The Codebreakers

by Alli Sinclair

  ‘Happy to help.’ It was an honour the commanding officer had so much faith in her.

  They reached a room with a thick wooden door that appeared to be an original part of the house. Lieutenant Cox put his hand on the doorknob. ‘This is where you’ll be working. The men …’ he coughed. ‘The operators here listen in on radio transmissions sent by the Japanese, who have two air forces—the army have their own planes and communicate to their units on the ground and the navy’s planes communicate to their units on the sea.’ He paused. ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘Yes.’ Ellie tried to muster some confidence even though she was still in shock.

  ‘It’s only temporary,’ said Lieutenant Cox. ‘And I can tell you this: there were some long and heated discussions about getting someone from AWAS to work with us, but we didn’t really have a choice. We’re too many men down.’

  Although Ellie didn’t take too kindly to his words, she left it alone. Better to prove her worth than argue it.

  ‘No one from AWAS has worked in this job before and it breaks all kinds of protocols. There may be some resistance, but the men understand there’s a job to do.’ Lieutenant Cox pushed down the doorhandle. The door inched open. ‘Here we go.’

  Ellie took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold.

  She was surprised the only sound was pencils scratching against paper. Men wearing headphones had their heads bowed as they wrote down intercepts taken from the radio in front of them. Some adjusted the volume or radio frequency and barely anyone looked up as she walked with Lieutenant Cox to the desk on the far side of the room.

  Lieutenant Cox pointed at the chair and she sat, feeling highly self-conscious.

  ‘Sergeant O’Sullivan, you’ll be monitoring Japanese radio transmissions, which happen around the clock. Like your unit, we work in one of three shifts. We call them “tricks”. And I’m a “trick chief”.’

  Ellie nodded, absorbing every word.

  ‘Everyone is assigned frequencies to monitor and you must stick with the ones you’re given. When a message starts, you write it down quickly and accurately.’

  ‘So Morse code,’ she said.

  ‘Japanese Morse code.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘There is a Japanese writing system called katakana that has seventy-five symbols and this is what they use to transmit messages. We call it kana code.’ He reached for a pile of paperwork and took out a booklet. ‘This is going to be your best friend.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘This book contains the Japanese Morse code you’ll be listening to. At the back are pages which have the shorthand we’ve developed for when you’re writing down the message.’

  ‘I’m learning two forms of communication?’

  ‘Yes.’ He paused and said quietly, ‘I know this is a lot to take in but you wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think you could do it. Now,’ Lieutenant Cox returned to his official tone and pointed at a symbol, ‘this is ka which is dot-dash-dot-dot. And ki is dash-dot-dash-dot-dot.’

  Nerves threatened to get the better of her but she refused to let them take hold. ‘How did we break down their code?’

  ‘A Japanese plane was shot down and the Allies found the handbook.’

  ‘Don’t the codes change regularly, though? In case the enemy cracks it?’

  ‘We understand their system now so we are one step ahead. Ellie’—Lieutenant Cox locked eyes with her—‘do not worry. You’ll come to recognise the urgent and important messages because of the frequency you’ve found them on, as well as who is sending and receiving. You’ll also learn to identify certain words or phrases that represent “danger” or, heaven forbid, “attack”.’

  Ellie nodded, hoping neither of those words would come across the airwaves.

  ‘So,’ said Lieutenant Cox, ‘the entry point into understanding enemy code is to find the patterns that are repeated over many messages. You’ll see the same greetings or formalities at the start then it will lead on to something mundane about what the weather is like. Straight after that will be the real point of the message. You need to get it right and get it all.’ He paused, as if waiting for it to sink in. ‘Multiple Japanese words can be represented by the same kana. When spoken, it’s easy to hear the difference because of intonation, but because we’re dealing with Morse, we’re not privy to that.’

  ‘How do I tell the difference?’

  ‘I’ll coach you. We need to have strings of words together before we can translate and figure out the ambiguities.’

  ‘Do I do that?’

  ‘We have Japanese language experts who do this but it’s good to be aware of the process. They translate your notes into English and even then, the message is open to interpretation because of the diplomatic vernacular. How are you going with all this so far?’

