The Second World War ended the way it did, thanks in part to these fragile but courageous beauties. Examples of everyday female heroism are in this post!
Members of the Canadian Army Mechanized Brigades parade after returning home on September 10, 1941.
A Polish soldier in a defensive position among the beach dunes in 1943.
A British Army Women's Auxiliary Territorial Corps ambulance driver stands at attention in France, 1940 (left) British Army Ordnance Service symbol on a woman's ankle. (on right)
Members of the British Army's West Indies Auxiliary Territorial Corps, November 1943.
Two gunners from a London air defense battery track enemy aircraft in the sky, 1941.
A British Army Air Transport Auxiliary pilot signals the crew from the cockpit of a Supermarine Spitfire fighter, 1944.
Women of the US Army's first Women's Auxiliary unit smile and wave from a military vehicle as they depart for North Africa, 1943.
A territorial self-defense fighter learns to neutralize the enemy, 1942 (left). A British Army sergeant instructs a female guerrilla unit, 1941 (right).
A British Army lieutenant gives hand-to-hand combat lessons to the Women's Territorial Self-Defence Unit, 1942.
These Auxiliary Transport Service pilots are among the first women to join the Royal Air Force. The photograph shows pilots heading towards a squadron of training aircraft they are about to deliver from the factory in 1940.
Auxiliary Transport Service pilots run towards aircraft during a training exercise, 1940 (left). In the right photo, pilots are studying a map on the wing of an airplane.
A British mechanic repairs a tank track, 1940.
Soldiers of mechanized brigades push an ambulance from an uneven area, 1940.
A group of American nurses waiting for their morning exercises, 1944. Shortly after the photograph was taken, this group was transferred to the Pacific front.
A woman from the British Ground Observer Service tracks and documents each aircraft sighting, 1943 (left). Well protected from the cold, a fighter of the Finnish army women's unit "Lotta Svärd", 1940 (right).
Lieutenant James L. Munson administers the oath of office to five American women joining the U.S. Army Women's Auxiliary Unit in New York City on October 15, 1942.
Watford Women's Territorial Home Defense members practice aiming their rifles, 1942 (left). The photo on the right shows members of the North Holloway Hospital fire brigade participating in a training exercise in 1941.
Three female air traffic service representatives smoke in 1939. The rules prohibit them from smoking with hats on.
A group of Polish soldiers take a defensive position among the dunes and grass in 1943.
A group of young Red Army snipers in a town in East Prussia taken by the Soviet army in February 1945. The second woman from the left is the famous Soviet sniper Roza Shanina.
Led by Belgian Lieutenant Maurice Delvoye, a group of Belgian women take up arms to help the army, circa 1939-1945. (left). Italian partisans on the Castelluccio front in Italy, 1944 (right).
Lieutenant Lee R. McDaniel takes the oath of office from a group of recruits of the US Army Women's Unit in London on October 21, 1944. These women were among 43 American citizens in London sworn in that day.
In countries that took an active part in World War II, women were involved in it on an equal basis with men.
In the household, women performed traditionally male duties; they took part in construction, worked in factories, in volunteer organizations, medical institutions, and were members of underground resistance groups.
Although relatively few women served as combatants at the front, many were victims of bombing and weapons of mass destruction.
By the end of the war, more than 2 million women worked in the war industry.
Hundreds of thousands volunteered to work as nurses or as full-time military personnel. In the Soviet Union, approximately 800,000 women served alongside men during the war. This issue contains photographs that illustrate only a small part of what women experienced and endured during the war. Please note: Most of the captions are from original sources from the 1940s, where the word "girl" is often used to refer to young women.
Three Soviet partisans in Russia in World War II.
Specially selected female pilots are trained for police duties in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). They must be quick-witted, intelligent and observant. They attend intensive courses at the police school, where their training runs parallel to the men. A WAAF member demonstrates self-defense techniques. January 15, 1942
Women of the Defense Corps form a "V" victory sign with crossed hoses during a demonstration of their abilities in Gloucester, Massachusetts, November 14, 1941.
A nurse wraps a bandage around the arm of a Chinese soldier during fighting at the front near the Salween River in Yunnan province, China, June 22, 1943.
Women work in the production of transparent bomber noses at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California, in October 1942.
