Auxiliary Territorial Service
The Auxiliary Territorial Service was the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women’s voluntary service, and existed until 1 February 1949. Women were barred from serving in battle, but due to shortages of men, ATS members took over many support tasks.
About Auxiliary Territorial Service in brief
The Auxiliary Territorial Service was the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women’s voluntary service, and existed until 1 February 1949. The ATS had its roots in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, which was formed in 1917 as a voluntary service. During the First World War its members served in a number of jobs including clerks, cooks, telephonists and waitresses. All women in the army joined the ATS except for nurses, who joined Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. The duties of members were also expanded, seeing ATS orderlies, drivers, postal workers and ammunition inspectors. Women were barred from serving in battle, but due to shortages of men, ATS members took over many support tasks, such as radar operators, forming part of the crews of anti-aircraft guns and military police.
By 1943 about 9 out of 10 women were taking an active part in the war effort. ATS personnel were trained to operate the Cinetheodolite, with the highest number being in 1943–44, when 305 ATS were in active service using this equipment. The first ‘Mixed’ Heavy-Aircraft Artillery Battery was formed over an operational gun site in Richmond Park, south-west London in August 1941 and took over hundreds of similar units. At its height in 1943, the personnel were two-thirds of three-quarters of Anti-A aircraft Command’s HAA batteries. At the end of the war, the first ATS regiments were mixed with 21st Army Group.
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This page is based on the article Auxiliary Territorial Service published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
