Long before the outbreak of the Second World War, official
calculations showed Britain would be short of the manpower needed
to fight the enemy and keep up production of weapons, food and
other essentials. It was hoped that women volunteers would fill the
gaps and so they volunteered as workers in Civil Defence, the
Women's Land Army, munitions factories and non-combatant roles in
the Forces.
But by 1941, the Government had to face facts: any effective
response would have to involve conscription of British women. All
females between the ages of fourteen and sixty-four were registered
and soon the vast majority had work to do. They collected tons of
salvage, knitted and sewed, and raised money for warships and
weapons. Women ran fire stations and drove makeshift ambulances
while cities burned and enemy bombs exploded around them. The kept
their families going, often as single parents while their husbands
were away for years in the armed forces.
By the end of the war, some of the most experienced rat-catchers
in the country were female; others were accomplished engineers,
carters, rail workers and bargees. When it was over, these wartime
roles were not commemorated in films and books. There is no
official acknowledgement of the enormous and crucial contribution
those British women made to the lives we live now. Many are getting
on in years and their precious first-hand memories will go with
them. Their stories are worth telling now for that alone. But they
are also tales of love, death, sacrifice and romance, of humour and
horror, and of an extraordinary time, when ordinary women did
extraordinary things.
General
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