I've just finished reading Paul Gannon's 'Colossus', and it's clear that the male codebreakers and cypher experts could only have
succeeded with the hard, diligent and expert work of the women there. Most were very young, under 20 years of age, and educated but not mathematicians or cryptographers. Many however became responsible for Colossus machines, and managing the complex inputs and processes. Some were also trained by the engineers to undertake testing of the machines.
By the end of the war there were over 2,000 of them at Bletchley Park or satellite sites, working on the Bombes (codebreaking machines for Enigma encrypted messages) or on the Colossi (for the teleprinter encyphered messages).
The work at BP helped the allied cause enormously, and it is only relatively recently that it has become appreciated. Many Wrens did some of the first real 'computing' jobs. They ought to be highlighted and recognised as computing heroines of the first order.
