FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

The shocking figure represents almost one in five of the 83,340 soldiers serving and is thought to be the greatest single fall in 20 years. According to official Ministry of Defence figures only 1,759 of the 15,325 regular troops to have left in the year leading to November did so because their time was up. Nearly half – 7,439 – quit early, exceeding the 7,260 who left the Armed Forces during the previous year. There are now concerns that worsening conditions and a lack of “operational tempo” is failing to keep soldiers motivated.

GETTY The UK army has seen nearly 20 per cent of serving soldiers leave the army in the past year

The situation was exacerbated by 3,325 who were sacked on disciplinary grounds. A further 2,337 were “medically discharged”. Former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth MP said: “There is little doubt morale is under enormous pressure. Soldiers are concerned about the Future Accommodation Model, which may see them forced to rent or buy properties when what families actually want is to live in an Army environment. “Particularly concerning is the effect of ‘historic war crime’ allegations. There is an increasing feeling that soldiers or veterans who find themselves arraigned for doing what they thought was right for their country are pretty much on their own.

GETTY The situation was worsened by thousands of soldiers sacked for disciplinary reasons

“Veterans who are now pensioners are waking up to allegations over events in Northern Ireland 45 years ago.”

While they may be recruiting, there is a serious retention issue Col Richard Kemp

Andy Smith, of the UK National Defence Agency, said repeated annual cuts have taken away any feeling of job security: “This reinforces what we have been saying for a long time – people in the Services have no confidence in the Government’s commitment to defence. “Any sense of certainty about the future has been taken away in a 10-year period which saw the defence budget shrink and annual reductions to the size and resources of the Armed Forces.” Last night an MoD spokesman said: “The Army has enough people to perform all of its tasks to keep Britain safe and continues to offer exciting opportunities that inspire the best of our young people. We’ve seen an increase in recruitment over the last year and we expect this trend to continue.”

Chilling photographs from inside Mosul Wed, June 21, 2017 Iraqi forces battle to retake the last enclaves held by Islamic State militants Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 12 An Iraqi special forces soldier checks men for explosive belts as they cross from Islamic State controlled part of Mosul to Iraqi forces controlled part of Mosul

But this was rejected by Col Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan. “By its own admission the Army is 3,000 troops down,” he said. “These latest figures show that while they may be recruiting, there is a serious retention issue. We have witnessed an erosion of service benefits, legal vendettas and, since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, a lack of operational tempo.”

GETTY The news comes as the UK prepares to deploy 800 troops to Estonia with Nato