§ 83. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Secretary of State for War whether men in release Groups 44 and 45, at present serving in East Africa Command, will be repatriated in time for release with their groups.
§ Mr. BellengerI have every reason to think so.
§ 86. Squadron-Leader Flemingasked the Secretary of State for War to what extent personnel released under Class B scheme suffer any deferment in their subsequent date of demobilisation under the group scheme.
§ Mr. BellengerOn being released in Class B, officers are relegated to the unemployed list or the appropriate reserve and other ranks to Class W or W(T) Reserve. They then cease to come under the age and service group scheme for release unless, having left the employment for which they were released before the prescribed period, they are recalled. If they are so recalled the period of release in Class B does not count towards their age and service groups and their date of release in Class A is deferred accordingly.
§ 87. Mr. Prittasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will now direct that the 200 Jewish soldiers who were 216W transferred from the Polish to the British Army in 1944, owing to the ill-treatment they received in the former Army, should be allowed to reckon their period of service in the Polish Army for the purposes of calculating their age and service groups.
§ Mr BellengerNo, Sir. Only service in the Armed Forces of the Crown can, generally speaking, be reckoned for purposes of calculating age and service groups. These men, however, are entitled to the benefits of the special arrangements for the release of British service aliens.
§ 99. Mr. D. Jonesasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that British soldiers stationed in Greece and due for release in Group 43, were unable to be accommodated on a ship which recently left Greece, because the accommodation was taken up by Greek brides being given accommodation to travel to England; and if he will take steps to prevent this happening in future.
§ Mr. BellengerThe ship referred to was one specially diverted to move Greek brides. Another ship was at the Piraeus the same day with ample accommodation for all soldiers due to leave for release. Group 43 is not due to complete release in this country until 18th November.
§ 100. Mr. D. Jonesasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that men due for release in their age and service group are not permitted to leave Greece for England until within seven days of the end of the period in which the whole of the particular group should be out of the service; and whether he will in future take steps to have men due for release brought from all distant theatres during the first days of the release period.
§ Mr. BellengerOverseas commands are instructed to ensure as far as possible that men are sent home in time to arrive in the United Kingdom in the period allotted for the release of their group. No man whether serving at home or overseas has any grounds for complaint if he is released in that period. Account must be taken of availability of ships, manpower shortages, the dates of arrival of replacements and other factors, and I must therefore leave with commands, discretion as to dates of despatch, within the limits of the instructions I have just mentioned.