E65 - Women at War

Bletchley Park

History

4.8 • 177 Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2017

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

November 2017

This month, it’s all about women. A century ago, the Women’s Royal Naval Service - aka Wrens - were founded. They went on to play a crucial part in the codebreaking effort during World War Two.

By November 1917, Britain was three years into a bloody, devastating war. In this episode, we explore what kind of work women did during both wars and what they - and the men - thought of it. A new pop up exhibition is now open in the Visitor Centre at Bletchley Park, celebrating the contribution of Wrens to the codebreaking effort during WW2. We delve into a few of the many the stories behind it, with Exhibitions Manager, Erica Munro.

Award winning author Clare Mulley tells us about The Women Who Flew for Hitler, among others who did incredibly daring and dangerous war work - on both sides.

We also find out what Hush WAACs were. They were stationed in France, and their work was top secret. Some kept journals but - unsurprisingly - they don’t divulge much about what they were doing. Dr Jim Beach from the University of Northampton talks to podcast producer, Mark Cotton.

Also in this episode, Bletchley Park has been urging people to knit one, post one. People have been creating authentic wartime knitwear, for display in the dressed rooms. We discover some of the treasures that have been sent in, with Exhibitions Assistant, Emma Treleaven.

Image: ©GCHQ

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW1, #WW2

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The From the home of the co-breakers and the birthplace of modern computing, this is the Bletchley Park podcast.
0:38.1	Welcome to the November 2017 episode of the Bletchley Park podcast, Women at War.
0:44.9	This month, to coincide with the Wrens Centenary, we look at women in both wars.
0:50.6	We find out about a new exhibition at Bletchley Park and why knitters have been sending in items from around the world.
0:57.9	Dr Jim Beach sheds light on the hushwax in World War I
1:01.1	and Claire Mully tells us about the women who flew for Hitler.
1:05.2	But first, Bletchley Park's research historian Dr David Kenyon
1:08.6	tells us why women were needed for the war effort.
1:18.3	Let's go back to your special period of expertise, the First World War. What were women doing 100 years ago?
1:26.4	So let's say from the beginning of the war up to 1917.
1:29.7	Well, women were involved on the Western Front right from the beginning of the war because the army was using nurses, female nurses in military hospitals.
1:39.5	And they go back to the, well, back to the Crimea and Florence Nightingale originally.
1:43.6	But the organisation that still exists, the Crimea and Florence Nightingale originally, but the organisation that
1:45.2	still exists, the Queen Alexandra's nursing court was founded in 1902 during the Boer War, or shortly
1:51.6	after Boer War, and then went on to provide personnel in the First World War. On the civilian side
1:56.6	in the UK, you have women increasingly involved in the munitions industry from really
2:03.4	1915 onwards. There's a big campaign to get women involved in supporting the war from
2:10.9	1914, but it takes a little while for things to sort of sort of sort themselves out for people
2:15.2	to actually get jobs. So it's on a voluntary basis at that stage.
2:18.4	That's the impression I have about nursing, at least, is that girls from good homes would go and volunteer to do their bit.
2:25.1	There were two sort of strands to it.
	...

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