Girl Guides In War
April 13, 2015 11:28 AM   Subscribe

Girl Guides, known in the US as Girl Scouts, are an organization for young girls founded in 1910. Almost from the beginning they were involved in wartime efforts. British Girl Guides served in World War I as spies for MI5. They also served both covertly and openly during World War II as Resistance members, medical staff, and support staff for refugees. Some of these were part of Guide troops which were stationed in invaded territories, such as Polish members who organized anti-Nazi propaganda efforts and smuggled Jewish children to safety. Others were volunteers who came from the UK to bring medical aid and supplies to care for refugees.
posted by sciatrix (14 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow, I did not know about any of this. Thanks for the links, gonna go dig in to them now.
posted by Drinky Die at 11:35 AM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


I didn't know about ANY of this! This is so totally going into my book about notable kids of history! Thank you, sciatrix!!
posted by headspace at 11:39 AM on April 13, 2015


The Guides in Poland were adults who were part of the Guide International Service. The woman hanged, Maria Jasinka, was 37 when she was executed. The British Guides were in their late teens/early twenties. This is a good book but it's not really about children.
posted by Ideefixe at 12:05 PM on April 13, 2015


I remember when Cherry Ames was serving in the WWII Pacific Theater in Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, the Panamanian Girl Scouts came and volunteered at the Army hospital.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:38 PM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


In Germany, HJ kids even got to actually fight in battles with real guns and bazookas at the very end of the war.
posted by tecg at 12:43 PM on April 13, 2015


I wonder why they were called Guides and not Scouts. Sadly I would guess it has something to do with making sure it's abundantly clear they are different from the boys.
posted by OwlBoy at 1:18 PM on April 13, 2015


Gonna have to encourage my girls' troop to improve their sneakin' around skills, just in case.
posted by padraigin at 1:33 PM on April 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


This is the same organization that is called the Girl Scouts in the USA. It looks like the difference in nomenclature comes down to what girls decided to call themselves when organizing chapters in different countries rather than anything else.
posted by sciatrix at 1:34 PM on April 13, 2015


I love the picture of the Loanhead Guides, in which the top center one has this grin like she's thinking, "Holy shit, we're in the fuckin' war!" and the bottom right one has this incredibly anxious look like, "Holy shit, we're in the fuckin' war!"
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:58 PM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


> . The British Guides were in their late teens/early twenties

"All the girls who worked for MI5 between 1914 and 1918 were aged from 14 to 16."

> Gonna have to encourage my girls' troop to improve their sneakin' around skills, just in case

Suggested badgework:
Finding Your Way (maps)
Weather Watch
Science in Action (you could fit sabotage under step 8, "Find out about a bridge in your community. What kind of bridge is it? When was it built? How much weight can it safely support? How much traffic does it usually have? Make a chart with your findings and share it with your troop or group," and as I type this out I must say it's rather shady)
My Community (step 4, "Help solve a community problem" like the threat of Nazi invasion)
Communication Arts (propaganda, Morse Code)
Outdoor Survival

Now I want to put together a kaper chart with "shovel incendiary bombs off the roof" and "see if MI5 needs any messages carried" on it.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:45 PM on April 13, 2015 [8 favorites]


> Girl Guides, known in the US as Girl Scouts, are an organization for young girls founded in 1910

One quibble: Girl Scouts go up through age 17 in the US, and have programming for adults as well.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:48 PM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Bang the "Tin Drum".
posted by clavdivs at 2:55 PM on April 13, 2015


And to think, in my early 90s Midwestern Girl Scout troop, all I learned was how to set a table properly.
posted by olinerd at 4:06 PM on April 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


At the time, it was scandalous for girls to show up at Crystal Palace and dub themselves Girl Scouts. BP had served with the Khymer Guides and persuaded the girls that this was an honourable name. He put his sister in charge of the Guides - it wouldn't have been proper for a man, I was always told. I grew up around people who'd been in Guiding in the 10s and 20s and 30s in Canada and they were much closer to these details.

He wanted to have them called the younger girls Rosebuds and have them wear white pinafores. His sister instead called them Brownies and they got a sportier, dark brown uniform that wouldn't look messy. That's what I was told, anyway.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 4:34 PM on April 13, 2015 [3 favorites]


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