Auxiliary Territorial Service cadre course, Sarafand, Palestine, 1942

Photograph, World War Two, Middle East (1939-1945), 1942.

Just before Christmas 1941, the formation of the Palestine Auxiliary Territorial Service (PATS) was announced. In January 1942, training began for around 60 women to become officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) at the newly established depot in Sarafand, under Senior Commander (later Lieutenant Colonel) Helen Pine. At the end of this course, in March 1942, recruitment started for other ranks. The PATS was open to all women in Palestine, irrespective of their ethnicities and origins. Many Jewish women from Mandatory Palestine joined, as did some Arab women, along with many refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe, including Poles, Czechs, Russians, Romanians and German Jews.

From an album of compiled by Chief Commander Audrey Troyte Chitty, relating to the Auxiliary Territorial Service, 1939-1946.

Audrey Chitty (1897-1979) became one of the first officers in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Shortly after the outbreak World War Two (1939-1945), she was appointed Assistant Director, ATS, Eastern Command Headquarters.