Epigraph
In valour, devotion to duty: Queen of Spies, 242.
I do not feel: Lines of Fire, 156.
Introduction
To-day has been far too exciting: Chronicle of Youth, 84.
Extracts from the writing of Vera Brittain are reproduced by permission of Mark Bostridge and T. J. Brittain-Catlin, literary executors for the Vera Brittain Estate 1970.
Men whose mobilization: Condemned to Death, xi.
We are elated: With the Armies of the Tsar, 21.
In those days: Contacts and Contrasts, 21.
I was adamant: Lights Out, 10.
The [German] women: With Old Glory in Berlin, 71.
While the Italian: Lines of Fire, 121.
The [German] people: With Old Glory in Berlin, 131.
The memory of the Franco-Prussian War: Condemned to Death, ix.
I imagine that Austria will not: Hilltop on the Marne, 37–38.
Men from these nations fought: While much of the fighting on the eastern front took place in Poland, it was not technically a country at the time. During the war Poles were forced to fight one another when they were conscripted into the armies of Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. Poland was given its independence and made into its own nation at the war’s end.
Part I: Resisters
From the day when: War Memories, viii.
The fate: Lines of Fire, 17.
Nothing can describe: War Memories, 17.
The English spied: Spies of the First World War, 25.
invasion plots: Spies, 26–28.
causing the deaths of 50,000: Female Intelligence, 130.
spy “H-21”: Female Intelligence, 129.
from nine all the way to 81: Spies, 162.
Shall this war of extermination go on?: Lines of Fire, 28.
I wish she wouldn’t: To End All Wars, 45.
war corrupted motherhood: Women and the First World War, 87.
Edith Cavell
There are two sides to war: Souhami, Edith Cavell, 164.
three hospitals … 13 kindergartens: http://edithcavell.org.uk, Ryder, 72–73.
We wait for England: Ryder, Edith Cavell, 83.
Die Cavell müss: Silent in an Evil Time, 88; Ryder, Edith Cavell, 164.
If we are arrested: Souhami, Edith Cavell, 255.
I wish you hadn’t: War Memories, 127.
Then we cannot: War Memories, 128.
conducting soldiers: Ryder, Edith Cavell, 180; Souhami, Edith Cavell, 326.
My aim: Souhami, Edith Cavell, 328.
her bright, gentle: Ryder, Edith Cavell, 213.
Standing as I do: Souhami, Edith Cavell, 372.
Don’t think of me: http://edithcavell.org.uk.
Je meurs: Souhami, Edith Cavell, 377.
Germany has placed: Condemned to Death, 169.
Louise Thuliez
How mistaken: Condemned to Death, vii.
Don’t worry: Condemned, xi.
We could not warn: Condemned, 53.
Madame LeJeune: Condemned, 111.
Endlich, endlich: Condemned, 112.
no “chief”: Condemned, 135–136.
Because I am a Frenchwoman: Condemned, 136.
I am afraid: Condemned, 148.
far too proud: Condemned, 175.
Emilienne Moreau
six-foot-long cylinders: To End All Wars, 163.
strange beings: Héroines de la Grande Guerre, 114.
would have dispatched: Héroines de la Grande Guerre, 125.
Gabrielle Petit
Considering I have: Gabrielle Petit, 189.
helpful friend: Gabrielle Petit, 195.
We will be separated: Gabrielle Petit, 206.
At no time: Gabrielle Petit, 217.
My country!: Gabrielle Petit, 217.
I am Belgian: Gabrielle Petit, 250.
Just try it: Héroines de la Grande Guerre, 222.
I do not fear you: Héroines de la Grande Guerre, 224.
I will not: Héroines de la Grande Guerre, 224.
Marthe Cnockaert
Because I am a woman: I Was a Spy!, 8.
The Germans: I Was a Spy!, 11.
More than 1,000: Beauty and the Sorrow, 176.
Marthe, would you: I Was a Spy!, 39.
If my daughter: I Was a Spy!, 39.
A spy needs: I Was a Spy!, 44.
Already you have gained: I Was a Spy!, 157.
this was war: I Was a Spy!, 156.
I am going: I Was a Spy!, 161.
I look on myself: I Was a Spy!, 270–271.
Louise de Bettignies
We have thousands: Queen of Spies, 241.
Madame, before your foot: Résistante Lilloise, 99.
My child: Résistante Lilloise, 52.
I … was ready: Story of Louise de Bettignies, 50.
One just had to: Story of Louise, 51.
They are too stupid: Story of Louise, 78.
Bah! I know: Story of Louise, 86.
Danger does not … Yes, just like: Story of Louise, 93.
But we showed: Story of Louise, 142.
Until France: Story of Louise, 205.
The services: Story of Louise, 97.
Part II: Medical Personnel
Faster than … Short Rations, 56
Think of all the youth: Lines of Fire, 228.
fewer than 4,000 nurses: “Sisters of Mercy in Russia’s Great War.”
about 92,000 Germans: Women in the First World War, 39.
If we had been nursing: Alice Kitchen Diary, May 5, 1915.
This has been a dreadful: The War Diary of Clare Gass, 178–79.
The very word “wounded”: Oceans of Love, 155.
These shells make: Field Hospital and Flying Column, 136.
shocking lot of casualties: Alice Kitchen Diary, May 6, 1915.
A very fierce German attack: Field Hospital and Flying Column, 172.
In Scotland they: The Quality of Mercy, 45.
done more: Elsie Inglis, 26.
My good lady: Dr. Elsie Inglis, 156.
The need is there: Elsie Inglis, 37.
But of course: Shadow of Swords, 153.
the enemy hospital: The Quality of Mercy, 161.
If it is a matter … make me: Shadow of Swords, 159.
Olive King
That first winter: Letters of Olive King, 20.
the third woman … the first woman: Letters of Olive King, 2.
send me a sorrow: Letters of Olive King, 2.
I sometimes feel: Letters of Olive King, 9.
in the thick of things: Letters of Olive King, 24.
making the workers feel: Letters of Olive King, 34.
I always feel: Letters of Olive King, 51.
soldiers from Serbia, France: The Beauty and the Sorrow, 331.
too dreadful: Letters of Olive King, 58.
Helena Gleichen
We are cleverer: Contacts and Contrasts, 192.
We are lucky: Contacts, 197.
Badly wounded men: Contacts, 243.
You can’t pass: Contacts, 244.
as if [they] had been boys: Contacts, 21
very badly needed: Contacts, 125.
more than one million: Marie Curie and Her Daughters, 27.
no women: Contacts, 126.
suspiciously close: Contacts, 138.
not looking: Contacts, 190.
bustle and noise: Contacts, 208.
Soldiers here present: Contacts, 247.
Home Defence Corps: Contacts, x.
Banners streamed: Diary and Recollections of Shirley Millard, 1.
world must be made safe: Woodrow Wilson asking congress for a declaration of war against Germany, April 2, 1917. Woodrow Wilson Presidential eLibrary (woodrowwilson.org/library-archives)
We are all thrilled: Diary and Recollections, 3.
Inside, all was confusion: Diary and Recollections, 6–7.
Gashes from bayonets: Diary and Recollections, 8.
La gloire: Diary and Recollections, 9.
They were grinning: Diary and Recollections, 25.
Such gallantry: Diary and Recollections, 46.
somewhat wearily: Diary and Recollections, 48.
Bien, bien!: Diary and Recollections, 49.
My heart is sick: Diary and Recollections, 64.
a jumble: Diary and Recollections, 66.
someone good: Diary and Recollections, 68.
once again beating: Diary and Recollections, 68.
his friends and their mothers: Diary and Recollections, 68.
Part III: Soldiers
Once at the front: Lines of Fire, 155–56.
“Do you like short hair?”: Red Heart of Russia, 106.
I want to shed: Lines of Fire, 20.
There is one thing: Oceans of Love, 66.
The dirt, the flies: Red Heart of Russia, 83.
I asked one man: Alice Kitchen Diary,entry for May 11, 1915.
They were not individual: Cossack Girl, 87.
women … in the armies of Austria-Hungary: Germany in Wartime, 280–81.
Close to 1,000 Russian women: They Fought for the Motherland, 30.
Women can fight: Red Heart of Russia, 114.
Is there any: American Women in World War I, 1.
The soul of the army: Red Heart of Russia, 107.
75 male officers and 300 fighting men: Yashka: My Life, 209.
Our soldiers were retreating: Yashka, 70.
Men and women citizens!: Yashka, 159–60.
a great human sacrifice: Red Heart, 101.
My reasons are so many: Red Heart, 101.
What else is left: Red Heart, 102.
Don’t be cowards!: Yashka, 206.
Ha, ha! The women: Yashka, 211.
36 were wounded: They Fought for the Motherland, 111.
Good God! Women!: Motherland, 110.
battalion provided: Motherland, 111.
we were carried away: Red Heart, 110.
Flora Sandes
Little did I imagine: Autobiography of a Woman Soldier, 9.
duck to water: Fine Brother, 152.
Hourra! Hourra!: Autobiography of a Woman Soldier, 61.
tougher and more practical: Fine Brother, 36.
There are others: Fine Brother, 16.
Serbian soldier prides himself: Fine Brother, 44.
I don’t like the thought: Fine Brother, 63
Nashi Engleskinja: Autobiography of a Woman Soldier, 14.
a most glorious moonlight night: An English Woman-Sergeant, 142–43.
Shut up: Fine Brother, 161.
Marina Yurlova
Adventure lay just ahead: Cossack Girl, 14.
To arms!: Cossack Girl, 7.
Who are you: Cossack Girl, 10.
Well, Marina: Cossack Girl, 34.
great black sea of men: Cossack Girl, 35.
Russia is asking: Cossack Girl, 46–47.
I’m a Cossack!: Cossack Girl, 47.
What’s eating you: Cossack Girl, 64.
Here there was no question: Lines of Fire, 90.
being buried: Cossack Girl, 101.
had died for a cause: Cossack Girl, 117.
believed in any government: Cossack Girl, 140.
Brothers, I fought: Cossack Girl, 140–41.
Ecaterina Teodoroiu
She seemed a warrior child: Sublocotenentul Ecaterina Teodoroiu, 64.
To Jiu! To the bridge!: Sublocotenentul, 8.
complete the task: www.firstworldwar.com/source/romania_ferdinandprocl.htm.
The country is in danger: Sublocotenentul, 19.
Well done, my child: Sublocotenentul, 19.
true example for the soldiers: Sublocotenentul, 21.
If you care about me: “Copila zâmbitoare.”
Move forward, boys!: Sublocotenentul, 53.
The second lieutenant girl has died!: Sublocontenentul, 53.
I should die of grief: The Last Romantic, 192.
Part IV: Journalists
Under certain conditions: Sapper Dorothy Lawrence, 42.
The few papers: War Memories, 8.
Whatever is printed: Germany in Wartime, 100.
Mary Roberts Rinehart
I am to go to the firing line: Diary I, Mary Roberts Rinehart papers.
I had at that time: My Life, 147.
appeal that [war] makes: Improbable Fiction, 80
Let me see: Kings, Queens and Pawns, 15.
details that meant nothing: Kings, 13.
everywhere: Kings, 16.
obsessed by the injustice: Kings, 49.
That is the thing: Kings, 103.
odour of that beautiful lagoon: Kings, 124.
shaking, rocking: Diary II, 100.
If a fusée goes up: My Story, 164.
I shone like a star: Diary II, 97.
No more gallant: Diary II, 100.
I advanced: My Story, 167.
a very big … blond young man: My Story, 167
long message: King Albert interview, Mary Roberts Rinehart papers.
it would be unfair: My Story, 168
It is quite true: Kings, 56.
agony of spirit: My Story, 221.
tell people what: Improbable Fiction, 225.
Madeleine Zabriskie Doty
I packed my bags: Short Rations, 26.
all my dreams: One Women Determined to Make a Difference, 123–24.
128 Americans: The First World War, 265.
Better a thousand times: Short Rations, 32.
Don’t go to war: Short Rations, 37.
task of peace: Short Rations, 38.
with no regard for: Rosa Luxemburg, 210.
We want the truth: Short Rations, 83.
America forgets that: Short Rations, 90.
It is foolish: Short Rations, 116–117.
I shall … break: Short Rations, 120.
The funny thing about German: Short Rations, 120.
We jumped: Short Rations, 121.
I feel exactly: Short Rations, 122–23.
Never let her: Short Rations, 178.
curse on 1870: Short Rations, 204.
The Saxons hated: Silent Night, 123.
She is like a blazing comet: Short Rations, 226.
We shall live all our lives: Shadow of Swords, 97.
I believe [posterity] will be: Lines of Fire, 226.
For the first time: Testament of Youth, 463.
Stretching across the earth: Honourable Estate, 498.
The temperature has fallen: Lines of Fire, 297.
We are facing: Ordeal, 405.
We have made partners of the women: Woodrow Wilson Presidential eLibrary, www.woodrowwilson.org/library-archives.