Editing Ceylon Defence Force (section)

===Second World War===
{{See also|Ceylon in World War II}}
[[File:Army_HQ_Ceylon_1_Oct_1940.jpg|thumb|250px|British Army Headquarters in Colombo, October 1940.]]
[[File:Cole responded with enthusiasm to the local cultures, particularly in the Far East. This portrait reflects the fragility and grace he found, defended only nominally by the reassuring military uniform. Art.IWMARTLD5688.jpg|thumb|Sergeant Van Omoheusen of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Ceylon.]]

In 1939, when the [[Second World War]] began, the Ceylon Defence Force was mobilised and expanded to fortify Ceylon to meet a possible threat posed by the Japanese. CDF came direct command of the [[South East Asia Command]] (SEAC) and formed part of the [[British 11th Army Group]]. It was sometimes referred to as the '''British Army in Ceylon''' or '''Ceylon Army Command''' during this time. [[South East Asia Command]] under [[Admiral]] [[Lord Louis Mountbatten]] had its headquarters located at [[Kandy]], Ceylon.

Troops from the Ceylon Defence Force, mainly the [[Ceylon Light Infantry]] and the [[Ceylon Garrison Artillery]] were placed outside Ceylon undertaking garrison duties on the [[Seychelles]] and the [[Cocos Islands]]. In [[Cocos Islands Mutiny]] took place (encouraged by [[Trotskyist]] [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]]) by a few members of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery but was immediately put down by the Ceylon Light Infantry. CLI troops in 1941 escorted [[Italy|Italian]] [[POW]]s from the [[Middle East]] to Ceylon, and later in 1946 Japanese [[POW]]s from Ceylon to [[India]].

In 1945 reached its wartime peak at 645 officers and 14,247 other ranks. At the centre of the expansion was the Ceylon Light Infantry which grew by 1946 from one to five battalions.