It was- stated officially on Wednesday that 8,390 officers and
463,993 men had been demobilized or discharged from the Army ht the two months following the armistice. In the last three days of the period 68,000 men had been released. It was hoped to accelerate the process, so that 60,000 men might return to civil life daily. Even then, of course, demobilization would take more than a year to complete. It is a complex business, as Sir Eric Geddes explained in a speech on Wednesday. The men who have served from the first days of the war naturally expect to be released first. On the other hand, unless the " pivotal" men are discharged, many industries may be unable to resume operations on a normal scale, and will thus be pre- vented from employing the young veterans of Flanders and the Somme. It would be unfair to these men to discharge them prematurely, before they can be sure of obtaining work. It has also to be remembered that the war is not over, and that a large force must be kept on active service for a long time to come until Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey have cooled down.
Previous page
