The Debs of Bletchley Park and Other Stories (31 page)

Ralph Erskine and Michael Smith (Eds),
The Bletchley Park Codebreakers
(Biteback, 2011)

Joel Greenburg,
Gordon Welchman: Bletchley Park’s Architect of Ultra Intelligence
(Frontline, 2014)

Christopher Grey,
Decoding Organization: Bletchley Park, Codebreaking and Organization Studies
(CUP, 2013)

F.H. Hinsley,
British Intelligence in the Second World War
(Abridged Edition) (HMSO, 1994)

F.H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp (Eds),
Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park
(OUP, 2001)

Andrew Hodges,
Alan Turing: The Enigma
(Vintage, 2014)

John Johnson,
The Evolution of British Sigint 1653–1939
(GCHQ, 1997)

Kerry Johnson and John Gallehawk,
Figuring It Out at Bletchley Park 1939–1945
(BookTower Publishing, 2007)

David Kahn,
Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-boat Codes 1939-1943
(Arrow, 1996)

David Kahn,
The Codebreakers
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974)

Ronald Lewin,
Ultra Goes to War
(Penguin, 2001)

Joss Pearson,
Cribs for Victory: The Untold Story of Bletchley Park’s Secret Room
(Polperro Heritage Press, 2011)

Geoffrey Pidgeon,
The Secret Wireless War
(UPSO, 2007)

Fred Piper and Sean Murphy,
Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction
(OUP, 2002)

Simon Singh,
Code Book
(4th Estate, 1999)

Alan Stripp,
Codebreaker in the Far East
(Frank Cass, 1989)

John Stubbington,
Kept in the Dark: The Denial to Bomber Command of Vital Ultra and Other Intelligence Information During World War II
(Pen and Sword, 2010)

Gordon Welchman,
The Hut Six Story: Breaking the Enigma Codes
(M. & M. Baldwin, 1997)

Nigel West,
GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War 1900–86
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986)

Frederick Winterbotham,
The Ultra Secret
(Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974)

The story of the women who worked at Bletchley Park is an astonishing part of our wartime history. At its peak in May 1945, more than 12,000 people worked at Bletchley or its
outstations, over 8,000 of them women. They are all too often dismissed as tiny cogs in a big machine, not least with commendable modesty by themselves. But this misses the point. Quite apart from
the fact that several of the top codebreakers were women, everyone who worked at Bletchley Park played a role in its many achievements. They helped keep the vital supply lines across the Atlantic
open, saved the lives of untold numbers of civilians during the Blitz, helped ensure the victories in North Africa and Italy and, most importantly, the success of the D-Day invasion. As if that
weren’t enough, Bletchley Park was also the birthplace of the modern electronic computer. I am grateful to everyone who helped tell their story, in particular the very many female veterans I
have interviewed over the years, a number of whom have sadly since died.

My particular thanks go to those featured in this book: Pamela Bagnall; Joan Baily; Sarah Baring; Diana Barraclough; Morag Beatty; Pat Bing; Lady Marion Body; Christine
Brooke-Rose; Colette Cook; Ann Cunningham; Barbara Eachus; Nancy Edwards; Valerie Emery; Mary Every; Jane Fawcett; Marigold Freeman-Attwood; Jean Harvey; Anne Hill; Olive Hirst; Jean Howard; Eileen
Johnson; Sheila Lawn; Ailsa Maxwell; Rosemary Merry; Ann Mitchell; Maggie Mortimer; Barbara Mulligan; Gwendoline Page; Jean Pitt-Lewis; Pamela Rose; Peggy Senior; Dorothy Smith; Gladys Sweetland;
Jean Tocher; Gwen Watkins; Betty Webb; Susan Wenham; Odette Wylie; and in particular the late Mavis Batey who more than any other individual was the inspiration behind this book. I am extremely
grateful to the staff and volunteers of the Bletchley Park Trust, including Jonathan Byrne, Kelsey Griffin, Vicky Worpole, Gillian Mason, Richard Lewis and Sarah Kay, for their generous assistance
and their willingness to share their interviews with veterans with me; the staff of the National Archives and the Imperial War Museum for their courtesy and patience; the long-suffering editorial
team at Aurum, Iain MacGregor (whose idea this book was), Jennifer Barr, Lucy Warburton, Charlotte Coulthard and Ian Allen. Thanks are also due to Sarah Hawken and Judie Hodsden, to Robert Kirby
and Holly Thompson, and last but by no means least to my wife Hayley for her unfailing support.

Michael Smith, October 2014

A1 graded information
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Abernethy, Barbara
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Abwehr Enigma
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accommodation
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Air Index
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Air Ministry
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Allied Plot
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American codebreakers
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American Liaison Section
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atomic bomb
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Bedford
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Birley, Maxine
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Bletchley Park

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Blitz
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Body, Sir Richard
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Bolshevism
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Brabbs, Margaret
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Bradshaw, Alan
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Bream
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Brown Enigma
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Browning, Elizabeth
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‘Burma Road’
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captured documents and machines
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conscription for women
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Cooper, Josh
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Coral cipher
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