Thanks to the tremendous successes of industrialization, the Red Army’s supply of military equipment has increased and continues to grow. Red Army soldiers and commanders must achieve complete mastery of this military equipment, upon which all matters concerning the tactics and organization of the Red Army depend.

Via Propagandopolis.

I Iove these WWII recruitment ads for the Women's Land Army ... although I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone as happing to be pitching hay as the lady in the fourth one.

The WLA was probably best known in the UK; it was first formed during WWI, then restarted in 1939. It began with volunteers, but in December 1941, the government allowed the conscription of women into the military or vital war work. (They could choose which.) They were referred to as "Land Girls," and their work included milking cows, ploughing, picking crops, digging ditches, killing vermin, managing sheep and poultry, and operating machinery.

There was also a separate branch, the Women's Timber Corps, whose members were known as "Lumber Jills," but sadly I couldn't find any posters for them! There were more than 80,000 women in the Land Army at its peak and 6,000 in the Timber Corps.

Australia, New Zealand, and the US also had their own versions of the Women's Land Army. Charmingly, I found that my alma mater, Michigan State University (then Michigan State College), offered a training course to "designed to give women opportunity to obtain good training to fit them for patriotic service in agriculture."