Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry deZeng
I have never seen or much less researched the ULTRA "R" series (sample citation: MSS/R. 283(C)/32). QUESTION: is this series available online from BNA? If not, has anyone ever digitally photographed it and put it on CDs/DVDs? The "R" series seems to contain a lot of detailed information that, at the time, Bletchley considered too minor or too old to put in the main ULTRA CX/MSS/Txxx series.
Any information on this would be greatly appreciated!
Larry de Zeng
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These reports are on paper in hard-bound volumes and are not online. There are 767 files in the HW 5 series but "only" the first 703 of these are the main ULTRA army/air decrypts (AFAIK all the naval material is online in DEFE 3). I can't begin to estimate how long it would take the photograph all that material (the volumes wouldn't open flat enough to go on a scanner without damage).
The "R" (reports) pages of each file are considerably fewer than the "T" pages (teleprints) but even so it would be an enormous undertaking to photograph just those. It's also worth noting that the Teleprints come in two forms, the wording sent to (e.g.) War Office, Admiralty and "BB" (Broadway Buildings, the wartime HQ of the Secret Intelligence Service) and the less detailed version for overseas commands which you see in DEFE 3.
As you've said, not everything in the Reports appears in the Teleprints but the converse is also true, so you really need both.