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‘I Love the Scent of Cordite in Your Hair’: Gender Dynamics in Mixed Anti‐Aircraft Batteries during the Second World War
Author(s) -
De Groot Gerard J.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1468-229X
pISSN - 0018-2648
DOI - 10.1111/1468-229x.00028
Subject(s) - artillery , combatant , economic shortage , government (linguistics) , order (exchange) , service (business) , resistance (ecology) , identity (music) , dynamics (music) , world war ii , gender studies , engineering , political science , psychology , history , sociology , law , business , aesthetics , art , marketing , ecology , pedagogy , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , finance , biology
During the Second World War, labour shortages forced the British government to introduce women from the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) into anti‐aircraft batteries. The decision was controversial since it brought women closer to active combat than they had ever been in the past. In order to preserve the non‐combatant status of women, the female recruits were not allowed to load or fire the guns. Their roles were instead restricted to plotting and aiming. Though there was at first some resistance to the idea of mixed batteries, this came not from the Royal Artillery, but rather from senior officers in the ATS. This article examines the experiences of the women concerned, and of the men who fought with them. Special attention is given to the ways in which women were prevented from being fully assimilated into gunner units. The article also assesses the effect which this experience had upon gender identity and relations, and upon the role of women in war. Primary source material is supplemented by interviews with former members of the mixed batteries.