WOMEN OF THE A.T.S.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 January 1943, Page 3

WOMEN OF THE A.T.S.

OPERATING SEARCHLIGHTS IN BRITAIN. WORK GAINS HIGH PRAISE. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) LONDON, January 11. Women of the A.T.S. operated searchlights entirely by themselves in several recent actions against raiders and won high praise from senior army officers. The fact that the A.T.S. were manning searchlights was kept secret for some time to enable experts to see if the experiments succeeded. They did. Volunteers were selected for their physical hardiness and high standard of intelligence They proved well capable of taking over from men the work which calls for much technical knowledge, to operate delicate instruments. After the outbreak of war, great developments occurred in the searchlight defence. It has become a science calling for great skill by all operators, and for this reason each auxiliary is trained for a particular operational job. As ureparations for the open air life, the'selected members devoted three weeks to physical training, drill and route marches. They were taken in closed lorries at night time, given maps and told to return to camp seven miles away on foot. All succeeded. Their instructors were surprised at the ease with which they learnt to handle the instruments.