Auxiliary Territorial Service
The Auxiliary Territorial Service ( ATS ) was the women's division of the British Army during World War II . It was formed on September 9, 1938 and existed until February 1, 1949 when it was absorbed into the Women's Royal Army Corps .
history
The ATS had its roots in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), which was active from 1917 to 1921 and had performed various supporting tasks during the First World War . Before World War II, the government decided to set up a new corps for women. Another new advisory board decided to join the ATS to the Territorial Army (volunteer reserve); the women serving should receive two thirds of the pay of a male soldier. All women in the army joined the ATS - with the exception of the nurses in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps and the medical and dental officers who were directly subordinate to the army.
The first recruits of the ATS were employed as cooks, typists and warehouse administrators. After the outbreak of war, 300 ATS members served in France . When the German Wehrmacht advanced, they pushed the British Expeditionary Force back to the English Channel . This led to the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk in May 1940. Some ATS operators were among the last British troops to leave the country as part of Operation Dynamo . The size of the ATS grew and reached 65,000 members in September 1941. Initially women between 17 and 43 years of age were allowed to serve, later the rules were relaxed so that women up to 50 years old could also join the WAAC. There were also new areas of responsibility, such as B. Nurses, drivers, postal workers and ammunition inspectors.
In December 1941, Parliament passed the National Service Act , which required unmarried women between the ages of 20 and 30 to join one of the women's organizations. In addition to the ATS, these were the Women's Royal Naval Service (Navy), the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (Luftwaffe) and the Women's Transport Service (driving services). The appeal later went to married people, with the exception of pregnant women and mothers with small children. The Women's Voluntary Service (supplement to the emergency services) and the Women's Land Army (help on farms) offered further options . The service could be refused for reasons of conscience. Women were excluded from direct combat operations, but due to the lack of men, the ATS and other associations took on supporting tasks such as B. the operation of radars, air defense and military police. These activities were not without risk either; According to the Imperial War Museum , there were 717 fatalities during the war.
On VE Day and before the demobilization, the ATS had over 190,000 members. Prominent women in the ranks of the ATS were among others. a. Mary Churchill (the Prime Minister's youngest daughter ) and Princess Elisabeth (the King's daughter ). On February 1, 1949, the ATS went into the newly formed Women's Royal Army Corps .
Directors of the ATS
The directors of the ATS had the rank of chief controller , which corresponded to that of a major general in the army. They were:
- Helen Gwynne-Vaughan , July 1939 to July 1941
- Jean Knox , July 1941 to October 1943
- Leslie Whateley , October 1943 to April 1946
- Mary Tyrwhitt , April 1946 to January 1949
See also
- Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service) , the equivalent of the ATS in the Royal Navy
- WAVES , the American counterpart to the Wrens
- Women in the military
literature
- Dorothy Brewer Kerr: Girls Behind the Guns: With the Auxiliary Territorial Service in World War II . Robert Hale Ltd, London 1990, ISBN 0-7090-4195-0 .
- Margaret Dady: Women's War: Life in the Auxiliary Territorial Service . Book Guild Ltd, Hove 1986, ISBN 0-86332-182-8 .
Web links
- Memory of the ATS (English)
- ATS uniforms (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Auxiliary Territorial Service in the Second World War. (PDF; 105 kB) (No longer available online.) Imperial War Museum , 2008, archived from the original on December 27, 2013 ; accessed on September 10, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Her Majesty The Queen: Early public life. British Royalty, accessed September 10, 2013 .
