WE SERVE [Main Title]

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Media files

  • Title: WE SERVE [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WOY 32
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: A training film made to be shown to officers of the ATS, illustrating the recruitment and training of the ATS and portraying various situations which officers might have to deal with.
  • Description: Reel 1 Newsreel footage: brooding skies give way to a car drawing up and Hitler and Chamberlain get out. They walk up steps with another man. The commentary states 'September 1938…as long ago as the Munich Conference when war was only threatened, a possible need was foreseen and the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service came into being.' A woman walks past a chalked sign for the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. A group of women in hats and coats walk through the gates, 'volunteers for the women's army'. Women seated at typewriters, one woman stands up and covers her typewriter, illustrating women leaving their civilian occupations. A woman carries a suitcase and kisses her friends goodbye as she leaves a building. Another woman gets out of a taxi helped by a doorman, a porter touches his cap in greeting, she carries a suitcase and clutch bag. A woman in uniform walks away from Hobart House. A woman in a headscarf reads a poster notice 'Registration for Employment Order, 1941. Notice to women born in the year 1922. Requirement to Register at Local Offices of the Ministry of Labour and National Service on 11th April, 1942…' Women queueing at desks to register for war work. A boy and a girl running in a suburban street of semi-detached houses. 'From every type of home they come…' In a different street a man pushes a cart past a woman with a pram and several young children, washing hangs in the street. View of a large country manor house. Men and women wave off young women from a departing train. 01:16 A woman in uniform drives an army truck with another woman beside her. A group of new recruits wave from the back of the truck as it drives into the training base. The smiling new arrivals are helped off the truck one by one by two ATS women as the commentary introduces them: 'Here are the willing, the reluctant, the clever, the thinker and the scatterbrain.' A blonde woman is measured up by an ATS sergeant (wearing three chevrons) as others wait their turn. Women doing physical training, jumping and team sports with a ball. The women in a games room, playing table tennis and Shove Ha'penny. Women being inspected on parade. Marching practice. A woman rides a motorbike, another climbs into a truck. Women working at a switchboard. Teamwork is illustrated by a group of women using equipment including telescopes and range finders. Close up of women operating a range finder. Women work in the kitchens wearing caps and aprons. Women in a dormitory making their beds, tests of 'domestic qualities'. Women carrying boxes into a dining room full of women seated at tables. The commentary states: 'The main responsibility for making a force worthy of our country rests with the officers of the ATS'. Jean Knox, Chief Controller and Director, ATS is seated at a table, with another woman opposite her, writing. A group of officers around a table. Close up of a brass button stick used to protect a uniform from polish when cleaning buttons. A group of fledging ATS recruits in their pyjamas, one is reading to the others. A group of women marching. Inspection parade. Close up of woman holding booklet 'Regulations for the Auxiliary Territorial Service 1941.' Group of officers walking past a truck by a field. 'Every day problems confront the officer which range from matters of national importance to the merest trivialities.' Groups of women marching on a parade ground. 'For although these women are helping to make history, their lives are still greatly affected by triviality.' 02:51 A recruit (played by Penelope Dudley-Ward) tosses her head defiantly declaring 'I will not have my hair cut short!' and tells her superior officer to mind her own business. The rebel marching with three others is stopped by her officer who takes her cap and gloves away, throws them on the ground and adjusts her hair. The women march into a hut. Close up of a charge sheet, detailing that Private J M Ward is on a charge at Merton for 'Section 40 Army Act – conduct to the prejudice of discipline.' Close up of a hand writing 'Admonished' as Punishment Awarded on the form with a fountain pen. The women march out of the hut. Private Ward retrieves her cap and gloves. The women salute and are dismissed. Another recruit passes and asks her how she got on. Private Ward is called back into the hut to see the Company Commander to explain her reluctance to cut her hair: 'My boyfriend likes long hair.' The CO praises her as a promising driver and tells her