Recruitment in The British Army - Second World War

Second World War

Further information: Conscription in the United Kingdom during Second World War

The pre-war army was an all-volunteer army and recruits were allotted to the corps of their wishes. The only pre-conditions placed on candidates were an interview with a recruiting officer, who could only glean partial information on a recruit, a medical examination, and some educational tests. If these requirements were met the recruit was posted to the arm of his choice, there was no scientific selection process unlike the rapidly growing German army. This led to men being allocated to the wrong or unsuitable corps. The Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha attempted to address these problems, and the wider problems of the British army. The process of allocating men would remain ad hoc at the start of the war. The army would be without the quotas of men required from skilled professions and trades, which modern warfare demanded. With the army being the least popular service compared to the navy and airforce, a higher proportion of army recruits were said to be dull and backwards.

The following memorandum to the Executive Committee of the Army Council highlighted the growing concern.

“The British Army is wasting manpower in this war almost as badly as it did in the last war. A man is posted to a Corps almost entirely on the demand of the moment and without any effort at personal selection by proper tests. ”

Only with the creation of the Beveridge committee in 1941 and their subsequent findings in 1942, would the situation of skilled men not being assigned correctly, be addressed. The findings led directly to the creation of the General Service Corps, and would remain in place long after the war. Hore-Belisha had sought permission to introduce conscription in 1938 but was rebuffed by Neville Chamberlain, who would not agree to increased defense spending. In early 1939, he was finally allowed to introduce conscription to meet the threat of Germany, with the Military Training Act of 27 April 1939. The act required all men aged 20 and 21 to take six months military training. This act was extended on the declaration of the war, to include all fit men between the ages of 18 and 41. Conscription was gradually brought in, starting in October 1939 and applying to all fit men between 20–23, and the age group was increased as the war continued.

At the start of the Second World War the British Army Strength stood at 897,000 men including reserves. By the end of 1939 the strength of the British Army stood at 1.1 million men, and further increased to 1.65 million men during June 1940. By the end of the war and the final demobilisations in 1946, over 3.5 million men had been enlisted in the British Army.

The Local Defence Volunteers was formed early in 1940. Very large numbers of civilians too old or too young for the Army, or barred from serving if they were in reserved occupations, volunteered for the new force. The organisation was eventually renamed the "Home Guard" and was to be part of the defence of Britain in the advent of a German invasion of Britain.