Women Fighting for Britain in World War Two | ATS Auxiliary Territorial Service

Located at Castle Hill in West Yorkshire, this Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery was one of the locations chosen to be manned by both Men of the Royal Artillery and later Women from the ATS. Organised and led by General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, who was a Senior British Army Officer who served in both World Wars. In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, he was made General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Anti-Aircraft Command, a position he held throughout the war. This was an important role as the Heavy Anti-Aircraft batteries were often, one of the elements that protected Britain from aerial attack. He was interestingly and worthy of note, the only British General to retain the same Command throughout the entire war. After the British withdrawal and retreat from Dunkirk on 27th May to 4th June 1940, He issued a General Order telling his Men that they were the only British Troops still firing at the enemy. By April 1941, after two years of war, Anti-Aircraft Command, tasked with defending the UK against air attack, was suffering a manpower shortage. General Pile, proposed to overcome this by utilising the Women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). The ATS had been formed in 1938 at the dawn of war. In these early years it was a volunteer only service becoming compulsory conscription in December 1941. The Women were given a choice of working in industry or joining one of the auxiliary services – the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) or the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS). The Purpose of this video is to concentrate on the Women’s role in the ATS. Initially, the only jobs available were cooks, clerks, orderlies, store women or drivers. But eventually there were over a hundred different roles in the ATS, including serving in Anti-Aircraft Batteries. This expansion allowed more Men to be released for front line service. More than 250,000 women served in the ATS during the Second World War, making it the largest, of the women's services. The ATS was by law a non-combatant service, but it was decided that Defence Regulations permitted the employment of women in anti-aircraft roles, other than actually firing the guns. The ATS Women worked the early radar and plotting instruments, rangefinders and predictors. They Also successfully ran command posts, controlled communications, and carried out many other duties. With the increasing automation of heavy anti-aircraft guns, including gun-laying, fuse-setting and ammunition loading under remote control from the predictor, the question of who actually fired the gun became blurred as the war progressed. The ATS rank and file, took to the new role with enthusiasm and 'Mixed' batteries and regiments with the ATS supplying two-thirds of their personnel quickly proved a success. The Heavy Anti-Aircraft network with the help of the ATS Women was so successful that General Pile’s plan for "Engagement of Long-Range Rockets with AA Gunfire" (gunfire into a radar-predicted airspace to intercept the V-2 rocket) was ready on 21 March 1945 but the plan was not used due to the danger of shells falling on Greater London. Credit Music by; https://thewilburproject.co.uk/ For EXCLUSIVE unreleased content and to support ALW Exploration visit Patreon;   / alw_exploration   ALW Exploration Social MediaLinks ! Instagram:   / alw_exploration   Instagram Dave:   / alwexploring_dave   Instagram Paul:   / alwexploring_paul   Instagram Marcus:   / mmp_exploration   Facebook:   / alwexploration   Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/alwexplor... Twitter:   / alwexploration   Flickr: ALW Exploration Flickr My website: https://alwexploration.co.uk/ PayPal. For Merchandise: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/alwex... If you would like to help my channel, please purchase some Merchandise at; https://alwexploration.co.uk/2020/12/... Thank You for Watching :) ALW’s Field Equipment Canon 90d https://amz.run/46Hf Canon 10-18mm lens https://amz.run/46Hg Canon 18-135 Lens https://amz.run/46Hl Canon 100-400 Lens https://amz.run/46Hk Canon G7X Mk2 https://amz.run/46Hr DJI Ronin SC https://amz.run/46Hh GoPro Media Light https://amz.run/46Hs Video Lights https://amz.run/46Hj GoPro 8 Black https://amz.run/46Hm GoPro Media Mod https://amz.run/46Hp Light for GoPro https://amz.run/46Hq DJI Mavic Mini https://amz.run/46Hu DJI Mavic Air (on Station in Germany) https://amz.run/4G05 DJI Mavic 2 Pro https://amz.run/4B2K DJI Smart Controller https://amz.run/4B2L #ALWExploration #Urbex Support ALW - Merchandise Store: www.ebay.co.uk/usr/ALW_ResearchTeam