When the men went off to the front to fight during World War II, a huge vacuum was left behind, in the family, in the workplace, and in society at large. Women soon stepped into the breach - in the factories, on the farms, in transport and public services, as well as in auxiliary military services, intelligence and espionage. Women endured the hardships of separation and rationing, as well as aerial bombardment, arrest, interrogation and perhaps imprisonment in a labour camp. Socially, women gained new skills and acquired a new sense of freedom, independence and equality, which they would take with them into the post-war world. This book is a testament to these courageous and capable women and their experience, in both Allied and Axis countries, during World War II.