  ‘Yes, good. I’m following.’ Thank goodness.

  ‘Right. So, you’ll be listening in on the messages that are being sent between various units, either air to sea or air to land. It will just depend on which channels we assign you.’

  ‘What if they’re not sending any messages? What do I do?’

  ‘I can guarantee you won’t be twiddling your thumbs. The Japanese don’t know how to stop talking and the result is constant communications on the airwaves. Often, the messages come in thick and fast and you’ll need to be on the ball. If the sender or receiver is close to Australia it will be loud and clear but if they’re far away, you could have a hard time hearing the transmission. Sometimes, they talk over each other because they’re on the same frequency. Also, you’ll need to watch out for the garbles.’

  ‘Garbles?’ Already she felt like she was learning a foreign language.

  ‘Sometimes the messages contain errors or they’re not complete because they were interrupted, or the transmission faded out. A lot of our people who are mathematically minded find these garbles hard to decipher because they don’t always follow logic. Garbles often require reading between the lines and finding the real meaning in the chaos of the jumbled message. That’s why we have you.’

  ‘You think I’ll be good at these garbles?’

  ‘I’ve been told you have good intuition.’ Lieutenant Cox handed her the headphones.

  ‘What am I listening for?’

  ‘Right now, you just need to listen to understand how complex this is. You’ll need to study the sheets I’ve given you before we put you to work. When you do start monitoring, I’ll be working with you. It’s imperative to tell me straight away if you’re unsure about anything. Most people have months of practice before they’re thrown in the deep end, but time isn’t on our side.’

  Lieutenant Cox checked the control on the radio and motioned for Ellie to put one of the earpieces to her ear.

  ‘Can you hear that?’

  ‘Yes.’ Long and short beeps flew across the airwaves. She put the headphones down. ‘It’s really fast.’

  ‘It is but it’s not impossible to learn. Morse code is like music and everyone plays their instrument differently.’

  ‘That’s how I’ve always thought of it.’

  Lieutenant Cox’s smile was reassuring. ‘Each operator’s style is called a fist. Once you can identify the operator’s fist—and it won’t take you long—you’ll be able to recognise them.’ He paused, but only for a moment. ‘There’s often preamble when the transmission begins because even though the message may be sent from Singapore and is destined for Rabaul it will go through an indirect routing system we call a net. For example, the message is sent from Singapore to Bintulu to Tokyo to Rabaul. Basically, it gets bounced through a few signals offices before reaching the final destination.’

  ‘So, it’s a wild-goose chase for us?’

  ‘You could say that. The thing is, we need you to note every station it travels through. It goes to traffic analysis so they can figure out which bases are most active. That way they will know if there’s a cluster of aircraft or ships in one area, the tactical codes they’re using and s
o forth.’ Lieutenant Cox looked at her. ‘I think that’s enough for now. How about you take these booklets and start studying?’

  Ellie held out her hands and took a deep breath.

  Dah-di-di-dit crackled in Ellie’s headphones as she concentrated on the messages being transmitted. It had only been a couple of weeks since she’d come on board and even though she’d been overwhelmed at first, the Japanese Morse code hadn’t been as hard to learn as she’d anticipated. Listening to communications, however, was a big challenge with messages fading in and out across the airwaves.

  The radio came alive again. It was one of the operators she’d come to know, and she’d nicknamed him Wolf. He identified himself with his regular call sign and commenced sending his message, his staccato keystrokes familiar, his fist a calling card. He often communicated with another operator she’d christened Sheep, who was always straight to the point. She wrote down the Japanese Morse while Wolf and Sheep chatted away, just like Lieutenant Cox had said would happen.

  The hardest part of the job had been feeling comfortable in a room full of male operators. Most said hello and asked how her day was going, although that was the extent of things. It was so different to working with her Garage Girls, where they would make tea for each other, give encouraging words during the tough moments and have lively discussions on their breaks or at the barracks.

  Ellie looked up at the clock. A few more minutes and her shift would be over.

