"Northern France, Summer 1915: A lone 19-year-old Englishwoman cycles through the war torn French countryside a dozen miles from Paris, provoking plenty of comment ("Not a nurse? Not a uniformed worker, then why here?"). Aspiring journalist Dorothy Lawrence hoped to prove herself by investigating the war at first hand.
Dorothy had volunteered herself as a war-correspondent, only to be fobbed off by sneering editors: "do you suppose we're going to send a woman out there when even our own war-correspondents can't get out for love or money." Undeterred, she decided to prove them wrong: "I'll see what an ordinary English girl, without credentials or money can accomplish. If war correspondents cannot get out there, I'll go one better," and set out across the Channel.
In Paris Dorothy chose her "first two male assistants," two English soldiers with "lonesome expressions…who badly needed a bit of home," in a café. She somehow persuaded them to smuggle her a uniform, piece by piece, with their washing. "We don't mind helping you kiddy," said one, adding, "You'll never get near enough to be in danger." Later Dorothy recalled the willingness of soldiers to help her: "Ten men eventually shared in this exploit. All gave me help owing to the fact that I behaved like one of their own naughty schoolgirls, and only later I realised how splendidly these man had behaved."…"
From here
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Chapeaux for the brave lady!
Amicalement
Armand
dips his toe into the Russo-Japanese War.
