BECAUSE so many young men had been called up for the armed forces in the Second World War, there was a severe shortage of labour on our farms.

So a whole new army was born - the Women's Land Army, young ladies/girls who were trained in such tasks as milking cows, harvesting, drainage and other work. It was their job to help keep the nation fed as the enemy's U-boats destroyed many of our merchant ships bringing foods supplies from the USA.

The demand for food was so great that they found much of their training 'on the job' and they played a valuable part in the wartime battle.

One 'land girl' was Maud 'Micky' Mitchell, who in 1943 at the age of 17, moved from Blackburn, Lancashire to take up her first farming job deep in rural East Devon, near Whimple and then Upottery.

She describes that job - for which they all volunteered - as "out and out slave labour" working extremely hard for long hours for "a pittance". But it had its compensations in friendships and the humour that prevailed.

Many girls had given up secure well paid jobs and comfortable homes for a primitive lifestyle but few shirked the conditions or even objected.

She was first to take four weeks' training at the Whimple farm of Robert Whiteway of cider fame - "like being posted to the other side of the world" and a 24 hour journey from Blackburn.

She describes how all the girls had "action stations" each evening after work, going to the cosmetics which had been pooled for all to share to beautify themselves for the evening, before going to the village dance. There the locals tried go teach them to do the 'lancers' and 'quadrille', with the Yanks insisting they 'jitterbug' and 'jive'.

On Sunday, apart from the milking rota, the day was free and they could go for a stroll in the lanes, or catch the train to Exeter, the centre "now just heap upon heap of rubble - old Adolf had certainly been up to his tricks here".

She describes how Christmas Day at home in Blackburn compared to Upottery where it was more tranquil: "Christmas Day celebrated the birth of Christ and was quiet and peaceful and Boxing Day was the day of jollification - all in all to me it appeared to have a Dickensian feel about it."

Micky Mitchell returned to Devon following her marriage in 1946 and is now Maud Shire, continuing to live not far from the scene of her wartime memoirs in the Otter Valley. This book of reminiscences brings to life those difficult wartime days for some of those left behind, told with frankness and humour, describing the work, the times, the romances ended by the tragedy of war, and the friendships.

It is a touching recollection of memories of a completely different wartime scenario to that normally portrayed.

A Country War, Memoirs of a Land Girl, by Micky Mitchell, published by Halsgrove, price £8.99.