On this day in 1941, the Women’s Royal Naval Service began breaking German codes
Photo: Dorothy Du Boisson (left) and Elsie Booker (right) operate a Colossus Mark 2 codebreaking computer, 1943 / National Archives United Kingdom
On this day in 1941, the first Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens) members arrived at Bletchley Park, Britain’s World War II code-breaking centre, where women made up 75% of the workforce. They operated Bombe machines to decrypt German codes and ciphers, intercepting high-level military communications between the German High Command and their army across occupied Europe. Their work was key to shortening the war.
First established in 1917 for World War I, the Wrens were disbanded in 1919 and revived in 1939 at the start of World War II. They remained active until becoming fully integrated into the Royal Navy in 1993.
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