Secret station which helped shorten war
AS we approach the 75th anniversary of VE Day in May, a Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteer (LLLSV) tells the fascinating story of Beaumanor Hall’s crucial role in the Second World War.
MANY readers may not know, but Beaumanor Hall was the site of a vital wartime intelligence service, namely the War Office “Y” (wireless) Group or W.O.Y.G.
The top secret “Y” Group was part of M18 Wireless Intelligence and Beaumanor was a highly-strategic “Intercept Station”, concerned with monitoring the enemy’s main channels of wireless traffic and communications.
The “Y” Intercept Listening Service operated from 1941 to 1945 and its wartime activities were as top secret as those at the Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park.
Nowadays the code-breaking at Bletchley has become well-documented, but the contribution of the “Y” Listeners is far less well known or indeed recognised and celebrated.
They intercepted and transcribed communications with a speed that few have ever managed since – enabling the code-breakers to turn the course of the war.
“Y” Stations collected traffic in the form of morse code signals which were then passed for processing at Bletchley Park. The traffic was recorded by hand on paper and, within 24 hours of receipt, sent to Bletchley Park by motorcycle couriers.
Bletchley Park has of late received much well-deserved publicity but before the code-breakers could process the codes of the German/Italian war machine, the enemy’s radio traffic and communications needed to be monitored around the clock by the Listening Services – such as those teams of young men and, in the case of Beaumanor, predominantly young women, working here in Leicestershire.
Throughout February and March 2017, LLLSV presented an exhibition in the library – The “Y” Listeners of Beaumanor – to showcase the local unsung heroes and heroines who had been stationed there.
Four volunteers carried out two years’ research to prepare for the display. During the course of gathering information, we all began to feel a sense of pride on behalf of those who were tasked with intercepting the German/Italian traffic. Their days were long and their working conditions poor – they did a truly remarkable job.
By the end of the war, there were more than 1,200 ATS women operators and 300 male civilians working at Beaumanor. It has been calculated that their work shortened the war by two years.
Having signed the Official Secrets Act, it would be almost 50 years before the work of the “Y” Listeners would come to the public notice.
The LLLSV exhibition has now been reinstated at Beaumanor Hall – its rightful place – and is included in the World War II Tour of the premises.
For about 50 years, the Listeners were unaware why they were gatherapproximately ing the intercept information. It wasn’t until a book was published in the early 1990s that they and their families realised the importance of their work.
Some carried their secret to their graves. Also, there was no way they could be recognised or rewarded during that period without divulging their past. They were finally given Government recognition, with a certificate issued by then Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010.