldier’s and a civilian’s perspective.
Apart from these helpers, I researched a lot, and enjoyed said research immensely. Here are some of my sources. I’m sure I forgot to list some, particularly those I consulted online. If you have questions about any of them, or my research or the fic in general, I’d be happy to answer them.
The Imitation Game (2015)
Enigma (2002, better than The Imitation Game at recreating the atmosphere of busy Bletchley Park during WW2)
Hope and Glory (1987, WW2 London seen through the eyes of a boy)
Lady Henderson Presents (2006, Windmill Theatre)
Swing Kids (1993, 1940s swing music)
The Bletchley Circle (2012)
The Cambridge Spies (2003)
Wartime Farm (2012, brilliant BBC documentary about everyday life in Wartime England)
Back in Time for Dinner (2015, BBC2)
Back in Time for Tea (2018, BBC2)
Wie ein Mathegenie Hitler knackte (2014, German documentary about Alan Turing, broadcast on French/German channel Arte)
Bletchley Park (brilliant, brilliant museum, absolutely worth a visit)
Imperial War Museum, London
Victoria & Albert Museum (for 1940s fashion)
Churchill War Rooms, London
McKay, Sinclair. The Lost World of Bletchley Park. London: Aurum. 2013
McKay, Sinclair. The Secret Lives of Codebreakers. London: Penguin. 2010
Smith, Michael. Bletchley Park: The Code-Breakers of Station X. Oxford: Shire. 2013
English Heritage. Bletchley Park: Home of the Codebreakers.
Imperial War Museum. HMS Belfast Guidebook. London: IWM. 2014
Dirix, Emmanuelle and Fiell, Charlotte. 1940s Fasion: The Definitive Sourcebook. London: Carlton. 2013
Shrimpton, Jayne. Fashion in the 1940s. Oxford: Shire. 2014
Lussier, Suzanne. Art Deco Fashion. London: V&A Publishing. 2009
DK. Fashion. London: DK. 2012
Noble, Christine. Portrait of an Era: An Illustrated History of Britain 1900 to 1945. London: Vivat Direct Limited. 2011
Ross, Cathy and Clark, John. London: The Illustrated History. London: Penguin. 2011
Winn, Christopher. I Never Knew That About London. London: Ebury Press. 2011
Geo Epoche Nr. 67. “Geheimdienste: Die Geschichte der Spionage”. Hamburg: Gruner & Jahr. 2014
Geo Epoche Nr. 43. “Der Zweite Weltkrieg: Teil 1 1939 – 1942”. Hamburg: Gruner & Jahr. 2010
Geo Epoche Nr. 44. “Der Zweite Weltkrieg: Teil 2 1943 – 1945”. Hamburg: Gruner & Jahr. 2010
Wikipedia (yeah, I know … but it was very helpful for getting an overview over historical events and particularly the progress of codebreaking of both the Enigma and Lorenz Ciphers, John’s adventures in the North Atlantic, the various listening stations, etc.)
Historical photographs of Bletchley
London Necropolis Railway
Music of the 1930s and 40s
