Bøker av Carole McEntee-Taylor

'Those Women Who Wait' is the companion to my first book, 'Women Are Now Doing Men's Work, ' following the contributions of women to the British war effort in the First World War. The British home front played an important role in the outcome of the war which ultimately led to the signing of the Armistice in 1918, this was primarily a war of factories, and Britain was ill prepared on the outbreak of the war. Within two years, Britain had created massive industrial capacity for the production of arms and munitions, and a workforce of women to work in the factories. Here they were exposed to toxic chemicals and the dangers of highly volatile explosives. Women proved they were capable of doing jobs thought only applicable to men, they worked on Britain's farms, attended technical colleges to improve skills vital in the aero industry, rerolled as ambulance drivers, police women and in the Women's Royal Naval Service and Women's Royal Air Force. They advanced in the field of science working at Imperial College for the Trench Warfare Department. In the First World War the civilian population of the British Isles were thrust into the front line, the women took their fair share of the sacrifice, and earned the respect of the men at the front. I leave the comment of Captain Henry Gilbert Knobbs of the London Rifle Brigade, blinded during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, who perhaps spoke for many men in the firing line. 'Fighting men acknowledge it! And when your ears are no longer deafened by the cheers of others, take off your caps, fill your lungs, and cheer to the echo the real heroes of the war. All honour to the woman who waits.'

The London Rifle Brigade were part of the London Regiment, at eighty battalions, the largest Territorial Force Regiment of the Great War. Those men who enlisted in the 5th Battalion, The London Regiment, The London Rifle Brigade before the outbreak of the war were of the same educated social class, worked and socialised together and served with a self-discipline unknown to their regular army comrades. This pre- war pride in their battalion proved vital as the London Rifle Brigade went off to war in November 1914. A second and then a third battalion were formed to provide reinforcements for the first battalion as casualties mounted in 1915 and 1916. These new riflemen were enthused with the record of their comrades fighting on the Western Front, and soon the second battalion joined the first in Belgium. Although the men now were of a different social class, the spirit and discipline of the old pre- war battalion lived on for they, as well as the rest of the British Army, faced defeat in March 1918 as the German Spring Offensive might force an outcome in any peace negotiations in Germany's favour. The London Rifle Brigade would find themselves in the thick of the action once more, and in the advances of The Hundred Days which led to the Armistice in November 1918.

Port Said September 1st 1945: "As the ship pulled into Alex, the dockside was a hive of activity. The captain had radioed ahead and so there was a battalion of the Kings' African Rifles (KAR) waiting to disarm us as we disembarked. All these KAR's were standing at the order as a staff officer informed us that we were to be placed under arrest and escorted to Khartoum, here we would contemplate our mutiny for 2 years. Our battalion was still under arms; the sound of the cocking of weapons greeted the officer's threat, and a lone voice asked 'And who's going to escort the darkies?' All our officers were powerless, we had the drop on the KAR's, all that was needed was for someone to pull the trigger."A Battle Too Far is the true story of Rifleman Henry Taylor 6923581, late 7th Battalion The RifleBrigade (1st Battalion London Rifle Brigade) and is based on his diaries and recollections as told to his son Lawrence. The Foreword is by Lt-Gen Sir Christopher Wallace Chairman of The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum in Winchester.Henry's war began in October 1942 as the 2nd Battle of El Alamein commenced and continued almost non-stop for the next three years. From El Alamein to Tunisia he fought with the 8th Army as they finally pushed Rommel back to the sea.Expecting to return to Britain in preparation for D Day at the last minute plans were changed and they were ordered to Italy instead. Here they found themselves fighting for every inch of land against determined, well dug-in defenders, in conditions often resembling the trenches of WW1. Their reward? Their campaign forgotten as the world concentrated on the D Day invasion and to be called D Day Dodgers despite enduring some of the heaviest fighting of the war.As Europe celebrated VE Day, Henry's war continued as they raced to Austria to prevent Yugoslav forces annexing Carinthia in the opening shots of the Cold War. Then, as the men around him were de-mobbed, Henry and the rest of the Battalion were sent back to Egypt to protect British interests in the continuing civil unrest. Dejected and fed up it only took one incident to spark a mutiny.