Women in a shadow war

In the 21st century, many countries have started admitting women into the military in combat roles as fighter pilots and frontline soldiers in grudging recognition of their capabilities and courage.

- KANIKA DATTA

Before that, women in modern wartime played supporting roles as nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers and secretarial services at command headquarters on the battlefield and in keeping factories and the home front running behind it (guerrilla movements were, of course, the exception). In the two world wars of the 20th century, for instance, their sterling contributions eventually created the glacial move towards women's suffrage in Europe and the US, and a recognition of women's rights as a legitimate aspiration.

*I am Not Afraid of Looking into the Rifles* celebrates that spirit by portraying eight women who ran resistance networks in German-occupied Belgium and France during World War I.

These women came from widely differing backgrounds -- the Belgian aristocracy, nurses, governesses, housewives and shop girls. From sheltering Allied soldiers and helping them to safety, to creating networks to provide invaluable intelligence on logistics and troop movements by the German military and much more, they played often unsung roles in the horrific battles on the Western Front.

They were not heroes in the conventional understanding of the term. In portraying them, Rick Stroud writes, he wants "to show what the individual can do when faced with apparently overwhelming odds. In so doing, they set a very high moral standard for us all to live up to". Certainly, all of these women knew the risks of the path they chose, foreshadowing their sisters in another great war a quarter-century later. Several were treated brutally by the Germans when they were caught and jailed, and some were executed.