Wars are the scene of atrocities, but also of humanitarian progress.
The First World War will be a turning point in the history of the French Red Cross, where women under fire will propel this relief association to the rank of an international humanitarian organisation. Behind the image of the dedicated nurse, they will impose their know-how and their determination, and contribute to social progress and women’s emancipation. Faced with the horror of the battlefields, nearly 100 000 nurses will attend to the wounded and help create the myth of the White Angel.
During the Second World War they will once again become renowned for treating civilians all over France, and then crossing Europe to bring back the deported.

From the aristocrat to the working class woman, the film highlights the different faces of the women of the Red Cross, their emancipation and their commitment at the foundation of the humanitarian organisation. Today the International Movement of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent is a world-wide humanitarian network, with some 80 million members and volunteers, present in 190 countries, and which has received 4 Nobel Peace Prizes.

The numbers: First World War: 100 000 nurses treated the wounded during the First World War. 1500 buildings and homes were turned into hospitals by the Red Cross. At the end of the war, over 900 French nurses received the “Croix de Guerre” and more than 100 the “Legion d’honneur” Nurses, ambulance drivers, paramedics … 414 members of the French Red Cross lost their lives during the Second World War.