‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’ Winston Churchill’s famous words are seared into Britain’s national memory. We know what we owe to the RAF’s courageous ‘Few’ who flew iconic aircraft in the Second World War, but do we know another, just as important, group to whom we owe a tremendous amount – the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force? Here, Sarah-Louise Miller introduces us to these trailblazing women, who feature in her new book, The Women Behind the Few.
The crucial women behind Churchill’s ‘Few’
Members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) worked day in, day out throughout the most terrifying moments of the Second World War to keep the Few supplied with information that would enable them to operate as efficiently as possible.
WAAFs worked in intelligence positions to:
- maximise efficiency
- multiply resources and forces
- save lives throughout the Battle of Britain and the rest of the war
For them, there has been no recognition or remembrance. Working behind the Few, and hidden behind them in the historical record, the WAAFs matter because without their contribution in the summer of 1940, it is highly likely that the RAF would have lost the Battle of Britain, and the entire course of the war might have been different.
What old assumptions did WAAFs have to battle?
It has long been assumed that the contributions of women in the Second World War military services amounted to ‘freeing a man for duty’ or mere substitution in safe, non-combatant support roles that were based in Britain. The story of the WAAF, however, demonstrates that women worked competently, efficiently and very impressively to make significant contributions to the British and Allied war efforts, often directly affecting the course of the war. It is time to re-evaluate women’s wartime contributions and to highlight the true nature and the extremely important implications of their work.
Vanquishing the ‘loose-lipped’ stereotype
It was often assumed in the 1940s that women would not be able to keep secrets and that they’d become hysterical and useless when directly faced with the harsh realities of war. Propaganda at the time reinforced these stereotypes, depicting women as loose-lipped, subversive and weak. The story of WAAFs in intelligence roles, however, proves that these assumptions and expectations were completely unfounded, and the way in which they refused to speak about their wartime service for decades is testament to their clear ability to perform exceptionally well as intelligence personnel.
A necessary revamp
It is one thing to rewrite the story of women in the armed forces during the Second World War. This book, however, urges a re-examination and the rewriting of the conventional history of war to include the true contributions of women in their fullest meaning. The stories we know have holes in them, and it is time to recover the lost experiences of people who changed history but have remained in the shadows for far too long.
The Women Behind the Few: The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and British Intelligence during the Second World War is out 9 March.
Hear more from Sarah-Louise Miller on our podcast, Biteback Chats Books.
Or catch Sarah on her YouTube channel.