Women at War: The Hidden Roles of Women in Europe’s Battlefields

-Mili Joshi

When we picture Europe’s wars, we often see lines of men in uniform. We see generals, soldiers, and politicians, nearly all male. But behind the smoke and ruins were thousands of women. Many stepped beyond the roles of nurses or caretakers. They fought, spied, resisted, and rebuilt. Their stories rarely make it into textbooks. But they shaped the history of Europe’s wars just as much as the men who fired the guns.

From Camp Followers to Frontline Fighters

Centuries ago, armies often moved with women. They cooked, washed clothes, and tended wounds. These “camp followers” were not part of the official army. But they kept it alive. They were wives, mothers, and daughters who had no choice but to follow their men to war. Some disguised themselves as men to fight.

Take the Napoleonic Wars. There are stories of women dressing as soldiers to stay close to husbands or brothers. Many were found only when wounded or killed. One well-known example is Deborah Sampson, though she was American, proof that this wasn’t only Europe’s story.

In the 19th century, wars became more organized. Armies tried to push women out of camps. But on the battlefields, their roles changed shape, not importance.

The Nurses Who Rewrote the Rules

By the Crimean War (1853–1856), nursing emerged as an accepted role for women. Florence Nightingale is the face of this shift. She showed that women could run field hospitals better than the army’s doctors. Her “Lady with the Lamp” image hides her fierce fight for clean conditions and proper supplies.

Her legacy inspired countless women during World War I and World War II. Nursing became a door to the frontlines. Women tended the wounded in trenches, field hospitals, and bombed-out cities. They saw the same horrors as soldiers. Many died in air raids or from disease.

Spies in Plain Sight

Wars need secrets. And women, underestimated for centuries, made perfect spies. In World War I, Mata Hari became famous as a dancer-turned-spy. She remains a legend, though her real influence is debated. But there were countless others, less glamorous, more effective.

In World War II, women in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) risked torture and death. Women like Violette Szabo and Nancy Wake parachuted into occupied France. They carried coded messages and guns. They blew up bridges and guided Allied planes. Many paid with their lives.

Why women? They could pass checkpoints more easily. They looked “harmless.” That illusion won them precious time.

The Resistance Was Female Too

In Nazi-occupied Europe, resistance movements grew underground. Women played vital roles. They carried illegal newspapers in baby prams. They hid Jewish families in attics. They forged documents and fed the hunted.

In France, Lucie Aubrac helped plan jailbreaks for resistance fighters. In Poland, women in the underground Home Army ran networks that smuggled messages and weapons. Many were teenagers. Some were mothers with toddlers at home.

They were fighters in every sense, even if they never fired a gun. They risked capture, torture, and execution.

Factories, Farms, and Families

Wars are not fought only where bullets fly. They are fought in fields and factories too.

In World War I, millions of European men left farms and factories for the trenches. Women stepped in. They made bullets, bombs, and uniforms. They drove trams, plowed fields, and repaired engines.

In the UK, the “munitionettes”, women who made shells, worked with dangerous chemicals that turned their skin yellow. They risked explosions daily.

In the Soviet Union during World War II, women ran farms alone while cities burned. Without their labour, armies would have starved.

Many never went back to their old roles when the wars ended. They had proven they could do “men’s work” just as well, sometimes better.

Soldiers in Uniform

Some women didn’t just support the fight. They fought.

The Soviet Union enlisted hundreds of thousands of women during World War II. Many were snipers, pilots, and machine gunners. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the “Lady Death,” was a Soviet sniper credited with 309 kills. She became a symbol of fierce resistance.

Night Witches, a nickname for the all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment, flew old planes to harass German lines at night. Their engines were so quiet that the Germans compared them to broomsticks in the wind.

In Yugoslavia, women joined Tito’s Partisans and fought against Nazi forces. They made up a significant part of the guerrilla army.

These women didn’t only fight the enemy; they fought to be seen as equals in their ranks.

After the Guns Fell Silent

When the wars ended, many women were told to go back home. Factories pushed them out to make room for returning soldiers. Some did return. Some could not. Some did not want to.

In some countries, wartime work sparked calls for voting rights. British and American women got the vote partly because of what they proved in the war. In Eastern Europe, the role of women in resistance and partisan armies became a source of national pride.

Still, many stories faded. Medals were given to generals and heroes, mostly men. The quiet courage of millions of women rarely made headlines. Their war stayed hidden in diaries, old letters, and fading photographs.

Why Their Stories Matter Now

Today, more historians bring these women to light. Historians dig through archives for lost names. Films and novels tell their tales again. This is not just about fairness. It’s about truth.

Wars change societies. They shatter old rules and force new ones to grow. Women at war proved they could do almost anything: run hospitals, blow up trains, farm acres alone, or shoot down bombers at night.

Their courage reminds us that war is never only about soldiers at the front. It is about everyone who keeps life going while the world falls apart.

Final Thoughts

When we remember Europe’s great wars, we must remember the hidden half of the battlefield. We must see the nurse with a lantern, the spy with a forged passport, the worker at the munitions bench, and the sniper in white camouflage.

Their stories are not side notes. They are the heart of what it means to survive war and rebuild after it.

Behind every uniformed man in the history books stands a woman whose courage made his fight possible. It’s time we wrote her back into the story.