Homefront

Grim reaper with Land Girl.

Unknown private author.

Interesting private photo of a British Land Army woman "manning" a horse-drawn reaper, gathering in cereal crop, unknown date during WW2. I read a comment recently to the effect that Britain had an advantage over Germany insofar as it had modernized its agricultural sector by 1939, replacing horses as the primary means of motive power with tractors and other machinery. This may have been true, to a certain extent; certainly, propaganda/public information photos and artwork from the period liked to show Land Girls driving tractors. This private photo reminds us that, while some larger farms and estates had made this transition, much of British agriculture (including many large farms) continued to rely on actual horses for their horsepower. This had advantages - for example, tractors and motor harvesters needed petrol or diesel to keep them going; good old Dobbin could live on grass, hay, straw and a little grain, none of which had to cross the Atlantic. Best regards, JR.