Women of Valor: The Rochambelles on the WWII Front Book

This was an interesting book about the first group of women allowed to the front lines as military personnel and not civilian auxiliary. These women were ambulance drivers that accompanied the 2nd armored Division during WWII in a campaign to free France from the Nazis.

I picked up the book because they rarely ever write about the experiences of the cooks and supply clerks and medics that work as support for the main body of the military -- and these were about a very rare group of little known women to boot! Over all, I found the book enjoyable and very informative, if a little thin. The descriptions of each individual woman at the moments they decided to join and fought to be recruited into the Rochembelles were both beautifully cinematic and intensely inspiring. I personally wish that this trend continued on through the rest of the book, but ended up feeling less satisfied as Hampton focused instead on a core of about 4-5 women and a rotating host of other women that appear for a few anecdotes and then disappear later on. I'm a little disturbed about how Lucie Deplancke largely disappears from the text after her partner Evie finally realizes she's a lesbian and requests a transfer. (Despite the women 'not being bothered' her open lifestyle choice.) I'm uncertain what the author was implying. Did Evie request the transfer due to discomfort or not? Hampton hastens to add that Evie has many fond memories of Lucie afterwards.

I think that the strength of the story may have been helped with a little more description of what was happening strategically and militarily at the time the women went out. Hampton already included quite a bit, but I am not entirely familiar with the French campaign and wish that there were just a little bit more for a better perspective of what was happening at the time

As it stands, I think that this book is an excellent introduction and general summary about the Rochembelles, but isn't quite meaty enough to be much more than that. I wanted to know more about the women's individual lives in and outside of the military. I wanted to know about the men that surrounded them. I wanted much much more, and unfortunately, never quite got it. I do appreciate the long epilogue of what happened to many of the women after Hitler surrenders. I wish Hapton had decided to follow the group that remained in the military to Indochina, rather than making do with only a couple short anecdotes. One interesting thing I noticed regarding Hitler's little mountainside headquarters. I had been under the impression that it was the Americans that raided the silver and climbed up the mountain (as seen in the miniseries 'Band of Brothers') but here, it states that it was the French.