The Veterans/ ex army lot might be able to help me here. From what I have read it seemed fairly common practice in WW2 for university students to join an infantry regiment as an OR and then apply to sandhurst at a later date in order to become an officer.... before applying for a completely different regiment in their new role as a 2nd/Lt. I have heard it said that by doing some you were entitled candidates to some form of benefit, and I was wondering if anyone knew the advantage of getting into Sandhurst through this route? Was it a question of missing some sort of entrance exam? It had crossed my mind that by doing so there may be less stringent age checks (i.e. one could join the war at 17) but everyone I have come across seemed the right age for a direct Sandhurst application... i.e. 18. Any ideas or thoughts on the matter are most welcome.
Phaethon As I recall it..most times an advert was posted on Part two orders to the effect that Officer applications were welcome - an interview followed with the Colonel and usually two Majors - and if accepted extra training was set up - over and above regular training - then the War Office Selection Boards - where I failed as I couldn't spell the word Reconnaissance - or rather I mis construed the question which was - " Canning - can you spell the word reconnaissance ..?"…..now i was busy arranging all the cc and nn's etc when I heard the Major inform the Brigadier that ' He didn't think this chap could make it " and the Brig harrumping his agreement - so I was out on my ear……the correct answer of course was " Yes Sir " or " No sir " ..nothing to do with spelling but acceptance of an order - without hesitation. two of us were RTU'd and he was killed - the other four were commissioned as 2Lt's in the Infantry and three of them were killed - Rex sat at Cassino for a whole week from 2Lt to Major - then took the nine survivors of the battalion home - never left the UK again…..point being that we were all too young to be at University..but service took precedent if you were on grants etc Cheers PS - reason they changed regiments was they didn't have choice - they went where they were needed- our four were Tank trained but ended up in the Infantry
P. Once Ronald Adam became Adjutant General in 1941, the established practice of a chat with the Colonel of the Regiment was dropped and replaced by the War Office Selection Board which is largely what has mutated into what is now the Army Officer Selection Board. Because applicants could not, from 1941, join straight from civilian life and a chat with the Colonel of the Regiment, the process switched to taking soldiers from the ranks - regularly encouraged by missives from Gen Adam to Commanding Officers. There were no shortcuts to commissioning after 1941 and most applicants were trained through OCTUs spread all over the country including one at Sandhurst. The College could not cope with the numbers required by the Army. Regards FdeP
Thanks tom and minden, your comprehensive responses has given me a definitive answer to my questions! Its much appreciated.
Just to amplify, by 1942 all potential officers had to do some time - such as basic training - in the ranks. My father did 249 days as a Pte in the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) before WOSB, OCTU and a commission in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Adam also tried to implement a system whereby the soldiers of a unit could nominate from among their NCOs those most likely to make an officer; has a ring of sense to it - 'I'd follow Sgt Smith' - unfortunately it was considered a touch too 'socialist' for the rest of the Army Council and was never adopted.
The other thing that killed off Ronald Adam's experiment in Officer selection was that those potential officers chosen by the SNCOs and WOs performed very badly at WOSB! This came as a shock to many. Regards FdeP
Did this really kill off the WOSB? As far as I am aware the AOSB is the same thing and a lasting achievement of Adam. Was it really so much a surprise to the system that SNCOs and WOs were not the best judges of what constituted "officer qualities"
RMC Sandhurst, like RMA Woolwich, closed in September 1939. In there place a lot of OCTUs were formed, including one at Sandhurst. OCTUs were generally special to arm, although the one at Sandhurst provided officers for both RAC and infantry. WOSB did not fail, the method continued through RCB to AOSB today. What did happen post war was the the psycholgists were no longer involved but this seems to have been agreed as a wartime expedient when WOSB was first established. Of course post war there were minimum education requirements, not sure if this was the case during the war, but regular WOs and SNCOs would have achieved a level in the Army Certificate of Education, how this was equated to school leaving qualifications I have no idea. Of course the Army has been commissioning Serjeant Majors (later WOs) for a long time, today called 'late entry officers'. The District Officers of the RGA are a good example.
Chaps. Sorry, but re-reading my post, I imply that WOSB was killed off. It most certainly was not. What was killed off was Adam's experiment in getting ORs in Regiments/Battalion to nominate from within their ranks who, in their view, had the potential leadership qualities of an Officer. He reverted to asking Commanding Officers and Officers generally for their nominations. Regards FdeP