that complete smartness is essential, and that long hair is not safe for driving. The scene fades to an imaginary scenario of Private Ward driving on a windy day, she takes the hair out of her eyes and cannot see the road properly. View of the forked road and a stationary cyclist. She loses control of the car and the car swerves. Sound of the car crashing. Fade back to the CO's office, and she reluctantly acknowledges the argument for short hair. 05:00 Two women carry a washing basket past Private Ward as she adjusts her hair in the reflection of a car window. An ATS colleague hands her a piece of paper and tells her that she looks different. She admits to having had her hair cut and that her boyfriend actually prefers it short. She salutes as two officers climb into the back of her car, closes the door for them then gets into the driving seat and drives off. 'So one of many small difficulties is overcome…But the voice of authority speaks to many different kinds of people and has to adapt its tone to their various temperaments and characters.' 05:54 A woman in overalls and headscarf on her knees scrubs a wooden floor; view of a woman's uniform skirt and shoes as she walks over the floor saying sarcastically 'Pardon me, Orderly'. The orderly (Dixon) stands up and slaps the ATS auxiliary in uniform, Rose Bostock (played by Googie Withers). The orderly stands in front of a desk, telling an officer 'It's not that I mind scrubbing ma'am, I like it, but I don't like them office girls walking over my floor as if it belongs to them.' The officer reminds her that 'wearing that uniform is a privilege…but it's also a responsibility'. The interview over, the officer looks thoughtful and decides to speak to Private Bostock. Bostock is summoned as she sits typing. The officer explains that 'the orderlies have a hard and sometimes a thankless job – try and make things as pleasant for them as you can.' Private Bostock is suitably admonished. Bostock later approaches Dixon (now in uniform) in the grounds and they walk off together good-naturedly. 'So a spirit of friendship takes the place of anger and hurt feelings.' The officer watches and smiles at the scene as a group of ATS auxiliaries walk past. Reel 2 Two officers walk into the Officers' Mess. The ATS Director Jean Knox addresses the officers as they sit and stand around the room, some smoking. She speaks of the role of the officer in dealing with the ATS. 'Very few of us I imagine entered the ATS for love of the uniform or accepted a commission out of personal ambition.' Close ups of several officers listening, including those played by Celia Johnson (who sits smoking – she is later referred to as Cargill); Peggy Ashcroft (holding The Daily Telegraph, playing Ann), Joyce Carey (the Medical Officer) and Ann Todd (character name unspecified). 01:56 The four officers walk into a sitting room and discuss the Director's talk. A woman brings in a tray of tea and they drink as they talk. Ann Todd knits, Cargill smokes and Peggy Ashcroft (Ann) reads out a crossword clue. Ann takes her glasses off. They discuss what the army expects from the women who serve. Ann believes that their job as officers is to maintain discipline at all costs. 'We're here to see they do their work. You don't find men fussing around like a lot of old hens.' Cargill lights another cigarette with a lighter. The Medical Officer opens a copy of The Lady. They discuss what qualities are necessary for women in the army. Cargill says the most important thing is to have 'a sense of proportion'. Ann calls them all 'sentimentalists' and leaves the room, picking up her hat, gloves and bag from a hook outside. The narration warns that 'this keen officer with high ideals of industry and efficiency 'was to find that these qualities were not enough. 04:34 Ann is seated at a desk with an ATS auxiliary (Sidley) who is struggling with secretarial work because she is feeling ill, according to another sympathetic ATS. The officer says she cannot take her temperature as that is the job of the Medical Officer and sends her out to the MO, despite the bad weather and long walk involved. She refuses to let the other woman accompany her. Sidley struggles in the pouring rain and looks distressed. 06:19 Sidley lies in bed with her eyes closed as the MO listens to her chest with a stethoscope. Ann joins fellow officers for breakfast the next morning. The table is set with crockery, teapots and teacups. They inform her Sidley is 'frightfully ill' with pneumonia and ask why she sent her out in the rain. The MO hangs up her cap and enters the sitting room where Ann is standing by a window. The MO lights a cigarette and rearranges flowers in a vase as they discuss the sick woman. The MO admits that Ann acted strictly in accordance with the regulations but accuses her of 'lack of imagination'. Ann looks crestfallen. The narration reiterates that 'high ideals of industry and efficiency are not enough without imagination and human understanding.' Reel 3 Cargill enters Ann Todd's room and asks for a nail file. AT sits on the bed brushing her hair. They discuss the sick woman, Sidley, and Cargill stresses the need to keep a sense of proportion when dealing with the ATS women in their care. The narration refers to the AT character as 'a young officer full of promise, sensitive and gifted with imagination. But when promotion brought increased responsibility, she found it difficult to keep a sense of proportion.' 