Conscription for British citizens in India?

Discussion in 'General' started by DNC, Nov 6, 2015.

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  1. DNC

    DNC New Member

    I know the Indian army during WW2 was made up entirely of volunteers. What about the many British citizens living and working in India during this time, were they subject to conscription as they would have been if they were living in the UK?
     
  2. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    Good question. The draft laws were different in the various Commonwealth countries as well. I believe that in Canada, only volunteers could be sent overseas and draftees could only serve in the North American continent. There were restrictions to the draft in Australia as well, but I am not familiar with their system, or those in New Zealand or South Africa. I figure that they were similar to Canada's, but hopefully someone who is up on that information will come by and set us straight soon.
     
  3. Drayton

    Drayton Senior Member

    No. The National Service (Armed Forces) Acts applied only to British citizens normally resident in Britain. If an ex-patriate of military age returned to Britain during the currency of conscription he became liable.
     
  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I'm not 100% sure, but many of the ex-pats working in India and Burma before WW2 began were employed in heavy industries or the Civil Service. Occupations such as Forestry, Steel, Rubber and of course the great Indian Railways would have been deemed 'reserved occupations' and therefore were exempt from conscription.

    Many of the men working in these industries and who would eventually become the back bone of units such as the Burma Rifles and Frontier Forces, were incredibly frustrated that they could not join up earlier, in order to prepare for the seemingly obvious Japanese expansion.
     

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