Circumcision in Films

Has anyone seen the circumcision scene in "The Virgin Soldiers" 1969 version? Set during the Malayan Emergency of the 1950s it deals with a group of young soldiers experiencing national service. They are told that if they volunteer to be circumcised they will get 10 days off in a hospital bed to recover. The surgery is not actually shown but as Hywel Bennett is taken down "to be done", he asks what sort of anaesthetic he will receive first. The army nurse says "don't be silly, this isn't major surgery - it's just a little thing". Does anyone know if circumcision was actually carried out in the army at that time without anaesthetic? It seems unlikely, but the rest of the film seems quite realistic and drawn from past experience, perhaps this was too?