American film actress Veronica Lake shows what can happen to women who wear long hair in the workplace. November 9, 1943.
A young Soviet girl tractor driver in Kyrgyzstan effectively replaced her friends, brothers and fathers who had gone to the front. August 26, 1942.
Nurses clearing rubbish from one of the wards at St Peter's Hospital, East London, 19 April 1941. The four hospitals were among many buildings damaged by German bombs during the all-out attack on the British capital.
Polish women are led through the forest to be shot. 1941
Girls from several universities are training as militias on campus. Pneumatics were used for training shooting. Evanston, Illinois, January 11, 1942. (
American nurses are preparing to be sent to an allied base in New Guinea. November 12, 1942.
US nurses walk along the beach in Normandy, France, July 4, 1944.
A French man and woman with captured German weapons take on Nazi troops. Civilians and members of the French resistance fought in Paris in August 1944, until the surrender of German forces and the liberation of Paris on August 25.
A German soldier wounded by a French bullet and members of the French resistance, one of them a woman, during the street fighting that preceded the entry of Allied forces into Paris in 1944.
Romanian army and civilians, men and women, young and old, dig anti-tank ditches in the border zone, June 22, 1944, in preparation to repel Soviet troops.
The 8th Guards Army of General Chuikov on the streets of Odessa in April 1944. A large group of Soviet soldiers, including two women in front, march through the streets.
A girl from the resistance movement, a member of a patrol group organized to defeat the German snipers who still remained in some areas in Paris, August 29, 1944. The girl killed two Germans in the battles of Paris two days ago.
Several of the more than 40,000 concentration camp prisoners liberated by the British suffered from typhus, hunger and dysentery. Germany, in April 1945.
A Soviet woman working to clear fields shakes her fist at German prisoners of war as they march east, escorted by guards. USSR, February 14, 1944.
In the countries participating in the Second World War, women, along with men, served in the active armies in various positions, and in the rear they replaced men in production. By the end of the war, more than 2 million women worked in the war industry. Hundreds of thousands of women voluntarily went to the front as nurses, pilots, snipers, and signalmen. In the Soviet Union, 800,000 women, along with men, served in army units during the war.
Defense of Sevastopol. Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who killed 309 Germans.
Director Leni Riefenstahl looks into the camera lens. 1934, Nuremberg, Germany. The footage would be included in the 1935 film Triumph of the Will, later recognized as one of the best propaganda films in history. 
Japanese women at a cartridge factory in Japan, September 30, 1941. 
Members of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) pose for photographs at the camp before leaving New York for the European theater on February 2, 1945. 
A woman checks the operation of barrage balloons in New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 11, 1943. 
Medical personnel in New York City hospitals and hospitals practice chemical alarms, November 27, 1941. 
Three Soviet girls in a partisan detachment during World War II 
A woman behind an air defense searchlight on the outskirts of London, January 19, 1943. 
German pilot Captain Anna Reitsch shakes hands with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler after being awarded the Iron Cross Second Class at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, in April 1941. 
Students are busy copying propaganda posters in Port Washington, New York, July 8, 1942. 
A group of young Jewish women resistance fighters arrested by SS soldiers in April/May 1943 during the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. 
More and more girls join the Luftwaffe during the German conscription campaign. They replace the men and take up arms. In the photo are female Luftwaffe recruits. Germany, December 7, 1944 
Women are being trained for police service. January 15, 1942 
The first "Women's Guerrilla" Corps had just been formed in the Philippines from among Filipino girls. Auxiliary service training on November 8, 1941 at a shooting range in Manila. 
"Maquis" fought the Nazis starting in 1927 in difficult highland conditions. This schoolteacher from the Aosta Valley fights alongside her husband in the "White Patrol" above the St. Bernard Pass, Italy, January 4, 1945. 
Female firefighters display the Victory Sign during a demonstration exercise in Gloucester, Massachusetts, November 14, 1941. 
Providing first aid to Chinese soldiers during fighting on the Salween River front in Yunnan Province, China, June 22, 1943. 
Women make plexiglass canopies for airplanes at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California, in October 1942. 
American film actress Veronica Lake conducts a film briefing on safety precautions when working with drilling equipment. America, November 9, 1943 
Anti-aircraft gunners, members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), run towards the guns in a London suburb on May 20, 1941, following an air raid signal. 
