Hello, this is my first post on this subreddit. I have always maintained an interest in British history, but I have observed that while it was easy for me to find material regarding the British Army, its composition, training, etc during the 18th/19th Century, I have not been able to find reliable sources regarding the training of the British infantryman during the Second War. So my question is this-how thorough was the training of British infantry, how long was its' duration, and how did it compare to Allied and Axis training of the same period? I did read some posts on forums that suggested that it consisted of 6 weeks initial training plus six more after being assigned to a particular regiment, but those posts did not specify a source.
Hi, training would be done in a platoon of new recruits, instructors were often corporals and sergeants who had seen a good bit of service. Each part of the military had different amounts of training for example a spitfire pilot could expect about 10-12 hours flying a spitfire before assuming flying duties.
In the army training could be anywhere between 6weeks and 3 months depending on trade, regiment and arms of service. For example a person being trained to be a rifleman would learn how to be a soldier and a rifleman. A radio operator would learn to be a soldier, rifleman and radio operator. Everybody did 6 weeks of basic training yen it was up to the regiment to get you up to standard.