During the Second World War, a large number of women were employed in Birmingham’s factories and mills to compensate for the absence of men who were called up for military service. Birmingham women quickly began to learn men’s professions, which was very important. After all, the majority of enterprises began to work for military needs, supporting military production.
In particular, such companies as Cadbury’s, British Small Arms Company and Austin Motors. As you know, even Spitfires pistols were also manufactured at the Castle Bromwich factory. All of these companies employed women during the war, and you can find out about other industries in which Birmingham women were active during the Second World War at birminghamyes.com.
Women narrowboat builders
At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, many of the Birmingham men who ran canal boats naturally enlisted in the army. At the same time, it became clear that there was no one to work on canal boats, which could carry various supplies such as coal or food. That’s why the Ministry of Military Transport turned to women for help.
During the war, a decree on National Service was issued, according to which unmarried ladies who were not working at military enterprises were obliged to voluntarily attend any military work that involved women from all walks of life, aged 18 to 35. One of these jobs was pilotage on the Birmingham canals. It was voluntary.
Many of the women who volunteered to sail narrow boats on the canals, of course, had no experience in steering. However, as it turned out, experience was not necessary. The main thing was to attend a six-week course, where they were taught the wisdom of boat handling, knowledge of locks, loading and unloading cargo, and the geography of the canals.
In the beginning, about a hundred Birmingham ladies started their training. However, only half as many graduated, only 45 women. So the first trainees started working in May 1942. The need for such boats is evidenced by the facts. These boats could carry up to 50 tonnes of goods, i.e., necessary items and supplies, at a time. In those wartime times, it was mostly steel. But the boats were ready to carry cement, grain, flour and other foodstuffs.
What were the duties of the newly minted boat women? Firstly, they sailed along the canal in both directions, in both directions, for a “business trip” lasting from two to three weeks, including two or three days of unpaid leave, which was offered at the end of each trip. In fact, the work was very hard, especially for a woman, and the days were very long.
The living conditions during the trips were no less austere. Women pilots lived in tiny huts. They were not given any additional rations, unlike their fellow countrywomen who replaced male workers during the Second World War. A woman could earn £3 a week. It so happened that women narrow boaters were coached by other women. The two main coaches were Daphne French and Kit Greyford.
Why the channels
At that time, the canals never employed more than eleven crews at a time, it was an unwritten rule. To popularize this task, one of the many women’s crews became a kind of propaganda for women narrow boaters. In addition, it was these women from Birmingham who inspired the 1944 film, Painted Boats. This team also reported to ministry officials and was featured in the Pathe News film. Several women narrow boaters have written books about their work on the canals.
In the end, these Birmingham women not only did a vital job for the city and the country, making an invaluable contribution to the victory. They also proved all those who doubted their ability to cope with such a difficult task wrong. It is well known that there were such pessimists among the officials of some companies. One of them said in 1941, in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, that he had great doubts that women could be strong enough.
“Six and three eights”
During the Second World War, women performed less difficult tasks, but this did not make their work any less significant and important. In 1945, the warehouses and hangars of the military post office in Birmingham looked like makeshift children’s homes for storing piles of unopened messages and forgotten memorabilia that had not yet found their recipients.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that it affected the psychological state of the soldiers. After all, not receiving mail from home, from relatives, in a timely manner destroyed the morale of the soldier. But it was very difficult to influence the situation, as the shortage of staff in the army postal department was not unusual. Despite numerous requests for additional skilled workers, chaos and confusion in the postal system persisted.
Therefore, in 1943, the Women’s Army Corps was created in the United States. These women were trained for combat, they learnt to crawl like Scouts, jump over ditches, march and be able to distinguish between the American Winchester M12 rifle and the German Karabiner 98b rifle. Another feature of this unit was that it was made up of black women soldiers.
In February 1945, after a dangerous journey across the ocean, through German submarines, the unit arrived in Birmingham. What they saw might have made others flee, but not these men. In the cold, dark warehouses were forgotten packages and letters stacked almost to the ceiling. The rats, however, did open some packages, from which rotten sweets fell out.
“The Sixth Three Eighths” was the official name of the battalion that arrived in Birmingham and set to work. The dark-skinned girls were not intimidated by the fact that it was winter outside and the warehouses were quite chilly. They alternated between grueling eight-hour shifts to clean up the post office and ensure that the delivery of mail to the military continued uninterrupted.
The task was completed
The first achievement of the women was the development of a military personnel tracking system, which solved the problem of soldiers with the same first and last names. Other tasks included redirecting undeliverable mail and parcels, investigating misdirected mail and, perhaps most tragically, handling mail addressed to the dead.
The people of Birmingham were so fascinated by the women of the Six Three Eighters that it was commonplace for them to drop by the warehouse to check on the servicewomen. Local residents even invited the women to tea at their homes.
Unfortunately, their own military commanders were not so hospitable. Segregation and racial prejudice were still a reality. The separation of the cafeteria, recreational and residential facilities by ethnicity and gender demonstrated the obvious privileges of some over others.
One more episode of the terrible war, in which there was always a place to perform a feat. And another conclusion of that terrible war is that it changed women’s lives in terms of work, gender and racial equality, and some women felt that working during the war gave them a greater sense of independence.
Sources:
- https://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/The-Six-Triple-Eight-Proved-That-No-Role-Was-Too-Small-During-World-War-II
- https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/resources/narrowboat-women-of-wwii
- https://sheroesofhistory.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/women-factory-workers-in-birmingham-during-the-second-world-war/