The work of codebreakers who helped shorten World War II is being recreated at Bletchley Park, England.
The codebreakers who cracked messages from Germany’s enigma machines worked in ramshackle huts which were built to last just a few years and fell into disrepair.
These structures have now been brought back to life in a major new £8m (€10m) restoration project.
Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, whose grandmother was based there during the war, performed the official opening.
Lady Marion Body, a friend of Kate’s grandmother Valerie Glassborow, described how as young women they worked together directing the efforts of listening stations.
Their role was mostly an administrative one, checking that listening stations which monitored Axis diplomatic messages were targetting the right areas.
The success of Bletchley Park in breaking the German cypher systems, Enigma and Lorenz, was key to defeating the Nazis and has been credited with shortening the war by two years.
