For the Fatherland

<P>In October of 1944 the fifth year of World War II the war escalated in Germany and all hands-including women-were needed to keep the offensive alive. In <i>For the Fatherland</i> author Ilsa Fanchin records the last eight months of the war as seen through her eyes.</P><P>She tells about receiving her draft notice along with other young unmarried twenty-two-year-old women who were physically able and employed in nonsensitive positions not vital for the war effort. Along with approximately three hundred young female draftees she boarded a special train from her home in Frankfurt am Maim to the large industrial town of Leipzig in Eastern Germany. The women were inducted underwent physicals received uniforms and took a mandatory oath in a solemn ritual to serve the Fatherland. This memoir narrates the story of how these women served under primitive conditions during a bitterly cold winter working on searchlights and replacing young male soldiers needed in combat on several fronts of fighting.</P><P><i>For the Fatherland</i> provides an insightful look into the role women played during World War II in Germany and the sacrifices that were made for the cause.</P>