Bletchley translator

Born: August 3, 1923;

Died: July 21, 2016

ELISABETH Hardy, who has died in America aged 92, was a Glaswegian who played an important role in the decoding of German messages during the Second World War. She served in the top secret intelligence unit at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire – called officially the Government Code and Cypher School.

Ms Hardy was a member of a team whose fluent German proved vital in the translating and analysing of messages from the German High Command to the German fighting forces. In a recent interview Ms Hardy, whose name appears on the Bletchley Roll of Honour, summed up her work. “We gathered the information and then had to work out what to do with it," she said. "We knew it was all genuine as the Germans never realised their code had been broken.”

With her experience at Bletchley and her knowledge of deciphering, Ms Hardy played an equally substantial role as part of the British Joint Intelligence Commission at the Nuremberg war crime trials in 1946.

Elisabeth Mary Stewart was born in Bellshill, south-east of Glasgow. Her father, Thomas Stewart, was a school master and she attended Dalziel High School in Motherwell. She then read Modern Languages at Glasgow University.

In fact she set her heart on being a ballet dancer – which was to remain a passion for the rest of her life. Her mother thought that modern languages would be more secure than the ballet.

Ms Hardy had met the RAF Intelligence Officer, Peter Calvocoressi, who was to play a significant part at Bletchley. He was impressed by Ms Hardy’s linguistic skills and her quick mind. He too was a remarkable linguist being fluent in five languages. He asked her to join his team at Bletchley which urgently needed senior staff - Churchill had been informed about the staffing problem. The PM immediately sent out a telegram to his officials, "Action this day. Make sure they have all they want on extreme priority and report to me that this has been done."

In early 1942 Calvocoressi and Ms Hardy transferred to Bletchley where her boss was Jim Rose, with whom Calvocoressi shared an office. Ms Hardy arrived and was described as an FO Civilian – TJAO (Foreign Office Temporary Assistant Junior Officer) – which was an ‘Element of Air Section, producing intelligence from Ultra and other material’.

She was assigned to Hut 3, one of several insalubrious wooden huts in the gardens and told her job was to translate, interpret and distribute Nazi army and Luftwaffe messages deciphered by the Enigma Machines in Hut 6. Ms Hardy had a particularly sensitive role to play as she had to concentrate her interpretive powers on radio traffic from the Luftwaffe – notably the locality and flight plans of German bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Such information was to prove vital in permitting the RAF and Bomber Command to have extra minutes to scramble Spitfires and bombers into the skies. Meticulous care had to be maintained in all translations and map readings.

Ms Hardy in 2002 spoke of her Bletchley experiences - after years of being forbidden to even mention her distinguished war record. “The work meant we were in the front line. It was constant hard work and long hours. But it was very exciting. There were super-exciting days like D-Day: we stayed up all night to follow that.”

After the war Calvocoressi asked Ms Hardy to remain in his group as he was to attend in an official capacity the Nuremberg trials. From 1945 to ’48 Ms Hardy provided expert information about the Nazi hierarchy and was available if they gave misleading excuses regarding the division of their wartime experience.

“If a Nazi used the 'we were only acting on superior orders’ we could check such assertions and advise Leading Council.” Ms Hardy also had to do many translations for the US prosecutors as they had few fluent German speakers.

She was not very impressed with the Nazis in the box – “a pretty shabby lot – although on the stand Goering was very impressive and intelligent.” Ms Hardy often attended the trial,.“If we had nothing on, we could pop down to the court room and sit at the back.”

During her time in Nuremberg, Ms Hardy met and married a member of the US delegation, Alexander Hardy, who was serving as an expert witness on the medical trials – “He was disgusted as the evidence of the concentration camps came out.”

Ms Hardy moved to Washington after her marriage and worked for a time in the Pentagon. She spoke with a delightfully soft accent - mid Atlantic interwoven with hints of Motherwell. Ms Hardy maintained a close interest in ballet through the Washington Ballet and with the Royal Ballet on her visits to the UK.

Elisabeth Hardy’s husband predeceased her. She is survived by their two sons and a daughter.

ALASDAIR STEVEN