Okay, I've just been watching Fighting The Blue (again) and wondered about the varying roles of women in the war and if they had a major effect on the outcome. Now in Britain women were encouraged into every role available to them, to continue the production and support of the country whilst the men fought. However in germany, and this is what i understand, the women's role was to stay at home and raise the next generation of Little Nazis. In fact Hitler and the high command positively encouraged this view and refused to allow women into the workplace. If Germany had used women as we did, could the outcome have been slightly different? (I am running this thread on warfare today as well to get a broader input)
Strangely I've just been reading of Germany only calling for women to join the Tank factories of Mann & Henschel very late in the war,(late '43?? i'll check) and even then only a few hundred responded to the call. Major missed opportunity when you think of the effect a mobilised female workforce had in Great Britain and the USA. Seems to me it's another one of the problems that came with a National Socialist Ideology, Very hard to talk like this '33 speech from goebbels while sending your girls out to work: A fundamental change is necessary. At the risk of sounding reactionary and outdated, let me say this clearly: The first, best, and most suitable place for the women is in the family, and her most glorious duty is to give children to her people and nation, children who can continue the line of generations and who guarantee the immortality of the nation. The woman is the teacher of the youth, and therefore the builder of the foundation of the future. If the family is the nation's source of strength, the woman is its core and center. The best place for the woman to serve her people is in her marriage, in the family, in motherhood. This is her highest mission. That does not mean that those women who are employed or who have no children have no role in the motherhood of the German people. They use their strength, their abilities, their sense of responsibility for the nation, in other ways. We are convinced, however, that the first task of a socially reformed nation must be to again give the woman the possibility to fulfill her real task, her mission in the family and as a mother This is the beginning of a new German womanhood. If the nation once again has mothers who proudly and freely choose motherhood, it cannot perish. If the woman is healthy, the people will be healthy. Woe to the nation that neglects its women and mothers. It condemns itself. (interesting speech as it goes, from: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goebmain.htm)
Nice quote Von T. Makes you wonder doesn't it? compare Britain's women working towards winning a war, and Germany's women working towards raising a family, and you have to think Germany shot itself in the foot before the war had even begun.
A little on the Australian women in the workforce. Considering the entire Aussie population was only 7,000,000 and there were nearly 1,000,000 in the armed services and Australia was the only allied country still drafting after VE day, the women did it tough throughout the six long years. Quote: The role during World War 2 for women on the homefront included working in munition factories. During World War 2 women made up 40% of the work force in munition factories. Others worked in the aircraft and ship building industries, doing mechanical and maintenance work. Women recieved training in operating machinery and worked in conditions that were very different from their traditonal roles as housewives and mothers. By October 1942, over half a million women were employed in the industry. Their hours were long and the workload in war-related industries were heavy. Most also had the added responsibility of managing the household and looking after the children. As well as factory work, women entered a range of other occupations and became train conductors, bus drivers, taxi drivers and mail deliverers. Thousands volunteered for farm work with the Land Army.
Nice quote Von T. Makes you wonder doesn't it? compare Britain's women working towards winning a war, and Germany's women working towards raising a family, and you have to think Germany shot itself in the foot before the war had even begun. Exactly right...German women were expected to provide all three of the above, raise a football team for the Fuhrer, but certainly not work in the factories. Sklavenarbeiter did that, and did that badly, of course, having no vested interest in German victory. By late 1944, when Speer and Goebbels really mobilized Germany, there were still thousands of German girls working as domestic servants instead of producing ball-bearings or grenades.
if things had got tough if sealion had been deployed and the germans stroll though the south......joke strolled. do you think the uk would have deployed units of women on the front line with a machine gun etc. equel rights and that im sure they would have done a fab job....they could have halted the panzers by their driving skill by crashing into them
if things had got tough if sealion had been deployed and the germans stroll though the south......joke strolled. do you think the uk would have deployed units of women on the front line with a machine gun etc. equel rights and that im sure they would have done a fab job....they could have halted the panzers by their driving skill by crashing into them Someone is looking for a painful death.:mellow: Thought provoking idea though. If Sealion had come off so soon after Dunkirk when this country was still trying to pick itself up, how many women would have been there with a machine gun picked up from a dead soldier, defending hearth and home? I believe Russia had all female tank crews, and they were considered the deadliest as they never gave in. I mean who would you rather goup against, a trained male soldier who had the rules of combat ticking over in his head as he takes you prisoner, or a housewife with a machine gun and a grudge? Anyone who has had the 'privilge' of seeing women fight probably knows the answer to this one. Men are fair. Women aren't.
never mined a machine gun have you seen a women with an iron or a shoe... oooooooo pain full. well done all women during the war and i think they would have jumped at the chance to defend the country with a rifle
never mined a machine gun have you seen a women with an iron or a shoe... oooooooo pain full. well done all women during the war and i think they would have jumped at the chance to defend the country with a rifle Personally i'd have preferred a tank. Bigger gun you see.
"Deputy squadron commander of the 125th guards aviation female regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union Maria Dolina." "Ukrainian guerrillas 1944" "This female sniper killed five Nazis in her first ambush. The 1st Baltic Front. 1944." "Anti-aircraft gunner Tatiana Shmorgunova before crossing the Oder River. The 1st Byelorussian Front. 1945." All from the excellent Russian 60th anniversary tribute to "The Men who won the war": http://www.russianembassy.org.za/special/gallery.html
Women's regiment of the INA, interesting stuff.: { Indian National Army : The Women's Regiment } Rani of Jhansi Regiment girls in action:
