National Service Enlistment Notice, 1946
Best years of their lives?
NAM 2003-04-98
Over two million men were called up for National Service between 1946 and 1963, the majority of whom served in the Army. Although World War Two was over, Britain’s global commitments were extensive and increasing. Wartime conscripts wanted to return to civilian life as soon as possible, and Britain was about to lose her traditional pool of manpower from India, but the government still needed soldiers. Without National Service, Britain would not have been able to maintain its overseas presence.
The government initially imposed an 18-month period of service on conscripts, but this was later extended to two years with three and half on the Reserve. By 1951 around 50% of the Army’s strength consisted of National Servicemen. They came from all walks of life and from all social backgrounds. National Servicemen served in the scorching deserts of Palestine and Aden, the humid jungles of Malaya and the icy hills of Korea.
A total of 395 National Servicemen were killed on active service in these areas. Many conscripts considered their service as the best years of their lives and gained new friendships, new skills and the experience of foreign travel. Others saw it as a dreadful experience to be reluctantly endured at best.
Last Indian Army Order, 1947
End of Empire
NAM 1951-05-87
This is the last Indian Army Order and served as the administrative epitaph for the largest volunteer army in history. Indian and Pakistan’s independence at midnight on 14-15 August 1947 was a key moment in the history of the British Empire. India had been its cornerstone and many colonies had been secured in order to protect the trade routes to it. Furthermore, the British withdrawal was clearly seen as a precedent by other parts of the Empire, hastening their calls for independence.
The end of British rule in India also spelled the end of the existing Indian Army and its administration. Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, who was to oversee the division of the army between India and Pakistan, and Major-General Reginald Savory, signed the text of the final order issued from the Adjutant-General’s Office.
Maxim machine-gun captured in Korea, 1950
Red Menace
NAM 1992-09-228-1
The 1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), were among the first British troops to arrive in Korea in August 1950 as part of the United Nations force. They landed at Pusan and were immediately sent into battle. A few weeks later, following an American amphibious landing at Inchon that outflanked the North Koreans, the Middlesex and other UN forces broke out of the Pusan bridgehead and rapidly advanced north. It was at this time that ‘D’ Company of the 1st Battalion captured this Russian machine-gun.
Simple, robust, effective and produced in vast numbers during World War Two, these weapons were sent to many of the USSR’s Communist allies including China and North Korea after 1945.
Photograph of Army patrol in Malaya, 1957
Hearts and Minds
NAM 1992-11-145-22
In order to counter the guerilla campaign being waged by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), British soldiers had to be taught how to live and fight in the jungle. The Malayan Emergency started in 1948 when the MCP began attacking plantations, derailing trains and burning workers' houses. The Communists were jungle based and supported by the impoverished Chinese population, who lived mainly in cities and at the fringes of jungles. In order to cut off interaction between the MCP and the Chinese, the British resettled nearly 500,000 Chinese ‘squatters’ from outlying areas to newly created and protected villages.
This deprived the Communists of their supplies and information. At the same time, the British attempted to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the population by promising independence and seeking to unite the racially divided Malayan people against the insurrection. The Communists were soon isolated and gradually hunted down in the jungle. Their campaign had failed largely because of lack of support from the majority Malay community. In August 1957 Malaya was granted independence and in 1960 the emergency was declared to be over. Over 500 soldiers and 1,300 police had been killed during the emergency. The campaign was one of the few successful counter-insurgency operations undertaken by the Western powers.
Section of the Berlin Wall, 1989
Over the Wall
The Berlin Wall came to symbolize the Cold War (1945-1990). It was put up in 1961 on the orders of East Germany's leader, Walter Ulbricht, to stop people leaving for the West. During the wall's existence there were around 5,000 successful escapes into West Berlin. Over 200 people were killed trying to make it across. East Berliners breached the wall in November 1989. The following year Germany was re-united.
These events signalled the end of the wartime allies’ occupation of Germany and the Cold War itself. From 1945 until 1993 the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) had, alongside its NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) Allies, trained and prepared in Germany for war against the Warsaw Pact countries. Many British soldiers still serve in Germany today.
