World War II brought about a remarkable expansion in female work opportunities in South Wales. Women suddenly found themselves performing unfamiliar work in unfamiliar surroundings and earning relatively handsome wages. Yet, despite the dramatic changes such work caused, surprisingly little is known about the experiences of women employed in the munitions factories of South Wales. A Forgotten Army aims to recover their lost voices and to highlight the vital role played by Welsh munitionettes in World War II.

This book brings together the foremost experts in the history of the Welsh language to trace its trajectory through the twentieth century. Contributors discuss not only the numerical and territorial decline of Welsh but also its struggle for official recognition, and the different roles it has played (and continues to play) in social, regional, and class domains. Welsh speakers have long been concerned with the fate of the language, and this volume puts that problem, and its integral relationship with education, work, and everyday life in Wales, into a broad, productive context. This new...