This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
"I fancy there will be trouble brewing if something is not done soon to hurry far more men out of the services, where they are not needed, into vital industries, which can't get going without increased labour," writes the People's 'Man of the People.' "The truth is that the present well-intentioned but complicated and cumbersome demobilisation scheme is running behind schedule ...
Seeing that many men whose fighting days are over must nevertheless remain in uniform for some time to come, commanding officers should be particularly careful not to leave them at the mercy of spit-and-polish bigots ... military occupation can be one of the dullest occupations on earth and it is important not to let the men engaged in it become 'browned off' by exaggerated discipline.
"Insufferable little Red-Hats" fresh out of England are causing war veterans no end of grief, according to the People.
Lieutenant Sidney Beck of the British Liberation Army in Germany writes in his War Diary: "Our adjutant, Captain Thornton, is becoming brigade major. This is all part of a big demob wangle. Officers, when demobbed, have their gratuity based on the highest paid rank held as an officer. So the racket is to get yourself promoted months before you are demobbed and you get a much bigger gratuity.”
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