Photograph Album Female Soldier Second World War

Item Details

Unpublished, 1940s, Photograph Album

Very Good

The album depicts some of the experiences of one Servicewoman, Sylvia Garwood, as a Private in the A.T.S. during World War Two. There are pictures of her and her comrades in the UK and then Belgium and Germany following the allied landings in June of 1944. Of particular note are photographs of Belsen concentration camp two months after its liberation by British armed forces showing mass graves, a crematorium and some Hungarian survivors. One photograph depicts German POWs in the background. Other locations include Warrior Square Hastings, Louvain, Lille, Celle, Hanomag Speedway and Hanover Hospital. The final series of photographs show Sylvia back home in the UK with her family.

Oblong string tied album 12 1/2" by 8 3/4" 20 leaves with tissue guards. 98 photographs with additional newspaper clippings and A.T.S. cap badge. There is some annotation with information on some of the photographs and many of the group pictures have names and messages and/or signatures to the reverse. Some photographs appear to have been removed.

The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed in 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1949, when it was merged into the Women's Royal Army Corps. Women were barred from serving in battle, but in order to free men for combat roles, ATS members took over many support tasks, such as radar operators, forming part of the crews of anti-aircraft guns and military police. By 1943 three-quarters of Anti-Aircraft Command's HAA batteries were mixed.

A fascinating insight into the often overlooked contribution and roles of servicewomen in the Second World War.