
They Fought in the Fields: The Women´s Land Army: The Story of a Forgotten Victory
Nicola Tyrer
"The Women's Land Army" was the forgotten victory of the Second World War. While troops fought on the front line, a battalion of young women joined up to take their place as agricultural workers. Despite many of them coming from urban backgrounds, these fearless, cheerful girls learnt how to look after farm land, operate and repair machinery, rear and manage farm animals, harvest crops and provide the work force that was badly needed in the years of the war. Back-breaking work such as thinning crops, continuous hoeing and digging made way for disgusting tasks such as rat-killing. Yet despite it all, the land girls were exuberant, fun-loving and hard-working, and became known for their articulate, feisty, humorous and modest attitude. It therefore comes as no surprise that despite hostility and teasing at the beginning, these robust farm workers won the hearts of the nation, and at the disbandment of the Land Army in the 1950s, the farming community were forced to eat their words. With delightful photographs documenting the camaraderie of the Land Army and real-life memories from those who joined, this nostalgic look at one of the real success stories of the Second World War will make modern women stand proud of what their grandmothers achieved in an era before our own.
Product Details
Reviews for They Fought in the Fields: The Women´s Land Army: The Story of a Forgotten Victory
The story of the forgotten victory of the Second World War
'Nicola Tyrer should be congratulated ... a model of the kind of research that had to be done ... she deserves a medal' Mail on Sunday
'Tyrer's admiration for them [land girls] will be shared by all who read this intriguing history.' Daily Telegraph
'Absorbing and vigorously committed' Sunday Telegraph
'A highly readable account ... excellent' Woman and Home