Fighting Fit 1939

The Second World War prompted the recruitment and training of British soldiers on a scale never seen since. Physical training, sports, recreational games and bayonet fighting training all fell under the instruction of what became the Army Physical Training Corps in 1940, a unit that had already proved vital in creating and maintaining fitness and battle-readiness among recruits in the First World War.Adam W. Culling, Curator of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps Museum, has collected here a number of training and equipment manuals, books and photographs. Together these provide an insight into how the physical training instructor kept the British soldier Fighting Fit.

Adam Culling is Curator of the Royal Army Training Corps Museum in Aldershot.