Alan Allport's website

Tuesday, 30th April, 1946

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.

End of month accounting: on June 30, 1945, there were 4,653,000 men and 437,200 women in His Majesty's armed and auxiliary forces.

During April, 1946, 210,271 men and 20,441 women were released under the Class A scheme; 32,243 men and 445 women were released under the Class B scheme; with 255,509 men and 21,734 women being released in total (including miscellaneous discharges on compassionate and medical grounds).

Overall, since the start of demobilisation, 2,684,963 men and 283,341 women have been discharged from HM Forces.

Data from Fighting With Figures: A Statistical Digest of the Second World War (HMSO, 1995).

Monday, 22nd April, 1946

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.

Manchester Guardian,Flying Thoughts”, W.M. Halsall. “When I joined up the longing for my first leave was mingled with a speculation – how would home feel after three months’ exile? Would my character have been hammered by the Service into a shape that would no longer fit easily into that environment? The event dissipated all these misgivings. Once over the threshold the old and loved routine of home resumed its progress without a trace of the interruption. As years passed a complementary phenomenon was observed. Returning from leave one felt a comparable sense of slipping back into the familiar Service routine which, if not exactly loved, was regarded with growing toleration. It felt good sometimes, after a boring day in an unfamiliar town, to climb into the ‘liberty wagon’ and feel oneself again among friends who suffered a common discomfort, pursued a common occupation, spoke a common – if peculiar- language, and whose mutual relations were regulated by familiar rule and custom. We all preferred home, but circumstances had conditioned us to this artificial existence which imposed a transparent but impermeable barrier between us and the outside world … we were all about to return to the old dimension of society – and there would be no getting back. How were we going to like it? Probably, we should assuage our faint nostalgia with reunions, squadron dinners, and the like, where pleasant memories would be stimulated and refreshed and unpleasant ones would die through lack of use.”

Wednesday, 17th April, 1946

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.

J.J. Astor, chairman of the Times, writes to the paper in his capacity as President of the National Association for the Employment of Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen:

Though in theory more jobs are [currently] available than men, in practice so far as the individual is concerned this statement needs qualification ... many men have acquired qualities of leadership and administrative ability. Having been engaged in mechanized warfare, most have proved capable of mastering and maintaining some machine, whether weapon or instrument. All are embued with the spirit of service. These qualities, though of great potential value, may not immediately fit them for positions which with training they would be exceptionally well qualified to fill ...

The men themselves are not fully aware of the effect which the shortage of houses has upon employment. A man is limited in his choice of work to the vacancies which occur within reach of the lodging he is able to secure. These vacancies may not be to his liking nor within his capacity ... this handicap bears most hardly on the married man with children. Unfortunately it is not removed by offers of well-paid domestic service, as this type of work rarely attracts the ex-servicemen and his wife ...

Tuesday, 16th April, 1946

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.

Mr. Attlee announced yesterday (the Times reports) that soldiers awaiting demobilisation or who have just been demobilised may be offered special short-term reenlistment contracts to extend their service for three or four years. The temporary arrangement is intended to bridge the gap until the postwar organization of the Army (including the tricky question of whether conscription of young men will be indefinitely extended) is settled. The Times welcomes the proposal, particularly as demobilisation has revealed a desperate need for skilled tradesmen in the Army: "pay and conditions are those already laid down for regulars, but there is the added aattraction of a bounty on acceptance and a gratuity ... the maximum which can be earned under this head is £125, a useful nest egg, but not extravagent according to the present standard in civilian life."

Monday, 15th April, 1946

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.

Forty educational experts are about to embark on a five-month talent-spotting expedition across Europe, the Near and Far East in order to identify excellent potential teachers amongst serving members of HM Forces, reports the Times. Two interview boards, each consisting of representatives from local education authorities and teachers at the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels hope to meet with 4-5,000 prospective candidates during their extended tour.

In other news, the paper also reports on a proposal to create a new flying-boat base at Langstone Harbour, in Hampshire. "Whatever the technical merits of flying boats," suggests the Times, "the British public likes them. They are roomy and clean, and they do not have to employ airfields which are hot and dusty in summer and cold and muddy in winter. Perhaps the liking is due to an island people's traditional love of the sea - something which suggests to them holidays and sunshine ..." [sadly, with the rapid increase in the size and performance of land-base aircraft in the post-war era the idea was eventually abandoned].

Sunday, 14th April, 1946

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.

"Reinstatement," in Punch:

Dear Mr. Timpkins - thank you for your letter: the Board of Directors is glad to note that you will be able to start work with us again on the conclusion of your release leave... but we regret that we cannot take into consideration the 'conditions of employment' which you point out have been your enviable lot for the past six years.

We appreciate the problems of your wardrobe, but we are not in a position to supply you with clothing, footgear, etc. free of charge, nor can we replace articles when they get worn out.

Food will also have to be your responsibility. By your reference to the 'cook-house' we presume you mean the works canteen: if you care to use this facility it can supply you with a daily three-course lunch for 1s. 6d., but it certainly cannot provide you with breakfast, dinner and a supper meal free of charge.

