In August 1939 Hinsley visited his girlfriend in the German city of Koblenz. Police required him to report to the police station daily. However, this requirement was waived following the signing of the German-Soviet Pact. A week later Hinsley was advised by police via his girlfriend's parents to get out of Germany by "tomorrow at the latest". This enabled him to cross the Franco-German border before it was closed. He made the crossing at the bridge between Kehl and Strasbourg. Stripped of his Reichsmarks by German border guards without French Francs or British Pounds in exchange, Hinsley was left penniless. This led to his sleeping on a park bench in France. Hinsley hitch-hiked to Switzerland from where he returned to the United Kingdom. He made his return just before Britain declared war on Germany. In October 1939, while still at St. John's, he was summoned to an interview with Alastair Denniston, head of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&amp;CS), and was thereby recruited to Bletchley Park's naval section in Hut 4. He abandoned his degree course and thereafter never completed it.