  Loud dit-dahs crashed through the headphones. She wrote down the conversation in the shorthand she’d learned, noting the exchange was between units with call signs she didn’t recognise. She looked for repetition, anything that could be cause for alarm. Nothing of significance came through, though it did concern her that the transmission was clear and loud as it meant the Japanese units were within close range to Australia.

  The communications finished and she sat back, exhausted. Everyone else still worked at their regular pace. Ellie rubbed an eye that had started to twitch.

  Lieutenant Cox came over. ‘Busy?’

  ‘It was.’ She removed her headphones and handed him her notes. ‘Will it take long for them to translate?’

  ‘No. They’re dab hands at this.’

  ‘There was a huge burst of communication,’ she said. ‘Should we be worried?’

  ‘Lots of action on the airwaves often amounts to nothing.’

  ‘Here’s hoping,’ Ellie said. Wolf’s familiar call sign blasted through the earpieces. She placed them on her ears as Sheep’s call sign came loud and clear across the airwaves. Her body tensed as she listened intently. She wrote feverishly, barely blinking as she noted the codes on the page. Eventually Wolf and Sheep signed off and the channel fell into silence once more.

  ‘We miss you.’ Florry sat on the chair next to Ellie in the rec hut.

  ‘I miss you gals, too.’ Although she still took the truck to and from Nyrambla and lived with her friends at the barracks, it wasn’t the same as working in the garage. Not that she didn’t enjoy her work up at the house, it was just … different.

  Ellie fiddled with the serviette on the table. ‘Any news about the Philippines?’

  ‘Are you asking if we’ll keep our jobs?’ asked Florry. ‘At the moment it’s fine but who knows, especially if all of Central Bureau goes. Well, the men, that is.’

  Ellie understood why Florry sounded annoyed. She felt the same.

  Lillian asked, ‘What’s it like working with the men?’

  ‘They don’t talk much apart from cracking odd jokes here and there.’

  ‘Typical.’ Lillian and Florry laughed.

  ‘How’s it going in the garage?’

  ‘Oh, you know, same ol’ same ol’.’ Lillian blushed.

  ‘Sam and Lillian are writing a romance novel with their filler text,’ said Florry.

  ‘Stop it!’ Lillian gently shoved Florry. ‘We’ll get in trouble.’

  ‘Oh, that’s right, I know nothing about it,’ Florry said. ‘Although I am excited to find out what the next instalment is. Yesterday Sam wrote “I love you”.’

  ‘He does know you all can see this, right?’ asked Ellie.

  ‘He doesn’t seem to care.’ Lillian leaned forward. ‘Tell me more about working inside the house.’

  ‘Everyone keeps within their departments. I think some of them were a bit miffed there’s a woman in their midst but … we just do what we have to, right?’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Florry. ‘It’s already been three weeks. When will you be with us again?’

  Ellie shrugged. ‘I have no idea. They did say after the men recovered from the flu but they’re already back and things have been really busy.’

  ‘Do you think you’ll be there permanently?’

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Ellie. ‘Though the way this war is heading, nobody knows anything for sure.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Ellie walked through the front door of Mrs Hanley’s after a long week listening to Japanese Morse code. The aroma of freshly baked scones filled her nostrils, making her stomach grumble.

  ‘Ellie, my darling girl!’ Mrs Hanley wrapped Ellie in her arms and looked over her shoulder. ‘Where’s your friend?’

  ‘He’ll be here soon.’ The front gate creaked and Ellie went outside to greet Leonard, who clutched a bunch of baby’s breath.

  ‘I’m glad to see I have the right place.’

  ‘You have indeed.’ Ellie waved him up and onto the verandah. ‘Welcome to Mrs Hanley’s take-in-the-strays Sunday lunch. You’re the lucky one today.’

  Leonard laughed. ‘I am most humbled.’

  She hooked her arm in his and they went inside to the kitchen. Mrs Hanley was busy stirring the gravy and Kat was setting the table.

  ‘Ladies, I would like to introduce Sergeant Leonard Cooper of the United States Army.’

  He presented Mrs Hanley with the flowers and she enveloped him in a warm, motherly hug.

