I Can Not Resist

  This unnamed belle of the French resistance was photographed in Paris on August 29, 1944. She had killed two Germans already in the fighting.

French military styles are so fabulous!

Women of Winter

 While the Allies were engaged in their "Phoney War" with the Nazis, Finland was getting invaded by the Red Army of the Soviet Union. Though the Red Army had more than three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks, Finland defended itself for over three months in the Winter War. Not too shabby Finland!

  Why, I've never seen anything so... so... GORGEOUS.

  With their manpower stretched to the limit, Finland turned to woman power! The Lotta Svard was formed. It was the largest voluntary paramilitary force in the world, and it was composed entirely of women. They were officially unarmed, except for a women's antiaircraft unit guarding the capital of Helsinki.

I <3 this lovely lady with a Big Gun.

Tokyo Rose

  Tokyo Rose was a radio personality in Japan during the war. The name was applied to several women, but most commonly to Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was stranded while visiting Japan in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She was first pressured by the Japanese government to renounced her citizenship and refused, even though she was thereafter denied a ration card. She was eventually persuaded by an Australian POW to host a radio show on the condition that she say nothing against the United States. And she never did. After steadfast integrity while alone in an enemy country, she was rewarded for her loyalty by the US government in 1949 when she was convicted of treason and spent ten years in prison. This bad belle deserves recognition.

I love, love that little smile.

 Being manhandled by a douchebag white male US marshall. I love the big shoulders and half-length slacks.