Yesterday's Witness S11 E01 The Two Women of Pervyse

During the First World War the Allies only allowed two women to live and work in the trenches of the Western Front. For three years Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker nursed wounded Belgian soldiers in a front line first aid post in the ruined town of Pervyse. MAIRI CHISHOLM, who was no more than 18 when war broke out, now recalls her time at Pervyse - the mud and the rain, the unceasing shellfire, and hair-raising ambulance journeys ferrying the wounded behind the lines. It was a far cry from what was generally expected of women, even in war time, and a significant victory in their long struggle for equal rights with men.