We cannot accede to your request to appoint a servant from amongst the factory personnel for your exclusive use ... the Company will not provide you with free medical and dental treatment, free entertainment, free boot repairs, laundry and haircuts at a reduced rate, nor can they put a car and chauffeur at your disposal night and day.

We are interested to hear that you have enjoyed complete security and freedom from the fear of dismissal with your late employer, also that no matter how badly you conducted yourself you could at the worst only be relegated or be sent elsewhere for a period, and we note that in the early days of your military career you once informed your 'Managing Director' that he was inefficient old dodderer who drank too much port, and that after an interval of 28 days you were actually reemployed by him. These conditions do not obtain here ...

 

Saturday, 13th April, 1946

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.

Marriage may have taken a battering in the wake of the war, notes the Times, but the lure of the altar remains strong. According to the Registrar-General's returns for 1945, 395,458 weddings took place in the final year of the war - the highest figure since 1940, when thousands of couples married hurriedly in expectation of the call-up of young men. The rise in marriages now is presumably connected to the demobilisation of servicemen who have decided to settle down permanently with their wartime sweethearts.

Not that married life is necessarily easy in 1946. After returning home, writes one ex-serviceman in this week's Woman, "I forgot I was no longer in the Services – and the tea ration for a week was polished off in three days. I used one week’s fat ration to fry two meals and the queuing up for fish really browned me off.”

Friday, 12th April, 1946

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.

Lieutenant Commander Rupert Lonsdale, ex-POW and former commander of the submarine HMS Seal, was honorably acquitted by a naval court-martial yesterday after an inquiry into the capture of his vessel by the Germans in May 1940, writes the Times. Lonsdale had been accused of failing to engage enemy aircraft which had attached Seal, and of failing to take steps to ensure the sinking of his submarine when it appeared likely that the Germans would seize her. But Lonsdale's defending officer satisfied the court that under the circumstances - Seal had sunk after hitting a mine in the Kattegat bay and had only been returned to the surface with great difficulty, after which she immediately found herself surrounded by enemy forces - Lonsdale had no choice but to capitulate. "A naval captain was [not] expected to indulge in mock heroics with absolute disregard for the safety of his men," he insisted: "[Lonsdale] had got the idea in his mind that he was going to save the crew, and everything he did revolved around that."

“Wanted! A Home of Our Own”, writes Jean Bird in this week's Modern Woman. “Every woman knows by instinct that a happy family life is impossible without a home of one’s own ...

The experiences of the past few years have made this painfully – and in many cases tragically – clear to the young mothers who as evacuees tried to share kitchens with their hostesses, for the war brides who went to live with their mothers-in-law, for the grandmothers who had to squeeze into a bedroom with their children’s children.

Thursday, 11th April, 1946

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.

Rosamund Fisher, President of the Mother's Union, writes to the Times concerning service divorces:

I feel that something should be said on behalf of the wives of the men serving abroad who were left alone. In all correspondence on this subject the emphasis is laid on the unfaithful wife, but if there are to be forgiveness and reconciliation it should be remembered that in all probability some of these injured husbands have themselves been unfaithful to their wives.

After the last war it was known that many innocent and faithful wives contracted venereal disease from their returning husbands. Men must surely be ready to judge themselves by the same standards by which they judge their wives.

The claims on our sympathy are very great for the soldier (especially the returning prisoner of war) who returns to find his wife has left him, and his home is broken up, but I think the woman who was left behind in the war alone, with perhaps only her small children for company, in the full prime of her life, with desire strong in her (and stimulated by modern propaganda) needs sympathetic understanding quite as much. Many women too have been placed in positions of almost intolerable temptation ... the strain upon them has been very great.

 

Wednesday, 10th April, 1946

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.

“So far as the Government is aware there is no widespread dissatisfaction within the Services as to the progress of demobilisation. This masterpiece of self-delusion issued forth with Ministerial authority, almost unquestioned, from the House of Commons," complains 'K.B.M.' in the Manchester Guardian today:

Presumably on the basis of this delusion, during the early months of 1946 the speed of demobilisation of the Army has been allowed to slacken. Here in the Far East we are acutely aware of a injustice which has passed unnoticed. Though farthest, and in many cases longest, away from our homes, we have been consistently the last to return and the last in each group to be released. This may have been unavoidable when shipping was the limiting factor in release, but no longer now when it is recognized that speed of release is governed solely by the Government’s conception of national commitments. Nevertheless here we remain, in a country in which we are not wanted and do not want to be …

For many of us, these would have been our most precious years, and every day by which they are prolonged is an atrocious and intolerable waste.

James Lansdale Hodson notes in his diary this vexatious postwar British temperament: "We are suffering as a nation from some malaise - ill-manners, inefficiency, ragged tempers ...

According to B, who served in the WAAF for four years, girls in uniform got precious little courtesy from men in uniform and had to hump their heavy kit-bags and luggage about as best they could. 'I've been at RAF dances' ,she said, 'when WAAF have sat round the room without partners most of the evening while RAF officers have danced with somewhat scruffy civilian girls picked up in the nearest town' … in some messes run by Group Captains who hated the WAAF, they were not allowed to speak to male officers, and if B wanted to conduct a conversation with a fellow officer sitting in the same room she had to pass a note or go back to the WAAF site to use a telephone ...