It’s been widely noted by historians of the Second World War that the victors in that conflict — the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union —mobilized women far more quickly than the losers: Germany, Japan and Italy. In light of last week’s speeches to the brass at Quantico, this might be worth some review.

There were still a number of women when I was growing up, like the mother of a boyhood friend who’d worked a “Rosie the Riveter” job in a factory during the war. Tens of thousands of American women filled industrial jobs, and others joined the WACs, the WAVEs, and the WASPs to fill non-combative roles in the military.

In the UK and especially the USSR, women were drawn more directly into combat. British women in anti-aircraft units performed all the functions except ac

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