  ‘Welcome, Sergeant Cooper,’ Kat said, a pink tinge in her cheeks.

  ‘Please, call me Leonard.’

  Ellie helped Mrs Hanley serve lunch while Kat and Leonard chatted about baseball. Sometimes after Sunday lunch she and Ellie would go to one of the parks where the US servicemen played. The appeal of the game was lost on Ellie but it always kept Kat enthralled.

  After lunch, Ellie cleared the table and brought over the sliced fresh fruit picked from the trees in the backyard.

  Leonard admired the selection. ‘Thank you so much for welcoming me into your home and for such a delicious meal.’

  ‘It’s our pleasure,’ Mrs Hanley said. ‘You boys are so far from home. I know they feed you well at the barracks but it’s not the same as a home-cooked meal.’

  ‘No, it isn’t,’ said Leonard.

  ‘Have you tried pawpaw?’ Kat pointed at the orange fruit with dark seeds.

  ‘We have papaya in our warmer states. Do they taste the same?’

  ‘Papayas are red and sweeter, I believe,’ said Kat. ‘Pawpaws are yellow and bigger and are tasty with lemon or orange juice.’

  ‘May I?’

  Kat passed the plate and Leonard sampled the pawpaw with his fork.

  ‘What do you think?’ she asked.

  ‘Wonderful.’

  ‘My little cousin calls them disappointment mangoes,’ said Kat. ‘He has no respect for pawpaw.’

  Leonard laughed and helped himself to another piece then turned to Mrs Hanley. ‘Do you have any boys away?’

  ‘I lost my boys and my husband some time ago.’ She said it matter-of-factly but Ellie heard the ever-present sadness underneath.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ said Leonard.

  ‘You’d think it would get easier, but Mrs Hanley shrugged.

  Kat concentrated on putting fruit onto her plate.

  ‘You know,’ said Mrs Hanley, ‘it never occurred to me until now why I welcome servicemen through my door.’ She folded her serviette and put it on the table. ‘If my boys were still alive and far a
way, I would hope a kind local would give them a touch of home.’ Tears welled in her eyes and a small smile formed on her lips. ‘To think it’s taken me all these years to realise.’

  Kat put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands.

  ‘Kat?’ asked Leonard. ‘Would you like some water?’

  She shook her head. When she finally looked up, she said, ‘No amount of wishing is going to bring our loved ones back.’

  Leonard nodded slowly. ‘I lost my twin brother in this war. Life hasn’t been the same since.’

  Silence enveloped the room as the grandfather clock ticked in the hallway. The front door squeaked open and a familiar voice yelled, ‘Anyone home?’

  Ellie got up and met Louis and Maude, who carried a basket with jars of homemade apricot jam.

  ‘I thought Mrs Hanley might like these and you could take some back for the girls,’ Maude said.

  ‘That would be wonderful, thank you.’ Ellie led them down the hall, and the dark clouds that had forced their way into kitchen seemed to dissipate when Louis and Maude walked in, bringing sunshine.

  Introductions were made and Ellie put the kettle on.

  ‘Sorry for the impromptu visit,’ said Louis. ‘But it’s been a while since we’ve seen you all.’

  ‘I’ve always said pop over when you have a moment.’ Mrs Hanley’s spirits appeared to lift once more. ‘I’m glad you listened to me.’

  ‘Louis doesn’t listen to anyone,’ Ellie chimed in. ‘Well, apart from Maude.’

  ‘Very smart man.’ Leonard gave a knowing nod.

  Louis laughed but Maude didn’t look too impressed.

  ‘So, Maude,’ Ellie said, ‘how’s the nursing going at the hospital?’

  ‘Good.’ She nibbled at a piece of pineapple. ‘Busy. You know. The usual.’

  A look passed between Maude and Louis.

  Mrs Hanley brought out her scones and Maude made sure everyone dolloped a healthy serving of apricot jam on top.

  ‘I think I should have been born Australian,’ said Leonard, helping himself to another scone.

  ‘We could adopt you.’ Kat’s mood had returned to her usual bright self. ‘Though you’d have to learn some of the finer points of Australian slang.’