best for REAL LIFE
This International Women’s Day we celebrate Ruth Bourne, who worked as part of a codebreaking operation during the Second World War…
When people talk about the Second World War, I always listen with intrigue – and understanding. Back then, if you were called up to serve, you did just that and I was no different…
Born in Manchester in 1926, I was 13 when the war broke out.
By the time I’d reached 18, in early 1944, I’d signed up to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WREN) – because I loved the sea and liked the uniform! Everyone was fascinated by the ‘blackouts’ – the black knickers with elasticated legs.
After training, I was recruited to be a member of the team at HMS Pembroke V and soon found myself at Eastcote, an outstation of MI6 at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, which had become the principal centre for Allied codebreaking during the war.
I was assigned to SDX and when I asked what that meant, I was told SD was special duties and the X they couldn’t tell me.
‘You won’t get any promotions or special pay,’ we were told. ‘Hours are long, and once you’ve signed in, you can’t leave.’
I even signed the Official Secrets Act and was told we’d be breaking German codes, but I didn’t realise the gravity of it at the time. I didn’t tell my parents – or anyone – what I was doing, although it didn’t stop my mum from asking!
We observed using the bombe machines for a week, we were supervised for a week and then were left to get on with our jobs. We did eight-hour shifts as bombe operators and the first time I saw a machine, it was fearsome and I don’t mind admitting I was quite scared – but I knew we had important work to do.
The bombe was invented by Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman, a device that turned the German Enigma coded letters into possible answers to their messages. Although I never heard the word Enigma until after the war.
The drums, wheels and plugs of the bombes carried out systematic searches to find combinations on the Enigma. I worked eight-hour shifts on rotation (8am to 4pm, 4pm to midnight or midnight to 8am) in a huge room with 12 bombe machines and we were always partnered with someone else – an oppo.
The codes changed at midnight every day – if not before – so us workers had to be vigilant – and accurate.
At the end of every run, we’d have to pull the wire drum brushes out with tweezers to make sure the wires weren’t touching each other – so they wouldn’t short circuit – then put them back on racks for the next run.
The h
