- For other periods see British Indian Army
The
Indian Army during World War II began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men. By the end of the war it had become the largest
volunteer army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945. Serving in
divisions of infantry, armour and a fledgling airborne force, they fought on three continents in Africa, Europe and Asia.