ABSTRACT
Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. This time Neville Chamberlain honoured his pledge that Britain would not tolerate any more German expansionism and on 3 September he issued a declaration of war. A small British Expeditionary Force was sent to France and the navy began its six-year game of cat and mouse with German submarines round the British coast and in the Atlantic. But the scale of the war at this stage was very limited. In particular the devastating air raids on the civilian population did not materialise as predicted. Although the reaction of many women to the declaration of war was to want to do something useful, they were given few opportunities. War-oriented activity was still largely confined to women with cars, time and money who were able to rush about the counties organising the WVS, the ATS and the Land Army.