01:10 ATS women walk past the Headquarters building. AT prepares tea for her superior officer as they discuss the requisitioning of the building. A young private (played by Esme or Esma Cannon) knocks and enters and AT directs her to the cigarettes kept in a box. She takes a cigarette and leaves. The superior officer asks AT to explain the reasons for this. Flashback to the private peeling vegetables, she looks frightened when AT approaches her. Cut to the present, AT and the officer drink tea and she explains that the private came from a violent background and is frightened of authority figures. Another flashback to the private begging not to be sent home for being absent without authorisation. The officer asks AT about the cigarette. In another flashback the private takes cigarettes from a coat hanging on the door as she sweeps the floor. She sees that AT has seen her, and cowers. AT tells her to put the cigarette packet back, and assures her that nobody will hurt her. 04:28 Back in the present, AT tells the officer that she allows the private to take one of her own cigarettes whenever she feels tempted to steal one. The officer advises that the young woman should be referred to the psychiatrist and that she should not get so involved with the problems of individual women under her command, but keep a sense of proportion. AT replies that Cargill said the same thing. The superior officer remembers Cargill in the Blitz – flashback to London under air raids, and Cargill smoking a cigarette at the entrance to a shelter for the ARP. She lights a lantern, walks past her ARP colleagues and pours out water from a pitcher. She drinks from a mug and offers it to her companion in a bunk, who smiles and shakes her head. She holds the hand of a woman sleeping in one of the bunks and smiles as another woman moves her ARP helmet over her face as she tries to sleep. 07:25 Cargill puts on her helmet and walks up steps back to the street. 'And so it went on till dawn.' A view of bombed London, ARP men searching through rubble. Women working in a kitchen. The Colonel (played by Brefni O'Rorke) enters and sits down with other officers. He presumes there will only be cold food as there is no gas. He is surprised to be offered tea and coffee by an ATS auxiliary. Another ATS hands him a plate of sausages and bacon. He stands up and leaves his seat. In the kitchen, Cargill is trying to fix a lightbulb. The women are improvising in various ingenious ways – one heats a pan on an iron between two bricks, another uses a toaster to heat food. Cargill dishes up sausages. Unseen, the Colonel walks into the kitchen and observes the women at work. The women gradually notice him and stand to attention, apart from Cargill who is too busy cooking. She finally notices him and stands to attention. She follows him as he inspects the work being done, and he notices his heater being used to cook, and an electric iron being used for the same purpose. 'Who designed this outfit, Heath Robinson?' He thanks her as one of the contraptions hisses and breaks, and they share a smile. 10:15 Jean Knox, Commander of the ATS speaks to camera. She talks about the need to serve, over scenes of plough horses in a field, the Houses of Parliament and the ATS marching in a parade ground. 'These women will one day teach their children in times of peace lessons they have learned from us in time of war…' Final closing scenes of the ATS marching.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WOY 32
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: Film: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-07-1942-07
  • Production Country:GB GB
  • Production Details:Directorate of Army Kinematography (Production sponsor) Verity Films (Production company) Reed, Carol (Production individual) Tanner, Peter (Production individual) Johnson, Celia (Production cast) Todd, Ann (Production cast) Carey, Joyce (Production cast) Ashcroft, Edith Margaret Emily (Production cast) Dudley Ward, Penelope (Production cast) Withers, Googie (Production cast) Cannon, Esma (Production cast) O'Rorke, Brefni (Production cast) Knox. Jean (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details:35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 3 Footage: 2635 ft; Running time: 30 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WOY 32

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