in, starting in October 1939 and applying to all fit men between 20–23, and the age group was increased as the war continued. At the start of the Second World War, the British Army Strength stood at 897,000 men including reserves. By the end of 1939, the strength of the British Army stood at 1.1 million men, and further increased to 1.65 million men during June 1940, By the end of the war some 2.9 million men had served in the British Army. The Local Defence Volunteers was formed early in 1940. Very large numbers of civilians too old or too young for the Army, or barred from serving if they were in reserved occupations, volunteered for the new force. The organisation was eventually renamed the "Home Guard" and was to be part of the defence of Britain in the advent of a German invasion of Britain. Post-war period As with the previous World War, the end of wartime conscription saw the army reduced in size and reverting to its peacetime role of maintaining the Empire. In 1947, British India was given Independence, which meant the loss of the British Indian Army and thousands of volunteer soldiers. The British Government had relied on the British Indian Army for Imperial matters. Now, without this army, the regular British Army was judged to be too small for the demands of an impending Cold War and maintaining the Empire. To meet this demand, which volunteers alone would not, peacetime conscription was enacted by the government and passed by the House of Commons in 1947. In the United Kingdom, it is this period of peacetime conscription that is usually referred to as 'National Service'. It remains the only period of peacetime conscription in UK history, apart from the periods immediately before and after World War II. The majority of National Servicemen went into the Army and, by 1951, National Servicemen made up half the force, leading to a reduced level of voluntary recruitment to the regular army. The last intake of National Servicemen took place in 1960, with the last National Serviceman being demobbed on 16 May 1963. The army reverted to an all professional volunteer service, which it remains to this day. The decision to abolish National Service was taken in 1957 with the 1957 Defence White Paper, which led to an enormous reduction in the number of soldiers between 1958–63, from about