Source C4 is secondary evidence, which describes one man’s point of view on women on the frontline after seeing the nurses working at Dunkirk. His view is positive, and he describes the women as “angels”. When compared with source C3 it does not give the same impression of men’s attitudes towards women on the battlefront. Source C3 focuses on men’s opinions of women in a frontline situation, although the men in this source had not seen the women carry out their duties when the source was written. Source C4 demonstrates what women were actually like in action. I believe that neither source is more useful than the other in telling us about how men reacted to women on the battlefront as the reactions that these sources include are taken from different situations. Both sources are ‘opinions’ of women on the battlefront, and so people had different opinions because they had different experiences. I believe that neither source is very reliable individually, but can be used in conjunction with other sources to get a more rounded view on the subject.
Source C6 is an account of what happened to Violette Szabo. The account is written as secondary evidence in the book ‘Heroines of World War II’. This title suggests that the author probably sees Violette as a hero and is rather ‘pro Violette’. Evidence has recently been uncovered that proves part of this account to be incorrect, however the information seems to be well researched by the author and was based on evidence at the time, so I believe this source to be quite reliable. I think that situations like the one in source C6 did help to change men’s attitudes to women. After hearing of Violette many men might have seen her as a hero for her outstanding bravery, and saw she was just as capable as men when working on the battlefront. On the other hand, men might have still considered her very brave, but may also have thought that, being a mother, she should not have gone through this kind of situation. I think that Violette’s story may have changed how men reacted to women on the battlefront as it proves women’s capabilities in dangerous situations, but I do not believe it changed men’s opinions to whether women should fight on the front line and it did not make it any easier to accept women on the battlefront.
Source C5 is a photograph of three frontline nurses in front of an aeroplane, and it is primary evidence. The photograph is real and not deliberately altered, but it is likely to be propaganda. The picture was designed to make the public believe that nursing is a glamorous job, so the source may not be completely reliable in telling us about how women felt about their work on the battlefront. The three women in the photograph are posed in the same way fighter pilots posed for photographs. I do not believe that this is good evidence of how women felt, as the photograph is not truly reliable because they are government propaganda. I think that source C4 may be a more accurate reflection of the work that nurses did. Although the women are smiling in the photograph, they still might be terrified of what they have to do, but are posing for the camera. Although as propaganda this source is not reliable in telling the truth, it does lead one to believe that the government considered women who nursed on the front line were just as important as the fighters, due to the way the women posed for the photograph.
Working on the battlefront had a great impact on women’s lives. They endured poor conditions and mortal danger just like the male soldiers, but showed outstanding bravery and resourcefulness. Source C1 is Ailsa Dodd’s recollections of her contribution to the war effort. She describes the awful conditions she had to work in, and the constant threat of danger. She says how she had to work while there was a German bombardment extremely close to where she as stationed, but she had to continue with her job despite the danger he was in. Her working and living conditions were so bad she says “eventually everybody got ill”. The source describes that they had to work underground with insufficient air-conditioning, which made it a very hot place to live and work, and so was aptly nicknamed “hell”. It seems that women on the battlefront endured both extreme temperatures; source c1 mentions the extreme heat, and source C3 mentions the extreme cold of the dessert at night. Source C3 tells us that everybody slept with “every article of clothing on”, which reflects how cold it must have been.
The temperatures were not the only thing that made conditions on the battlefront poor. Source C2 is Joke Folmer’s account on the conditions she suffered in a prisoner of war camp. She tells us how she kept a needle under hidden under her skin to pull threads as presents for the other prisoners. From this we can assume that restrictions were very tight in the prison, but also that the prisoners were close friends. Joke Folmer also recalls she spent six weeks in solitary confinement, which anyone would see as a horrific punishment, but she tells us that she had a paper clip that made everything all right. The paper clip probably stopped her from going mad with boredom, but also demonstrated the resourcefulness women showed in situations similar to this.
Sources C3-5 are examples of nurses working on the frontline. Source C3 is primary evidence. This source shows that men did not easily accept women on the frontline, and greatly underestimated them. The source says how one officer-in-charge told two nurses that they could not have separate toilet facilities to the men, which implies women were unwelcome in the camps. The source also describes the expressions on the men’s faces at seeing women in such important positions as “never to be forgotten”. However, many women who worked on the frontline had very important jobs. Ailsa Dodd of the WAAF (from source C1) was a Code Cipher Officer, many women nurses had to work on the actual battlefield treating wounded soldiers, and some women worked as spies and instigated the resistance movements in France (Violette Szabo, source C6). Source C4 is an example of secondary evidence concerning nurses on the battlefront in Dunkirk. From this source we can see how men’s attitudes possibly changed from the one’s expressed by the men described in source C3, who passed judgement on women before seeing them in action. The man in source C4 describes the women as “angels”, and shows that women were capable of working in dangerous frontline battles. Source C5 is a picture of three nurses standing in front of an aeroplane. This picture emphasises the fact that nurses had an extremely important role. The way they are posed is the same way the fighter pilots posed, which tells us that they were considered just as important as the fighters were. Although the picture is primary evidence, it is an example of government propaganda. The photograph was probably used to portray nursing as ‘glamorous’ to the general public, possibly in hope that it would persuade more women to join the Red Cross. Because it is propaganda, it is not likely to be an accurate reflection of what nurses on the frontline went through, and is not truly reliable in telling us how women felt to be serving on the frontline. Source C4 is more likely to be an accurate example of the work nurses did on the frontline.
The women described in source C4 showed remarkable bravery, and it seems that many women displayed tremendous courage while in mortal danger. Source C1 describes the danger women were in from a German bombardment, source C3 mentions how they were “surrounded by guns”, and source C6 describes the bravery of Violette Szabo against her German pursuers. The information from the account in source C6 has recently been proven partly incorrect by new evidence. Later stories claim she was unarmed, but I believe that the sense of the story is not altered by this, as she was just as brave to be captured without a gun, maybe more so.
Women were greatly underestimated by their male colleagues, but their outstanding courage changed the way they were thought of by men. Working on the battlefront impacted women by changing some men’s attitudes to women working in high-risk situation, but I also believe that working on the battlefront gave women a chance to prove their bravery to themselves. Women who worked on the battlefront during World War Two shared the same experiences as many of the male soldiers, and their lives and sense of purpose would have been changed just as much as the fighters.
