When was conscription introduced in ww2

When the number of volunteers for the Australian Imperial Force AIF , which was serving overseas, began to wane, the Hughes Labor government held two referendums to introduce conscription for overseas service. The CMF stood at 80,, but it had a poor reputation and was under-equipped.

The Royal Australian Air Force had men, though it lacked effective aircraft. The Royal Australian Navy had regulars and though its ships were few — effectively two heavy cruisers and four light cruisers — they were relatively modern. On 20 October Menzies announced the reintroduction of compulsory military training, known as the Universal Service Scheme, with effect from 1 January Once again, there was to be no conscription for service beyond Australia and its territories.

Crucially, that included Australian territories in Papua and New Guinea. He was also opposed to overseas service, even for volunteers.

National Savings Stamps poster, On to Victory , — National Museum of Australia. At the same time, the government raised a new volunteer army for service overseas. This was the Second AIF. It was the result of a concerted recruitment campaign, though with unemployment being so high the government had little trouble filling the ranks. In effect this created two armies. The first unit to be deployed was the 6th Division. About 15, men sailed in March Most of the men in the 8th Division would be taken into captivity when Singapore fell on 15 February In July the seven-month Kokoda Trail campaign began.

They had arrived home white and shaken, none of them being able coherently to tell the story, and wondering how their friends and workmates could ever be properly buried. The shelters at Filton were never re-opened, but were sealed over and became a tomb. By the summer of almost 2,, men were in the British Army and by the end of the war it had risen to 2,, During the war , British soldiers were killed, , were wounded and , were taken prisoner.

The Royal Air Force reached a total strength of 1,, men and women. A total of 70, RAF personnel were lost on operations. The Royal Navy lost 9. It may be a convenience to my colleagues if I set out the provisional views which I have formed on some of the major issues which we have to settle. While this might not make very many men available for an active fighting role, it would assist the Minister of Labour in finding men for non-combatant duties in the Services.

The possibility that the age should be raised again later on need not be excluded; but it would seem that an increase of ten years in the upper limit would be sufficient at the moment. Indeed, I would go further and call them up at eighteen if this would make any substantial contribution.

Voluntary recruitment for these Services should however be strongly encouraged. The latter system would inevitably discourage women from joining up until their age group was called. This would often have to be on a part-time basis, and means must be found to ease the burden on women who are prepared to perform a dual role. My husband had wanted to go in the navy, but he had spondylitis in the spine, which is a form of arthritis, so they wouldn't take him in.

He was shattered really, because he'd set his heart on getting into the navy. Which they found he had spondylitis, they couldn't give him any treatment, so he had to just pet on with it. He had to give the pub up and go and work on the docks, repairing ships.

It was horrible, he'd never done anything like that in his life, you see, and it nearly killed him. He had to climb rigging and climb over ships' sides and things like that. Then, after the children were born, he had to go and work in the Royal Ordnance factory, making guns on shift work, and he hated that as well.

But he wouldn't go on the disabled list, not with the sort of jobs they offered you then. So he stuck it out actually. Although he couldn't go to the war, he'd get a lot of women saying, "Why aren't you fighting for us?

My husband's out fighting for you. This was the abuse they used to get, men that were working during the war, a lot of abuse from women and other men. I went to work at the Magna Products at Warmley, a big engineering firm with huge wartime contracts. My first impression of this great all male domain was not a good one, and the dust, grit and grime mingled with a strong smell of oil, along with all the lathes and machinery, awed and scared me.

Because of the shortage of men, women were coming into the foundries and into the Works. There were women conductors on the buses taking over until the men came home again, though, at the end of the war, they were not so keen to let go of their new independence. The end of this war brought many unheard and undreamt of changes. King introduced the National Resources Mobilization Act NRMA , which called for a national registration of eligible men and authorized conscription for home defence.

From April the young men called up were required to serve for the rest of the war on home defence duties. But this was not enough for some in English-Canada, which provided the bulk of the volunteers for the armed forces.

They had an uncomplimentary name for the NRMA conscripts, calling them "zombies" - the living dead, only half human, who peopled horror movies. Increasingly, there was pressure on the "zombies" to volunteer for overseas service. With the entry of Japan into the war in December came further demands for overseas conscription. In a plebiscite of April , King asked Canadians to release him from his promise.

When war broke out in September , some men volunteered to join the armed services, but Britain could still only raise , men. Other European countries had kept conscription between the wars and were able to raise much larger armies than Britain. Conscription was by age and in October men aged between 20 and 23 were required to register to serve in one of the armed forces.

They were allowed to choose between the army, the navy and the airforce. In single women aged between 20 and 30 were also conscripted.