THE STORY of a World War 2 dispatch rider from Garnant has been rediscovered as we mark International Women s Day today (March 8). Heritage body Cadw is dedicating the day to celebrate a ‘forgotten’ piece of Welsh history the story of Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) Dispatch Rider, Mollie Davies. Born in Garnant the young nineteen-year-old with a passion for motorsports was the first ATS servicewoman to lose her life during the Second World War yet her story has seldom been told. Telling Mollie’s story is all part of Cadw’s continued effort to unearth and celebrate the stories of women from Wales’s past a mission which was started with the release of its first feminist history book for children last year, Welsh Women Making History.
Women in WWII Took on These Dangerous Military Jobs
Looking beyond traditional nursing or clerical roles, some women served as snipers, bomber pilots and more.
Author:
Looking beyond traditional nursing or clerical roles, some women served as snipers, bomber pilots and more.
Women served on both sides of World War II, in official military roles that came closer to combat than ever before. The Soviet Union, in particular, mobilized its women: Upward of 800,000 would enlist in the Red Army during the war, with more than half of these serving in front-line units. British forces included many women alongside men in vital anti-aircraft units. And Nazi Germany followed suit later in the conflict, when its flagging fortunes required the nation’s full mobilization.