Women’s Auxiliary Corps (India) in the Second World War

Prior to the Second World War, the strength of the Indian Armed Forces was merely 0.2 million. It rose to over 2.5 million by the end of the War in 1945. Enlisting of this magnitude on a voluntary basis was indeed a big task. As the demand for recruits increased, the supply of men from martial races, which had governed the basis of recruitment over the past 50 years, began to dry up. Japan’s invasion of Southeast Asia (Malaya and Burma) in early 1942 brought the War to Indian borders. This necessitated a manifold increase in the number of soldiers. Even after expanding the scope of recruitment beyond the martial classes, the supply of recruits could not keep pace with the increasing demand. The military, therefore chose to look beyond the traditional sources of recruitment and decided to recruit women. Consequently, the Women’s Auxiliary Corps (India) was raised on 9 April 1942Footnote1 to perform certain specific duties in the Indian Army.