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Remembered Today:

French Documentary - Women at War [Elles etaient en guerre]


Terry_Reeves

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For those with Netflix,  this documentary (with english subtitles) is worth watching. It is a thoughtful and quite absorbing production which looks the roles of women in French society throughout the war. It also includes pieces on the relief work carried out US philanthropist Anne Morgan and the American author Edith Wharton.  Primarily about the French it also include some material  about German and British women. The programme uses original photographs and film throughout to tell the story, the latter medium having been colourised. 

 

TR

Edited by Terry_Reeves
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You don’t need Netflix. This is a television documentary produced in 2014 and you can find it on the internet for most, for example on the Archive site, albeit only in French. Thanks for the heads up: my wife is currently rehearsing for a play called Les Filles aux Mains Jaunes about the munitionettes and this will help with her costume at least.

 

Cheers Martin B

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  • 3 weeks later...

They had not come to Abbeville to die...  

During the night of May 29 to 30, 1918, around 2:15 am, a German air raid resulted in several casualties. During each visit of the cemetery with the school children, we pay homage to these ladies. On May 30, 2018, we are organizing an event to pay special tribute to all the ladies who have committed themselves to participate in the war effort. Special tribute will be paid to British female volunteers.

001bis.JPG

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Since March 1918, attacks have intensified, the front has retreated, there is even talk of repatriating hospitals in England.
During the night of May 29 to 30, around two o'clock in the morning, Abbeville suffered a German air attack at the same time as Doullens and Etaples. The sky is clear and the moon shines in the sky.
In the neighborhood of Mautort, a truck is hit and caught fire.
The glow of this burning truck allows enemy planes to drop three bombs on the vast military camp of the hospital and its "Supply" depots, located out of town, south of the road to Cambron.
Two bombs destroy wooden barracks and a third explodes in a trench shelter where female volunteers of the Queen Mary Army Auxiliary Corp. are housed.
Eight of them are killed instantly. Seven others are very seriously injured. One of them died as a result of her injuries, during the night, shortly after her transfer to the hospital.

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The funeral will be held on May 31 1918 at 2:30 pm

The whole city of Abbeville is in turmoil, staff from all the hospitals of the city joined the procession.

The procession crosses the city to reach the cemetery, several hundred people participate in the funeral. A large number of female volunteers follow each of the coffins carried by horse-drawn wagons.

BLAIKLEY Mary, CAMPBELL Beatrice, CASWELL Margaret, CONNOR Catherine, GRANT Jeanie, MOORES Annie, PARKER Ethel, Alice THOMASSON, WATSON Jeannie, are interred together and side by side at the Abbeville Commonwealth Cemetery,  in Notre Dame de la Chapelle Cemetery.

Their friends made bouquets of daffodils picked in the woods. Hairpins are used to hold the bouquets that are attached to the coffins before their descent into the Picardy land, in the city where they died.
At the end of the day, the city wipes a new bombing that will not make victims, but many damages. The statue of Admiral Courbet is damaged. The cities of Etaples and Boulogne are also bombed.

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Australian War Memorial Pictures (Abbeville may 31 1918) 

1918 05 31 Abbeville obseques volontaires .jpg

Edited by Marsouin 80
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The women volunteers died in Abbeville may 30 1918, belonged to QMAAC. 

The WAAC was renamed the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) in April 1918, with Queen Mary assuming the honorary position of Commandant in Chief of this Corps.

 

Do not mix up.. 

 

In 1918 women medical personnel were sent to the front in France; one such was Dr. Phoebe Chapple, who was awarded the Military Medal for her actions during an air raid on the WAAC shelter trench outside Abbeville in May 1918.[3]

 

The most famous pioneering women's unit before the First World War, was the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). The idea of an army officer, Captain E.W. Baker, in 1907, the FANY were originally supposed to act as a mounted link between care on the battlefield and military hospitals.

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QMAAC paid heavy tribute in Abbeville during WW1. 

 

12 women died and were buried in Commonwealth Cemetery at "Notre Dame de la Chapelle Cemetery" in Abbeville  : (91 died during WW1 at all)

 

May 30 1918

Blaikley Mary McLachlan (Gartcosh), Campbell Beatrice (Cupar Fife), Caswell Margaret (Pgbourne Saint George), Connor Catherine (?), Grant Jeanie McKerral (Greensgairs Airdrie), Moores Annie (Salisbury), Parker Ethel (Canterbury), Thomasson Alice (Bolton Manchester), Watson Jeannie (Cambuslang Glasgow), 

 

November 16 1918

O'Neil Nellie (Ballyrussel Cloyne)

 

February 14 1919

Walcroft Kitty (Maidenhead Berkshire)

 

March 13 1919

Moore Beatrice Violet (London)

 

1 minute ago, Marsouin 80 said:

QMAAC paid heavy tribute in Abbeville during WW1. 

 

12 women died and were buried in Commonwealth Cemetery at "Notre Dame de la Chapelle Cemetery" in Abbeville  : (91 died during WW1 at all)

 

May 30 1918

Blaikley Mary McLachlan (Gartcosh), Campbell Beatrice (Cupar Fife), Caswell Margaret (Ogbourne Saint George), Connor Catherine (?), Grant Jeanie McKerral (Greensgairs Airdrie), Moores Annie (Salisbury), Parker Ethel (Canterbury), Thomasson Alice (Bolton Manchester), Watson Jeannie (Cambuslang Glasgow), 

 

November 16 1918

O'Neil Nellie (Ballyrussel Cloyne)

 

February 14 1919

Walcroft Kitty (Maidenhead Berkshire)

 

March 13 1919

Moore Beatrice Violet (London)

 

 

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I agree.  Saw the movie a few weeks ago.

H.C.

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