Women Nurses

The role of women throughout the Second World War progressed as the years of the conflict went on. As they entered new roles they had never filled before, their independence and confidence grew. Some left their domesticated life and moved onto something bigger and better. They moved into work.

As volunteering for services became available within Britain, women found themselves at the forefront of being able to delve into a world of new experiences. Many of these being within the forces. Women played an imperative role within nursing during the war; especially within the army. The outbreak of the Second World War meant that women were now working closer to battle than they ever had been before.

 

During the Second World War, nursing was know as the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Services (or the QAIMNS). From 1939 to 1945, these nurses served in many different countries. These included Africa, Burma, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Normandy, Palestine and Singapore. As the war started, there were only 640 regular members of the QAIMNS. This number was added to with the QAIMNS (Reserves) and the Territorial Army Nursing Service (TANS). These women were then called upon as the war broke out. 

In 1944, with the Battle of Normandy, QAIMNS were the first women to arrive upon the beaches. There, they set up a hospital with the capacity for 600 patients. They were also there at Dunkirk to await the evacuation and assist the wounded.

The QAIMNS became the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC). It is still in operation today. 

Demand for nurses also continued to grow on the Home Front. The constant bombardments that were inflicted upon the country inevitably led to an immense number of casualties on the population. Having such a huge increase in demand meant that women who had previously left the nursing work sector would return upon being recalled into service. Conscripted volunteering meant that many women chose the nursing sector. Furthermore, women who were trained nurses were to take charge under the ARP scheme on the first-aid posts. Organisations such as the British Red Cross, First Aid Nursing Yeomary, the Voluntary Aid Detachments, and Order of St John of Jerusalem were called upon to help both overseas and at home on the Home Front.

7 September 1940 marked the start of The Blitz and a hugely hectic time for the nurses of Britain. The casualties that this aerial bombardment caused were on a scale that people had not seen before. Nurses had to work at a quick speed for hours on end in order to attend to those who had been injured, likely with injuries that these nurses would never have come across in their lifetime. Hospitals would be overcrowded, with patients eventually being placed on stretches in corridors due to the lack of beds available.

Great measures were also taken to ensure that hospitals were made safer under the event of a raid. Operating theatres were moved to the basement and radium used in medical treatments was buried to protect against any radioactivity in the event there was a boming raid and one was to landa direct hit upon the hospital.

Alongside this, nurses would have to react quickly when an air raid siren went off. If nurses were not on duty and the siren sounded, they would have to go straight back. Nurses would have to take their patients straight down to the basement as quickly as possible to ensure their safety until the all clear sounded giving them the signal all was safe to return to their floors. Alongside this, anti-splinter blinds would have been drawn and babies moved to a gas refuge room. It was not uncommon to see a hospital bombed during these raids. St Bart's, for example, was bombed six times. Great Ormond Street was another hospital in London that was bombed and damaged during a raid. 

Nursing was predominantly a female profession (until after WW2), and thousands joined this sector throughout the Second World War. They provided help within the army, abroad, near battle sites and at home on the Home Front. Their contribution was immense and was heavily important to Britain. Long hours and terrible sights would plague these women throughout their years in the nursing sector during a world war. But their role was important and their work essential.

To read a recollection of being a nurse during the war, click here.