Two German telephone operators during World War II.
Kyrgyzstan. The girls replaced their friends, brothers and fathers who had gone to the front in the fields. A tractor driver sows sugar beets on August 26, 1942. 
Ms. Paula Tita, a 77-year-old spotter from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is given an honor guard in front of the U.S. flag. December 20, 1941. 
Polish women march through the streets of Warsaw immediately after the German invasion of Poland on September 16, 1939 
Nurses clear debris from an air raid in one of the damaged wards at St Peter's Hospital, Stepney, East London, 19 April 1941. Four hospitals were damaged by German bombs during air strikes on the British capital. 
Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-Belykh participates in the Flying Fortress high-altitude flight during World War II in February 1943 
German soldiers are led through the forest to be shot at Polish women in 1941 
These Northwestern University students joined the militia. Photo taken on campus in Evanston, Illinois, January 11, 1942 
Chemical defense exercises for hospital medical personnel. Wales, 26 May 1944 
Film actress Ida Lupino is a lieutenant in the Women's Ambulance near a switchboard in Brentwood, California, on January 3, 1942. 
The first batch of American Army nurses is ready to be sent to an Allied base in New Guinea. November 12, 1942. 
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Generalissimo of China, advocates an end to Japanese aggression against China on February 18, 1943 
American nurses on the beach in Normandy, France on July 4, 1944, after landing from landing ships. They are on their way to a field hospital where they will care for wounded Allied soldiers. 
French men and women, civilians and members of the French Resistance took on the Germans in Paris in August 1944 
A French woman takes a rifle from a dead German soldier during the street fighting that preceded the entry of Allied forces into Paris in 1944. 
Elisabeth "Lilo" Gloeden is on trial for her role in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in July 1944 
The Romanian army herded civilians, men and women, young and old, to dig anti-tank ditches along the border. June 22, 1944, in readiness to repel attacks by the Soviet army... 
Miss Jean Pitkaity, a nurse at a New Zealand hospital located in Libya, wears glasses to protect her eyes from sand, June 18, 1942 
The 62nd Stalingrad Division on the streets of Odessa in April 1944. A large group of Soviet soldiers, including two women in front, march through the streets 
A girl who is a member of the resistance movement is part of a patrol searching for German snipers still remaining in Paris, France on August 29, 1944. I’ll add on my own behalf: Parisians, they are like that, after all, Parisians))) 
A woman is forcibly having her hair cut by fascist mercenaries. July 10, 1944 
Women and children, of the more than 40,000 concentration camp prisoners liberated by the British, suffering from typhoid, hunger and dysentery, huddled in a barracks in Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in April 1945 
Women SS punishers behaved even more cruelly than men towards prisoners in the Bergen concentration camp, Germany, April 21, 1945 
A Soviet woman harvesting her crops shakes her fist at a column of German prisoners of war. February 14, 1944 
June 19, 2009, Austin, Texas. In this photo, Susie Bain shows a photograph of herself from 1943, when she was one of the women service air force (WAS) pilots during World War II 
The countries participating in World War II made every effort to win. Many women voluntarily enlisted in the armed forces or performed traditional male jobs at home, in factories, and at the front. Women worked in factories and government organizations, and were active members of resistance groups and auxiliary units. Relatively few women fought directly on the front lines, but many were victims of bombings and military invasions. By the end of the war, more than 2 million women worked in the military industry, hundreds of thousands voluntarily went to the front as nurses or enlisted in the army. In the USSR alone, about 800 thousand women served in military units on an equal basis with men. This photo report presents photographs that tell about what women who took an active part in the hostilities of World War II had to endure and endure.
