'ATS Carry the Messages', 1941 (c)

Colour photolithograph by Beverley Pick, published by HM Stationery Office, 1941 (c).

A photographic montage of an Auxiliary Territorial Force (ATS) motorcycle despatch rider with a dramatic backdrop of German Air Force Heinkel III bombers in a cloudy night sky.

The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was established in 1938 as the threat of war increased. After initial training, recruits were asked to carry out trade tests to establish which area they should go into. Experience in civilian life was usually crucial. For example, if a woman had been a typist she would be assigned clerical duties. During the course of the war the range of duties undertaken by the ATS expanded and women worked as motorcycle despatch riders, telephonists, drivers, mess orderlies, butchers, bakers, postal workers, ammunition inspectors and military police.

The photograph of the female motorcyclist is of an ATS Motorcycle Messenger receiving instructions at anj ATS training centre at Camberley.