Storey, Neil R. The British Soldier

Training for War 1939-1945

Many Britons have at least one ancestor who served in the British Army during the Second World War. They probably know where they served and which regiment they served in, but we do not know exactly how they became soldiers. "The British Soldier. Training for War focuses on those who became infantrymen, commandos and paratroopers, and the training they received in the British Isles to fight on the sharpest fronts" in the world between 1939 and 1945. Using contemporary training manuals, battalion histories, magazine and newspaper articles, personal memoirs, regimental museum archives, declassified military records and interviews with individuals who experienced military training first-hand during the war, a vivid and authentic account of training is presented, ranging from square bashing and weapon skills to the development of combat schools, assault courses, combat drills and key training exercises. All infantrymen were trained hard, but in doing so they gained the skills, fighting spirit, endurance and confidence they needed in themselves, their comrades and their unit in combat. By the end of the Second World War, nearly three million men had served in the British Army. Every single one of them had to be trained to become a soldier. This is their story.