The symbol of the defense of Sevastopol was the Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who killed 309 German soldiers. Pavlichenko is considered the most successful female sniper in history. (AP Photo)
Film director Leni Riefenstahl looks through the lens of a large video camera as she prepares to film the Reich Party Congress in Germany in 1934. The film “Triumph of the Will” will be edited from the footage, which will later become the best propaganda film in history. (LOC)
Japanese women look for possible defects in cartridges at a factory in Japan, September 30, 1941. (AP Photo)
Members of the Women's Army Corps pose at Camp Shanks, New York, before departing the New York port on February 2, 1945. The first contingent of African-American women soldiers to go to war overseas. From left to right in a squat. : Private Rose Stone, Private Virginia Blake and Private 1st Class Marie B. Gillisspie Second Row: Private Genevieve Marshall, Tech 5th Class Fanny L. Talbert and Corporal Kelly K. Smith Third Row: Private Gladys Schuster Carter Technician 4th Class Evelina K. Martin and Private 1st Class Theodora Palmer (AP Photo)
Workers inspect a partially inflated barrage balloon in New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 11, 1943. All parts of the balloon must be sealed by the concerned staff, the department head and also the Chief Inspector who gives final approval. (AP Photo)
American paramedics wearing gas masks undergo training at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York, November 27, 1941. In the background, New York skyscrapers can be seen through a cloud of smoke. (AP Photo)
Three Soviet partisans during World War II, USSR. (LOC)
Members of the British Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, wearing warm winter clothing, use a searchlight to search for German bombers near London, January 19, 1943. (AP Photo)
German pilot Captain Hanna Reitsch shakes hands with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler after receiving the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, April 1941. Reitsch was awarded this award for her services to the development of air weapons during World War II. In the background in the center stands Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, and in the background on the right is Lieutenant General Karl Bodenschatz. (AP Photo)
Art students make quick sketches of World War II propaganda posters in Port Washington, New York, on July 8, 1942. The original drawings hang on the wall in the background. (AP Photo/Marty Zimmerman)
SS soldiers hold a group of young female Jewish resistance fighters under arrest during the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto following the Jewish uprising in April and May 1943. (AP Photo)
More and more women are joining the ranks of the Luftwaffe as part of the general conscription campaign. They replace the men who were transferred to the army to fight the advancing Allied forces. Photo: Women training with men from the Luftwaffe, Germany, December 7, 1944. (AP Photo)
Specially selected pilots from the Women's Auxiliary Air Force undergo training for police service. Photo: A member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force demonstrates self-defense techniques, January 15, 1942. (AP Photo)
The first group of female guerrillas was formed in the Philippines. In the photo: Filipino women, trained in the local women's unit, practice shooting with a gun in Manila, November 8, 1941. (AP Photo)
The Italian Maquis were virtually unknown to the outside world, although they had been fighting the fascist regime since 1927. They fought for freedom in the most dangerous conditions. Their enemies were the Germans and fascist Italians, and their battlefield was the permafrost-covered mountain peaks on the border between France and Italy. Photo: A schoolteacher fights side by side with her husband over the Little Saint Bernard mountain pass in Italy, January 4, 1945. (AP Photo)
Women of the Defense Corps form the Victoria sign with jets of water from crossed fire hoses during a demonstration of their skills in Gloucester, Massachusetts, November 14, 1941. (AP Photo)
A nurse bandages the hand of a Chinese soldier during the battle at the Salween River front in Yunnan province, June 22, 1943. Another soldier came on crutches to receive first aid.(AP Photo)
Workers polish the clear noses of A-20J bombers at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Long Beach, California, October 1942. (AP Photo/Office of War Information)
American film actress Veronica Lake demonstrates what can happen to female workers who wear long hair while working at a machine in a US factory, November 9, 1943. (AP Photo)
Anti-aircraft gunners from the female British Army Auxiliary Territorial Service run to position after an alarm in London, May 20, 1941. AP Photo)
Women from the German anti-aircraft forces speak on field telephones during World War II. (LOC)
Young Soviet tractor drivers from Kyrgyzstan successfully replaced their friends, brothers and fathers who went to the front. In the photo: a tractor driver harvests sugar beets, August 26, 1942. (AP Photo)
Mrs. Paul Titus, 77, an aerial observer for Bucks County, Pennsylvania, holds a gun and inspects her property, December 20, 1941. Mrs. Titus enlisted the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. “I can hold it in my hands any time I need to,” she said. (AP Photo)
