Appendix I: The Demography of National Service

The graph shows live male births in England, Wales and Scotland from 1918 to 1948. The years 1929–1938, in which most national servicemen were born, are highlighted and the numbers who actually registered for national service are shaded. The comparative scarcity of men born from the late 1920s to the early 1940s partly explains why the armed forces needed conscription. It also probably explains why national servicemen sometimes felt overshadowed by the generations above and below them.