Wars and ConflictsΒ permalink
Columbo, Wrens - can anybody help?
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Message 1.Β
Posted by dunwomblin (U9379061) on Monday, 28th January 2008
I have been looking through some old papers of my mother's (now sadly deceased) and it seems that she was posted in 1943 to Pembroke V (Bletchley Park) and then on to Colombo in 1944. Her discharge papers say she was a writer and she was on Special Duties. Her maiden name was Dawn Fitzgerald. Does any one know of her and or of the work the girls were likely to be doing over there? (I suspect it was code-breaking related.)
Thanks -
Message 2
Posted by jm33gnr (U10809727) on Monday, 28th January 2008
Not being an expert here, but I would have thought the title 'Special Duties' could have encompassed a whole range of things and not just code breaking.
Perhaps some of the military archives could help... -
Message 3
Posted by dunwomblin (U9379061) on Tuesday, 29th January 2008
Do you know how can I would get access to them? Are they online?
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Message 4
Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Tuesday, 29th January 2008
Hi Dunwomblin,
This might help in respect to what went on at "Pembroke V" (especially the second paragraph):
Anita (born in 1924) worked in Block A Naval section from September 1941 to March 1946, and Muriel (born in November 1928) in Hut 4 Naval section ( which she remembers being called βHMS Pembroke Vβ) [15] from 27th April 1943 till 15th June 1945; but neither knew what the other did till many years after the war, such was the secrecy. Muriel got the job after her older sister recommended her to BP recruiters, but unlike Anita was not allowed to work shifts due to her age. They had to learn naval terms, so leave was βlibertyβ and you got food in βthe galleyβ. Although not in the navy, Muriel always wore a white blouse and naval skirt to work with the WRENS around her. Her manager was Phoebe Senyard, someone whom she much admired and liked. Their parents Rebecca and Phillip, often invited Jewish personnel to the Friday evening Shabbat meal at their home, 27 Duncan Street, and the Ettinghausen brothers, Joe Gillis and Willy Bloom (see below) were frequent guests.
Muriel well remembers being shown into βThe Mansionβ on her first day and shown a security film, followed by a lecture and her signing of the Official Secrets Act. The sisters lived close enough to BP to be able to walk to and from work. A messenger at first, she was soon promoted to the Naval section, where she received the coded German messages and placed a cut out template on top; what showed through she had to copy and send by electric tubes (as used in old drapers shops) on to the decoders. The staff sat on high stools around a long table in the centre of the hut. She also recalls the wind-up scrambling phones used by the section leaders of the hut. Her team were taken in secret to London to view the captured U Boat (U 110) whose fate they had plotted, on one occasion, and this caused great excitement and brought home to them the seriousness of their work. Muriel also knew about the entrances to many underground tunnels and working bunkers at BP (see above) and recalls clearly the visits of both Churchill and Anthony Eden to BP.Β
SOURCE : Jewish Personnel at Bletchley Park in World War Two
Colombo appears to have contained a Naval Intelligence Centre, and one page I noticed says that as at Bletchley Park "...there were strong contingents of Wrens".
If you're looking for military archives it might be worth looking at what's available at the National Archives - just do a search on Bletchley Park and see if there's anything of interest. Their website can be found here:
Cheers,
RF -
Message 5
Posted by dunwomblin (U9379061) on Tuesday, 29th January 2008
That's brilliant- thanks!
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Message 6
Posted by MB (U177470) on Tuesday, 29th January 2008
I have seen Colombo mentioned in a number of books.
Codebreakers
F H Hinsley & Alan Stripp
ISBN 0198203276
The Emporer's Codes
Michael Smith
ISBN 055381320X
There might well be books specifically about Colombo. I would have a word with the Bletchley Park museum, they might be able to give some suggestions and they have an excellent selection of books there. Well worth visiting the museum if you can get to Bletchley Park.
MB -
Message 7
Posted by dunwomblin (U9379061) on Tuesday, 29th January 2008
Yes I was thinking of going up to Bletchley - is it worth a visit?
I'll look up the books too. -
Message 8
Posted by Pugwash Trouserpress (U1865008) on Tuesday, 29th January 2008
HMS PEMBROKE was the name of the Naval Base at Chatham. PEMBROKE 5 I would assume was where the pay etc. would have been administered.
I'm not sure about the role of the base in the war but while I was in the RN Chatham was the home of the Supply and Secretariat (S&S) Branches (Pay, Supply, Cooks and Caterers) until it closed in (I think) 1984/5.
Writers were part of the S&S.
Peebs -
Message 9
Posted by wrenrebecca (U1975767) on Monday, 25th February 2008
Hi, I have just joined this site and I know that when my father was in the R.N. during WW2 he was on destroyer escorts (21st Escort group)H.M.S. Conn and on his service sheet he returned on a few occasions to H.M.S. Pembroke until his next sailings which was the Russian convoys to Mermansk.
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