Description
Object description
British civilian linguist with Foreign Office in London, GB, 1939-1941; worked in Hut 3, Government Code and Cypher School, Bletchley Park in GB, 1941-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as linguist with Foreign Office in London, 1939-1941: background prior to Second World War; recruitment as linguist to Foreign Office; pre-war experiences of disturbances in Austria, 1934 and Nazi Germany. Recollections of period as linguist with Air Index in Hut 3 at Government Code and Cypher School, Bletchley Park in GB, 1941-1942: background to recruitment to Bletchley Park, 6/1941; creation of Air Index.
REEL 2 Continues: complexity of work in Air Index; importance of youth during recruitment of personnel; training of new entrants; daily routine; hiving off of Naval Section; relations in Hut 3; duties; acquiring aviation knowledge; anticipation of invasion of Soviet Union, 6/1941; role of Ultra in Battle of Crete, Greece, 5/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: failures of Ultra in early stages of war; second hand opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's role during bombing of Coventry, 11/1940; role of Bletchley Park during pursuit of German battleship Bismarck in North Atlantic, 5/1941; indications of impending invasion of Soviet Union, 6/1941; monitoring war on Eastern Front; difference between messages and signals; her conversations with General Reinhard Gehlen.
REEL 4 Continues: distribution of Fuehrerbefehl material; post-war discussions with German general involved in July Bomb Plot, 1944; question of Adolf Hitler's interference with details of tactics; awareness of situation on Eastern Front; work on ciphers sent from North Africa; breaking of Chaffinch Cypher. Recollections of period with Liaison Section in Hut 3 at Government Code and Cypher School, Bletchley Park in GB, 1942-1944: General Erwin Rommel's extrication from Battleo of El Alamein, Egypt, 11/1942.
REEL 5 Continues: second hand story of General Erwin Rommel's belief in Allied victory, 1942; capture of Pantelleria Island, Italy, 11/6/1943; degree of awareness of weakness in German positions in Italy, 1943-1944; setting up of Liaison Section and nature of work; preparing newssheets for Prime Minister Winston Churchill; contribution of Bletchley Park to D-Day; index work on situation in Yugoslavia, late 1942; question of failure to transmit Yugoslav material to Middle East; monitoring situation at Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944.
REEL 6 Continues: further details of monitoring situation at Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944; meaning of term 'Bigoted'; question of failure to use 'Sigint'material properly; pressure of work at Bletchley Park; working relations; service at end of war in Europe, 5/1945; fate of Air Index at end of Second World War; documentary material available to historians, 1987; impact of arrival of American service personnel at Bletchley Park.