Polish women wearing steel helmets and military uniforms march through the streets of Warsaw, preparing to defend the capital as the Germans launched an offensive against Poland, September 16, 1939. (AP Photo)
Nurses are cleaning a ward at St. Peter's in Stepney, East London, 19 April 1941. During a large-scale air raid on London, German bombs hit four hospitals, among other buildings. (AP Photo)
Life magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, in flight gear, stands near an Allied Flying Fortress aircraft during her assignment in February 1943. (AP Photo)
German soldiers lead Polish women to the execution site in the forest, 1941. (LOC)
Northwestern University students train in the courtyard of their university in Evanston, Illinois, on January 11, 1942. From left to right: Jeanne Paul, 18, of Oak Park, Illinois, Virginia Paisley, 18, and Maria Walsh, 19, of Lakewood, Ohio, Sarah Robinson, 20, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, Elizabeth Cooper, 17, of Chicago and 17-year-old Harriet Ginsberg. (AP Photo)
Paramedics undergo gas mask training - one of many types of training for new recruits - on the grounds of a hospital while awaiting deployment to permanent deployment in Wales, May 26, 1944. (AP Photo)
Film actress Ida Lupino, a lieutenant in the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps, sits at a telephone switchboard in Brentwood, California, on January 3, 1942. In an emergency, she can contact all ambulance posts in the city. The switchboard is located in her house , from where she can see all of Los Angeles (AP Photo)
The first contingent of American nurses sent to an allied forward base in New Guinea marches toward the camp with their supplies, November 12, 1942. First four girls from right to left: Edith Whittaker of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Ruth Boucher of Wooster, Ohio, Helen Lawson of Athens, Tennessee, and Juanita Hamilton of Hendersonville, North Carolina. (AP Photo)
The full U.S. House of Representatives listens to Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of the Chinese Generalissimo, as she pleads for every effort to stop the Japanese advance in Washington, D.C., on February 18, 1943. (AP Photo/William J. Smith)
Paramedics disembarked from landing craft walk along the beach in Normandy, France, July 4, 1944. They head to a field hospital to treat wounded Allied soldiers. (AP Photo)
A French man and woman fire confiscated German weapons during a battle between French troops and civilians against German invaders behind the lines in Paris in August 1944, shortly before the German army surrendered and Paris was liberated. (AP Photo)
A man and woman take weapons from a wounded German soldier during a street skirmish behind the lines shortly before Allied forces enter Paris, 1944. (AP Photo)
Elisabeth "Lilo" Gloeden stood trial for her involvement in the July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler's life. Elisabeth, like her mother and husband, was convicted of hiding a member of the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler. All three were beheaded on November 30, 1944. Their execution was widely publicized and served as a warning to those who were planning to conspire against the German ruling party. (LOC)
Romanian civilians, men and women, dig anti-tank ditches in the border area, preparing to repel the Soviet advance. (AP Photo)
Miss Jean Pitkaty, a nurse with a New Zealand medical unit based in Libya, wore special goggles to protect her eyes from sand, June 18, 1942. (AP Photo)
62nd Army on the streets of Odessa in April 1944. A large detachment of Soviet soldiers, including two women, march down the street. (LOC)
A resistance girl takes part in an operation to locate German snipers still hiding in Paris, France, August 29, 1944. Two days earlier, this girl shot two German soldiers. (AP Photo)
French patriots cut the hair of collaborator Grande Guillotte from Normandy, France, July 10, 1944. The man on the right watches the woman's suffering, not without pleasure. (AP Photo)
More than 40 thousand women and children suffering from typhus, hunger and dysentery were freed by the British from concentration camps. In the photo: women and children sitting in a barracks in the Bergen-Belsen camp, Germany, April 1945. (AP Photo)
Women from the SS, who matched the brutality of their male colleagues, at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Bergen, Germany, on April 21, 1945. (AP Photo/British Official Photo)
A Soviet woman, busy cleaning a field where shells had recently fallen, shows her fist to German prisoners of war being led by Soviet guards, Ukrainian SSR, February 14, 1944. (AP Photo)
Susie Bain poses for a photograph with her 1943 portrait in Austin, Texas on June 19, 2009. During World War II, Bain served in the Women's Air Force Pilot Service. On March 10, 2010, more than 200 living members of the Women's Air Force Pilot Service were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. (AP Photo/Austin American Statesman, Ralph Barrera)
The countries participating in World War II made every effort to win. Many women voluntarily enlisted in the armed forces or performed traditional male jobs at home, in factories, and at the front. They did not have the opportunity to visit beauty salons or leaf through a catalog of wedding dresses. Women worked in factories and government organizations, and were active members of resistance groups and auxiliary units.
