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The British Army during the Second World War was, in 1939, a volunteer army, that introduced limited conscription in early 1939, and full conscription shortly after the declaration of war with Germany. During the early years of the war, the army suffered defeat in almost every theatre in which it was deployed. With mass conscription, the expansion of the army was reflected in the formation of larger armies and army groups. From 1943, the larger and better equipped British Army never suffered a strategic defeat (although there were failures, most notably the Battle of Arnhem). The pre-war British Army was trained and equipped to be a small mechanized professional army. Its main function was to garrison the British Empire. It became evident during the war that its initial structure and manpower was woefully unprepared and ill-equipped for a war with multiple enemies on multiple fronts. The army, an all volunteer force until 1939, was small in comparison to its enemies at the start of the war in 1939. By the end of the war, over 3.5 million men had served in the British Army. The army was called on to fight around the world, starting with campaigns in Europe in 1940. After the Dunkirk evacuation, the army fought on in Africa, the Middle East, around the Mediterranean, and in the Far East. After a series of setbacks, retreats and evacuations, the British Army eventually, with its Allies, gained the upper hand. This started with victory in Africa and then Italy was forced to surrender after the invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy itself. In the last years of the war, the army returned to France driving the German Army back into Germany, while in the Far East the Japanese were driven back from the Indian border into eastern Burma. Both the Germans and Japanese were defeated by 1945 and surrendered within months of each other. With the expansion of the British Army to fight a world war, new armies were formed, and eventually army groups were created to control even larger formations. In command of these new armies, eight men would be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. The army commanders not only had to manage the new armies, but also a new type of soldier in formations like the Special Air Service, Army Commandos and the Parachute Regiment. ==Organisation== Prior to the war, the British Army was a small professional army, designed to be able to win quick victories by utilising superior mobility and using technology in the place of manpower.〔French (2000), p.12〕 Nevertheless, its effectiveness was hampered by the doctrine of casualty avoidance, a measure adopted due to the high losses sustained in the First World War. The army knew that British society, and the soldiers themselves, would never again allow them to recklessly throw away lives.〔French (2000), p.14〕〔French (2000), p.275〕 There was also a conservative tendency to consolidate gains made on the battlefield instead of aggressively exploiting successes.〔 The structure of the army had been organized in such a way that it sacrificed firepower for mobility and removed from its commanders the fire support weapons that were needed to advance over the battlefield.〔 The army had analysed the lessons of the First World War and adopted them into inter-war doctrine, at the same time trying to predict how advances in weapons and technology might affect any future war.〔French (2000), pp.13–15〕 Developments were constrained by the Treasury. In 1919, the Ten Year Rule was introduced, which stipulated that the armed forces should draft their estimates "on the assumption that the British Empire would not be engaged in any great war during the next ten years". In 1928, Winston Churchill, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, successfully urged the government to make the rule self-perpetuating and hence it was in force unless specifically countermanded.〔Kennedy (1976), pp 273–296〕 In the 1920s, and much of the 1930s, the General Staff tried to establish a small mechanized professional army, using the Experimental Mechanized Force as a prototype. However, with the lack of any identified threat, the Army's main function was to garrison the British Empire.〔French (2000), p.15〕 During this time, the army suffered from a lack of funding. The Royal Navy, being the first line of defence, received the major proportion of the defence budget.〔Buell, Bradley, Dice & Griess (2002), p.42〕 Second priority was the creation of a bomber force for the Royal Air Force (RAF) to retaliate against the expected attacks on British cities.〔 The development of radar in 1935, which had the ability to track enemy aircraft, resulted in additional funding being provided for the RAF to build a fighter aircraft force.〔 The army's shortage of funds, and no requirement for large armoured forces to police the Empire, was reflected in the fact that no large scale armoured formations were formed until 1938.〔 At the outbreak of the war, only two armoured divisions (the 1st and 7th) had been formed,〔Chappell (1987), pp.12–13〕 in comparison to the seven armoured divisions of the German Army.〔Buell, Bradley, Dice & Griess (2002), p.11〕 In September 1939, the army had a total of 892,697 officers and men in both the full-time regular army and part-time Territorial Army. The regular army could muster 224,000 men, who were supported by a reserve of 173,700 men. Of the regular army reservists, only 3,700 men were fully trained and the remainder had been in civilian life for up to 13 years.〔French (2000), p.63〕 In April 1939, an additional 34,500 men had been conscripted into the regular army and had only completed their basic training on the eve of war.〔French (2000), p.64〕 The regular army was built around 30 cavalry or armoured regiments and 140 infantry battalions.〔 The Territorial Army numbered 438,100, with a reserve of around 20,750 men.〔 This force comprised 29 yeomanry regiments (eight of which were still to be fully mechanized), 12 tank and 232 infantry battalions.〔Perry (1988), p.49〕 Conscription was introduced in early 1939〔 to meet the threat of Nazi Germany, with the ''Military Training Act 1939''. The Act required all men aged 20 and 21 to take six months' military training. On the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, the ''National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939'' was rushed through Parliament. This extended the liability to military service to all fit men between 20–23. The age group was increased as the war continued, ultimately applying to all fit men between the ages of 18–41. By the end of 1939, the Army's strength had risen to 1.1 million men, by June 1940 it stood at 1.65 million men, and had further increased to 2.2 million men by the following June. The size of the Army peaked in June 1945, at 2.9 million men.〔 By the end of the Second World War and the final demobilisations in 1946, over 3.5 million men had served in the British Army. In 1944, the United Kingdom was facing severe manpower shortages. By May 1944, it was estimated that the British Army's strength in December 1944 would be 100,000 less than it was at the end of 1943. Although casualties in the Normandy Campaign, where the British Army's main effort of 1944 was, were actually lower than anticipated, losses from all causes were still higher than could be replaced. Two infantry divisions and a brigade (59th and 50th divisions and 70th Brigade) were disbanded to provide replacements for other British divisions in the 21st Army Group and all men being called up to the Army were trained as infantrymen. Furthermore, 35,000 men from the RAF Regiment and the Royal Artillery were transferred to the infantry and were retrained as rifle infantrymen, where the majority of combat casualties fell.〔Hart (2000), pp. 46–53〕〔Weigley (1981), pp.337–343〕 In addition, in the Eighth Army fighting in the Italian Campaign of the Mediterranean theatre several units, mainly infantry, were also disbanded to provide replacements, including the 1st Armoured Division and several other smaller units, such as the 168th Brigade, had to be reduced to cadre, and several other units had to be amalgamated, such as happened with the 2nd and 6th battalions of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which merged in August 1944. Furthermore, most infantry battalions in Italy had to be reduced from four to three rifle companies.〔Eighth Army in Italy 1943-45 - The Long Hard Slog, Richard Doherty〕 The pre-war army had allowed recruits to be assigned to the corps of their wishes. 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.〔Crang (2000), p.5〕 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 air force, a higher proportion of army recruits were said to be dull and backwards.〔Crang (2000), p.6〕 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."〔Crang (2000), p.9〕 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.〔Crang (2000), p.11〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Army during the Second World War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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