Thursday 21 February saw a poignant and momentous occasion at Bletchley Park. Two of the wartime crew members of HMS Petard attended the official opening of the newly-refurbished Hut 8; now open daily to Bletchley Park visitors with new exhibitions and displays.
During World War Two, Hut 8 housed the codebreaking unit that broke German Naval Enigma messages and where important figures such as Hugh Alexander and Alan Turing, the founding father of the modern computer, worked. It was formed in January 1940 and initially consisted of elite codebreakers such as Peter Twinn, Oliver Strachey, Hugh Foss, Tony Kendrick and Joan Clarke. By December 1940, 41 people worked in the Hut eventually rising to a peak of 140 although Hut 8’s team was small compared to other Huts. Hut 8 passed its decrypts to the Naval Section in Hut 4, for translation, intelligence extraction and transmission to the Admiralty. The Naval Codebreaking achieved in Hut 8 was made possible by the capture, in 1942, of Enigma codebooks from the German U-boat U-559 by three brave British sailors on board HMS Petard.
At the end of World War Two, the tens of thousands of people who had worked at Bletchley Park in total secrecy went back to their normal daily lives and, over the next 60 years, Hut 8 fell into a state of disrepair and decay. In 2005 funding was provided by English Partnerships, Grantscape and others to renovate the Hut completely and, in just nine months and at a cost of nearly half a million pounds, return it to its authentic wartime condition. Fittingly, visitors to Hut 8 can now see the new ‘Petard Exhibition,’ paying tribute to Tommy Brown, Colin Grazier and Anthony Fasson, the three courageous servicemen who captured the codebooks. Grazier and Fasson lost their lives on the mission.
Hut 8 was officially opened by Phil Shanahan, author of the captivating new book ‘The Real Enigma Heroes’ which will soon be available from Bletchley Park and tells the story of HMS Petard and her courageous crew.
Phil Shanahan paid tribute to the three tragic heroes who captured the codebooks and also to the brilliant cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park who capitalised on that priceless information to ensure the men did not die in vain.
"Between them they possessed contrasting but extraordinary human qualities which were vital to winning the war - sheer guts and brains the size of planets," he said.
"If this building was to express itself in physical terms, we would not be standing in a wooden hut at all, we would be in a marbled palace. I don’t think we could be standing anywhere in the world today that more relevant to the shortening of the war than here. That’s why it is a huge honour to be asked to officially open Hut 8 and it's a credit to the team at Bletchley Park that this internationally important building has been preserved.”
Simon Greenish, Director of Bletchley Park Trust added, "Britian has got something to be proud of in the saving of this building."
Editors Notes;-
1. ‘The Real Enigma Heroes’, by Phil Shanahan (price £19.99) is due to be published on 14 March. Copies of the book can be pre-ordered from the Bletchley Park Shop by calling 01908 272684 or email shop@bletchleypark.org.uk
2. Other new and fascinating exhibitions in Hut 8 include a reconstruction of Turing’s genuine wartime office, complete with a mug chained to the radiator, ‘Women at War’, ‘Communications’, ‘Entertainment in Wartime Bletchley Park’ and ‘Pigeons at War’ displays and an exhibition telling the story of the intelligence gleaned from Bletchley Park leading to the Allied success in the ‘Battle of Cape Matapan’.