Relatively few women fought directly on the front line, but many became victims of bombing and suffered during the fighting, writes hvylya.org. By the end of the war, more than 2 million women worked in the military industry, hundreds of thousands voluntarily went to the front as nurses or enlisted in the army. In the USSR alone, about 800 thousand women served in military units on an equal basis with men.
We present to the readers of Istoricheskaya Pravda photographs that tell about what the women who took an active part in the fighting of the Second World War had to endure and endure.
The symbol of the defense of Sevastopol was the Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko. According to confirmed data, by the end of the war, 309 Germans died at her hands. Pavlichenko is considered the most successful female sniper in history.
Film director Leni Riefenstahl looks through the lens of a large movie camera as she prepares to film the Reich Party Congress in Germany in 1934. These shots will be included in the film “Triumph of the Will”, shot in 1935, recognized as one of the best propaganda films in history.
Members of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) at Camp Sheck before leaving the Port of New York on February 2, 1945. This is the first contingent of black women in the WAC to be deployed to a combat area. Kneeling in the front row, from left to right: Private Rose Stone, Private Virginia Blake and Private 1st Class Marie B. Gillisspie. Second row: Private Genevieve Marshall, Technician 5th Class Fannie L. Talbert and Corporal Kelly K. Smith. Third row: Private Gladys Schuster Carter, Technician 4th Class Evelina K. Martin and Private 1st Class Theodora Palmer.
Workers inspect a partially inflated barrage balloon in New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 11, 1943. Each part of the balloon must be stamped by the worker who performed that particular piece of work, then by the unit inspector, and finally by the chief inspector, who gives final confirmation.
Army nurses at Fort Jay Hospital are trained to use gas masks as a form of protection as skyscrapers loom through clouds of gas, Governors Island, New York, November 27, 1941.
Art students make quick sketches of war propaganda posters in Port Washington, New York, on July 8, 1942. The original drawings hang on the wall in the background.
A group of Jewish resistance fighters arrested by SS soldiers in April/May 1943. The photo was taken during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
During the conscription campaign, a large number of girls joined the Luftwaffe. They replace men deployed to the front lines to fight Allied forces. Pictured: girls training with men from the Luftwaffe, Germany, December 7. 1944.
Specially selected female pilots from the Women's Auxiliary Air Surveillance Service (WAAF) are trained in police duties. The main requirements are intelligence, intelligence, observation. Along with men, girls undergo intensive training at the RAF police school. Every man should know "his place" - a demonstration of self-defense techniques by a WAAF employee, January 15, 1942.
During the war, the first group of female guerrillas was formed in the Philippines. In the photo, women trained in the local auxiliary troops are trained in rifle shooting in Manila, November 8, 1941.
Italian partisans are virtually unknown outside their homeland, although they have been fighting fascism since 1927. They fought for freedom in the most dangerous conditions. Their enemies were the Germans and the fascist Italians, and their battlefield was the snow- and ice-covered mountain peaks on the border between France and Italy. Photo: A schoolteacher from the Aosta Valley fights alongside her husband in the "White Patrol" just above the strategic fortification of Little Saint Bernard in Italy, January 4, 1945.
Demonstration of the capabilities of the Women's Defense Corps in Gloucester, Massachusetts, November 14, 1941. Using jets of water from crossed fire hoses, the girls formed the letter “V”, which means “Victory”.
A nurse bandages the hand of a Chinese soldier during the battle at the Salween River front in Yunnan province, June 22, 1943. Another wounded man was brought by a friend for medical assistance.
Workers wipe down the noses of organic A-20J bombers at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Long Beach, California, October 1942.
Illustration of safety violations when working on a machine by women with long hair (pictured is Hollywood actress Veronica Lake), America, November 9, 1943.
At the alarm, anti-aircraft gunners from the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) run towards anti-aircraft installations, a suburb of London, May 20, 1941.
German anti-aircraft troops use field communications.
Young Soviet women tractor drivers from Kyrgyzstan successfully replaced their husbands, brothers and fathers who had gone to the front. In the photo: a tractor driver harvests sugar beets, August 26, 1942.
