Women in Combat: The World War II Experience in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union

Women are the invisible combatants of World War II. Hundreds of thousands of women engaged in combat. They served on both sides and on every front. German women soldiers helped inflict casualities on American and British forces, and in turn they were killed, wounded, or captured. Likewise, Soviet and British women fought bravely. On the other hand, American women were not sent into combat. This article asks why not--and what that reveals about gender roles in America.