Friday, August 13, 2021

Wednesday August 13, 1941. Dominion Women At War.

The Canadian Army Women's Corps was created by the Canadian government on this day in 1941.  It was an auxiliary of the Army, not officially part of it, until 1942.


On the same day, coincidentally, the Australian Women's Army Service was also started.


The creation of both organizations reflected the growing manpower shortage in both countries as wartime service stretched their capacities to fully staff and man their military structures.  At the time, neither country had resorted to conscription to fill their armed forces.  Indeed, in both countries the restrictions on the service of conscripts would always be considerably more extensive than they were in the United States during the war.

Both organizations utilized women in administrative and support roles.  The recruitment of women for military service for the second time in twenty years clearly pointed towards a more permanent role for them in the military in the future.

In the US, the Administration suspended the eight-hour work day for mechanics and laborers employed by the War Department in order to speed the construction of military installations.  And Ford Motors introduced a plastic body demonstrator automobile.

On the same day, the German occupation authorities in the Baltic ordered the codification of all property belonging to Jews.

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