Desertion in the Armed Forces

The National Service (Armed Forces) Act was passed as soon as the UK declared war on germany.  It essentially said that all people from the ages of 18 to 41 were game to be signed up to fight in the war against their will.  The term that they used was conscription, which was first introduced in 1939, made it a requirement for all me 20 or 21 to take 6 months of military training.  The Nation service act simply just extended the ages to 18 to 41, and said anyone within that age group could have to go to war.  This new act caused a lot of people to try and find a way to get out of their "duty".  The most popular way to get out was by simply not signing up for the armed forces.  They would simply tell you to sign up, but you could easily and quite effectively just disregard this.  They would also do such things as pay to have someone who previously failed the medical test to take your part, and fail the medical test under your name.  Others would even buy counterfeit medical release forms.  Friends and family of physicians could get them for free.  However many of the doctors who forged on a large scale were caught and arrested.  Desertion in the Armed forces was a huge problem in world war 2 because virtually nobody wanted to fight, so they tried any way possible to get out of it.  The reason those who had deserted the armed forces had to resort to crime was because they didnt have an identity card, and more often than not would have to resort to looting.  Most men would desert right before being shipped off.  Records even show that there was a huge number of men missing who were supposed to take part in D-Day.