Paul Titus, 77, an aerial observer for Bucks County, Pennsylvania, holds a shotgun and surveys her property, December 20, 1941. Titus volunteered the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to her, she is ready to take up arms at any time.
Polish women in steel helmets and military uniforms march through the streets of Warsaw, ready to defend the capital after German troops invaded Poland, September 16, 1939.
Nurses clear away rubble in one of the wards of the dilapidated St. Peter's Hospital on the East Side, London, April 19, 1941. During a massive enemy air raid on the British capital, four hospitals were damaged by bombs, among other buildings.
Life magazine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, in flight gear, stands near an Allied Flying Fortress aircraft during her assignment in February 1943.
German soldiers lead Polish women to the execution site in the forest, 1941.
Despite the cold, girls from Northwestern University practice rifle marksmanship on the Evanston, Illinois campus on January 11, 1942. From left to right: Jeanne Paul, 18, of Oak Park, Illinois, Virginia Paisley, 18, and Maria Walsh, 19, of Lakewood, Ohio, Sarah Robinson, 20, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, Elizabeth Cooper, 17, of Chicago and 17-year-old Harriet Ginsberg.
Paramedics undergo gas mask training - one of many types of training for new recruits - on the grounds of a hospital while awaiting deployment to permanent deployment in Wales, May 26, 1944.
Film actress Ida Lupino, a lieutenant in the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps, sits at a telephone switchboard in Brentwood, California, January 3, 1942. In an emergency, she can contact all ambulance posts in the city. The switchboard is located in her house, from where she can see all of Los Angeles. 
The first contingent of American nurses sent to an allied forward base in New Guinea marches toward the camp with their supplies, November 12, 1942. First four girls from right to left: Edith Whittaker of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Ruth Boucher of Wooster, Ohio, Helen Lawson of Athens, Tennessee, and Juanita Hamilton of Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Almost all members of the US House of Representatives listen to Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of the Chinese generalissimo, who asks that every effort be made to stop the Japanese advance. Photo taken in Washington, D.C., February 18, 1943.
Paramedics disembarked from landing craft walk along the beach in Normandy, July 4, 1944. They head to a field hospital to treat wounded Allied soldiers.
A French man and woman fire a German-made gun during a battle between French militia and military units against German invaders in Paris in August 1944, shortly before the liberation of the French capital. 
A man and woman, members of the French Interior Troops, disarm a wounded German during a street skirmish shortly before the Allied army entered Paris in 1944. 
Trial of Elizabeth "Lilo" Gloeden. She is accused of participating in the July 1944 attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler. Elizabeth, along with her husband and mother, was found guilty of hiding a member of the plot on July 20. All three were beheaded on November 30, 1944. Their execution was widely publicized and served as a warning to those who were planning to conspire against the German ruling party.
Romanian civilians, men and women, dig anti-tank ditches in the border area, preparing to repel the Soviet advance.
Jean Pitkaity, a nurse with a New Zealand medical unit in Libya, wore special goggles to protect her eyes from sand, June 18, 1942. 
62nd Stalingrad Army (8th Guards Army of General Chuikov) on the streets of Odessa. A large group of Soviet soldiers, including two women in front, march down the street, April 1944.
A resistance girl takes part in an operation to locate German snipers still hiding in Paris, France, August 29, 1944. Two days earlier, this girl shot two German soldiers.
French patriots cut the hair of the Grande Guillot collaborator from Normandy, July 10, 1944. The man on the right watches the woman's suffering, not without pleasure. 
Women and children liberated by the British huddle in a barracks at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, April 1945. They were among more than 40,000 concentration camp prisoners suffering from dysentery, starvation and typhus.
SS women, equal in cruelty to their male colleagues, at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Bergen, Germany, April 21, 1945. 
A Soviet woman, busy cleaning a field where shells had just recently fallen, shows a fig to German prisoners of war being led by Soviet guards, Ukrainian SSR, February 14, 1944.
Susie Bain poses for a photograph with her 1943 portrait in Austin, Texas on June 19, 2009. During World War II, Bain served in the Women's Air Force Pilot Service. On March 10, 2010, more than 200 living members of the Women's Air Force Pilot Service were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.