We Serve

{{short description|1942 British short film}}

{{Distinguish|In Which We Serve}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox film

| name = We Serve

| image =

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| caption =

| native_name =

| director = Carol Reed

| producer = Sydney Box

| writer =

| screenplay =

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| based_on =

| starring = {{plainlist|

• Peggy Ashcroft
• Joyce Carey
• Penelope Dudley-Ward
• Celia Johnson
• Ann Todd
• Googie Withers

}}

| narrator =

| music =

| cinematography =

| editing = Peter Tanner

| production_companies = Verity Films

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1942}}

| runtime = 30 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

We Serve is a British short film about the lives of officers in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Designed as a recruitment and training film, it was directed by Carol Reed, produced by Sydney Box, and was made by Box's company Verity Films.{{cite book |title=Sydney Box |last=Spicer |first=Andrew |date=2006 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0719059995 |pages=24–25}}

The involvement of Reed as director enabled Box to secure the services of several leading British actresses for the film, all agreeing to be paid the small sum of £5 per day. The film also featured the then Director of the ATS, Jean Knox.{{cite book |last=Terry |first=Roy |title=Women in Khaki: The Story of the British Woman Soldier |publisher=Columbus |year=1988 |isbn=978-0862873219 |page=130}}

The 30-minute film was commissioned shortly after the British government changed the nature of the ATS from being a voluntary body to becoming a professional service with full military status in April 1941.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6650237.shtml |title=Fact File : Auxiliary Territorial Service 1938-1949 |work=WW2 People's War |publisher=BBC |date=15 October 2014}} It was concurrent with a wider recruitment drive to expand the size of the ATS.{{cite book |last=Noakes |first=Lucy |title=Women in the British Army: War and the Gentle Sex, 1907–1948 |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415390576 |page=111}} In its efforts to attract recruits, the film emphasised that femininity could be retained in wartime.