This photograph shows women military officers of the Canadian Army, marching before Mary Spencer-Churchill on the sidelines of the Québec Conference in 1943. Daughter of the British prime minister Winston Churchill, Mary Spencer-Churchill herself served in the women’s branch of the British army, called the Auxiliary Territorial Service. At the time, military parades by women were exceptional.

1942 - 1944

The Québec Conferences during World War II

In 1943 and again in 1944, during World War II, the Allied leaders gathered in Québec City for a major military summit. These conferences were called by the code names “Quadrant” and “Octogone.” Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King hosted the American and British leaders, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. They met at the Château Frontenac and the Citadel. In particular, they planned the Normandy landings, the operation that led to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. Discover the moments when a great page of world history was written in Québec City!

Canadian women officers marching before Mary Spencer-Churchill

Auteur inconnu This photograph shows women military officers of the Canadian Army, marching before Mary Spencer-Churchill on the sidelines of the Québec Conference in 1943. Daughter of the British prime minister Winston Churchill, Mary Spencer-Churchill herself served in the women’s branch of the British army, called the Auxiliary Territorial Service. At the time, military parades by women were exceptional.

Chronoscope Can you identify any of the women who took part in this parade? (unilingual French for a limited time)

Depicted period: 1943

Source: Ville de Québec Document in the public domain (free of copyright) - Date: 1943-01-01

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