WOMEN OF BLETCHLEY PART II: INTO THE PENTAGON

Bletchley Park was the headquarters of the British Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which successfully penetrated the secret communications of the Axis powers. Its teams of prodigious codebreakers worked in secret to devise methods that provided vital intelligence for the Allies.

Almost 10,000 people worked for the organisation and of those 75 per cent were women. Sixty per cent of these female employees were uniformed personnel with the majority being from the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS or “Wrens”). Others were recruited from the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and an even smaller number from the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Approximately 414 members of the ATS worked at Bletchley Park including Charlotte “Betty” Webb.

Then known as Charlotte Vine-Stevens, Webb was stationed at Bletchley Park between 1941-45 in the estate’s famous 19th century mansion as well as Block F.

She worked as a registrar and paraphraser before being deployed to the Pentagon at Washington DC during the closing days of the war. Webb remains an active veteran and reveals a fascinating insight into the secret heart of Allied victory.

Visiting pre-war Germany

Born in 1923 Webb had a rural upbringing in the village of Richard’s Castle on the Shropshire-Herefordshire border. Her education included learning German and Webb visited Nazi Germany in 1937 as part of an exchange visit, “I was there when things were beginning to get nasty. I was living with a religious