We Serve | |
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Directed by | Carol Reed |
Produced by | Sydney Box |
Starring | |
Edited by | Peter Tanner |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 30 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
We Serve is a British short film about the lives of officers in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Designed as a recruitment and training film, it was directed by Carol Reed, produced by Sydney Box, and was made by Box's company Verity Films. [1]
The involvement of Reed as director enabled Box to secure the services of several leading British actresses for the film, all agreeing to be paid the small sum of £5 per day. [1] The film also featured the then Director of the ATS, Jean Knox. [2]
The 30-minute film was commissioned shortly after the British government changed the nature of the ATS from being a voluntary body to becoming a professional service with full military status in April 1941. [3] It was concurrent with a wider recruitment drive to expand the size of the ATS. [4] In its efforts to attract recruits, the film emphasised that femininity could be retained in wartime. [1]
The Women's Royal Army Corps was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged from 1949 to 1992 except medical, dental and veterinary officers and chaplains, who belonged to the same corps as the men; the Ulster Defence Regiment, which recruited women from 1973, and nurses, who belonged to Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps.
The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a military-style uniform, but it is not part of the Regular Army or Army Reserve; members do not train at Sandhurst, nor do they hold a commission.
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs, was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.
Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, usually on a part-time basis. Unlike a military reserve force, an auxiliary force does not necessarily have the same degree of training or ranking structure as regular soldiers, and it may or may not be integrated into a fighting force. Some auxiliaries, however, are militias composed of former active duty military personnel and actually have better training and combat experience than their regular counterparts.
The Auxiliary Territorial Service was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 February 1949, when it was merged into the Women's Royal Army Corps.
Appointment with Venus is a 1951 British war drama film, a film adaptation of the 1951 Jerrard Tickell novel of the same name. It was directed by Ralph Thomas, produced by Betty E. Box and its screenplay was written by the novelist Nicholas Phipps. The film was based on the evacuation of Alderney cattle from the Channel Island during World War II.
Brigadier Dame Mary Katherine Rosamund Colvin was a director of the British Army Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) and president of the British Horse Society.
Dame Helen Charlotte Isabella Gwynne-Vaughan, was a prominent English botanist and mycologist. During the First World War, she served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and then as Commandant of the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) from 1918 to 1919. During the Second World War, from 1939 to 1941, she served as Chief Controller of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS).
Air Chief Commandant Dame Ruth Mary Eldridge Welsh, was the second Director of the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), from 1943 to 1946.
The Gentle Sex is a 1943 British black-and-white romantic comedy-drama war film, directed by Leslie Howard and Maurice Elvey and narrated by Howard. It was produced by Concanen Productions, Two Cities Films, and Derrick de Marney. It was Howard's last film before his death.
Clare Grant Stevenson, AM, MBE was the inaugural Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant woman in the history of the Air Force". Formed as a branch of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1941, the WAAAF was the first and largest uniformed women's service in Australia during World War II, numbering more than 18,000 members by late 1944 and making up over thirty per cent of RAAF ground staff.
Operation Bullshine is a 1959 British colour comedy film directed by Gilbert Gunn and starring Donald Sinden, Barbara Murray and Carole Lesley. The working title of the film was Girls in Arms that features as a marching song in the film. Gunn had filmed Girls at Sea the previous year. The new title, based on an American euphemism for a very British word with the same meaning (bullshite), comes from the frenzied activity preparing for their brigadier's surprise inspection. The film features 1956 Olympic gold medallist Judy Grinham as a physical training instructor.
Air Vice-Marshal William Charles Coleman Gell, was an officer of the British Army and then of the Royal Air Force. He served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Balloon Command from 1944 to 1945.
Jean Marcia Montagu, Baroness Swaythling, CBE, first married name Knox, was Director of the Auxiliary Territorial Service from July 1941 to October 1943.
Stella Schmolle, was a British painter, known for the paintings she produced while serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II and for her post-war portrait paintings.
Women took on many different roles during World War II, including as combatants and workers on the home front. The war involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale; the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable, although the particular roles varied from country to country. Millions of women of various ages were injured or died as a result of the war.
Christian Helen Fraser-Tytler CBE was a member of the Scottish landed gentry and a senior officer in Britain's Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during World War II.
Sheila Anne Elizabeth Heaney, CB, MBE, TD was a British Army officer. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service shortly before the Second World War and served in the UK, East Africa and Palestine. In 1949 she transferred to the newly formed Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC). Heaney rose through the ranks and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. She was promoted to the rank of brigadier, appointed director of the WRAC and aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II in 1970. As part of her role as director Heaney visited the United States to study the integration of women into their army and recommended that the process proceed in the UK on a more gradual basis. She instituted changes to make it easier for women in the British Army to choose their branch of service. After her retirement in 1973, she lived in Edinburgh where she volunteered with the Women's Royal Voluntary Service and supported a local hospice.
Brigadier Dame Mary Mackenzie Anderson DBE was a British Army officer. Having served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War, she then rose through the ranks of the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) and served as director of WRAC from 1967 to 1970.
Ivor Halstead was a British journalist and author, editor of the Daily Sketch.