Samantha Grosser

When Rangoon fell to the Japanese in 1942, a small group of British women were working as encoders for the British. Caught up in the longest retreat in British history, for over a thousand miles, the women acted as nurses for the many battle casualties. Once in India, they regrouped as the Women’s Auxiliary Service (Burma) and became known as the Wasbies. Often working close to the front line, and sharing the same gruelling conditions as the men, they worked tirelessly to run mobile and static canteens that sold tea, cakes, sandwiches, razors and the like to the embattled Forgotten Fourteenth Army. For this they were held in the highest regard, and many were decorated for their service.

Char and Wads is a new play based on the extraordinary experiences of this group of women.