After VE Day the regiment settled down to its new duties: guarding Allied installations and camps, containing German troop concentrations, assisting with displaced persons and providing some level of administration for the country generally. In his letters Jim expressed his own views on issues such as non-fraternisation, Army efficiency and politics at home where an election was in the offing. However, his major interest inevitably revolved around his prospects for home leave. This recurred in almost every letter to Pip as he reported the latest rumour and agonised over which leave system to pursue. He repeatedly mentioned PYTHON, LILOP and Privilege and tried to explain to Pip the different implications of each or how the rules were changing.

Very generally:

PYTHON was a code name for leave granted to troops who had served at least four years abroad and who were due for a home posting before eventually being demobilised.

LILOP was an abbreviation for 'Leave in lieu of Python'. Under LILOP troops would return to duty in Europe after their leave at home.

Privilege Leave was the occasional leave granted after a certain amount of service time and might only be sufficient for a few days in the nearest European city.

From Jim's letters it appears that, as he was a teacher before the war, there were pay implications if he elected for PYTHON and a home posting. However, under LILOP he might be posted to any unit and not return to the 44th RTR. In the event his service record shows that he was granted LILOP leave from 9 August to 19 September 1945 and he also managed to return to his own unit.

Jim actually had a brief period of leave in May '45; sufficient to reach London and see Pip who had travelled down from Liverpool to stay with her aunt and uncle in Northwood. This was revealed in two letters that Jim wrote on his return to Germany, the second of which was dated 1 June.

B.L.A. Germany, May 1945

"Back again to the old game of writing letters. I can’t say I’m very cheerful at the present moment for a variety of reasons. One, it’s very hot – that dampish heat that makes me so irritable. Two, I’ve a veritable shambles to clear up here made during my absence… All this is on top of the fact that you are no longer available to be general scapegoat for my moods.”

“I hope you reached Northwood without any trouble. I need not have been at Victoria till midnight or thereabouts… I finished up that night in the Royal Pavilion Hotel at Folkstone, a colossal place and very well organised as a Transit Camp... "

“Ha! The B.T.A. is flapping – he wants the numbers of a new tank that has just come in – it has a bigger gun than ever on it though we now have nothing to shoot at. No rest for such as I.”

In June, Jim sent home an Order of Service, presumably, for the service held at Uetersen on 27 May. The front cover shows insignia representing all those being remembered at the service.

Front cover and title page for the Thanksgiving Service

B.L.A. Germany, 1 June 1945

“I’m just beginning to settle down a little to the ‘umdrum again – more ‘umdrum now than ever before… I, as storeman Technical am in the front line… This morning in two hours I’ve been in demand by the colonel, the major, the Batt. Tech. Adjutant, the 2nd I/C, the sgt. major,…”

“Anyway as I say it has made me work and I feel a lot better as a result. Everything here is organised to a standstill. We have a large Club, ‘The Rat Club’ down on the banks of the Elbe about 20 minutes run by truck – bus services run every twenty minutes. It has a bar, a restaurant, a cinema and stage, a full size skittle alley, library, reading and writing rooms – also a jetty with two high power speedboats and sundry sailing craft. In addition each squadron has its own pub, near the billets.”

“I hope your stay at Northwood is proving an enjoyable one. The weather here is mainly hot and thundery though today has been quite nice.”

The next letter is mysteriously dated 5th April but the envelope is stamped 7 June and, as the contents clearly refer to post-war activity, Jim must have mistaken the month.

B.L.A. Germany, 5 April June (?) 1945

“Yesterday I sent away the last five tanks that we used in the Rhine crossing – their canvas torn and ripped, their whatsits punctured – still they’ve done their job - £35000 apiece."

“I’ve spent most of my evenings at the Club at Schulau (we are in a place called Uetersen). Schulau seems to be a little fishing port with the usual collection of drifters tied up at the little quayside, two three-masted auxiliary schooners - the ‘Martha’ and the ‘Olga’ both of Hamburg and probably engaged in peacetime in the Baltic trade, and a houseboat.”

“I hope those Senior Service arrive soon as I’ve no stock worth mentioning. When this packet of “Weights” is finished I have two old packets of Woodbines left and a 50 tin of Players – it is impossible to get any more anywhere… Our rations here too nowadays are, to say the least of it, mediocre – egg powder for breakfast about five days in seven, bully and cheese for lunch, pork for supper, dehydrated cabbage and carrots and spuds nearly all the time.”

B.L.A. Germany, 9 June 1945

“Last night a few of us went to Hamburg – a run of some 27 kilometres – to see the Old Vic Players do Richard III. The theatre a typical old-fashioned one, all boxes, frills, nudes and gold paint, chandeliers and garderobes is just opposite the main Hamburg Station and is untouched by bombs apart from a little plaster off the ceilings – the station is also undamaged.”

“Laurence Olivier was fine but the rest – Sybil Thorndyke, Ralph Richardson etc were very mediocre. We are going again tonight to see ‘Arms and the Man’... Sunday I enjoyed the show immensely and this time it was Ralph Richardson who stole the show though they were all very good. I suppose you know the play and how it is a crack at the army system. It went down well with the men but I couldn’t answer for the officers.”

Jim described how, in the play by George Bernard Shaw, old soldiers were said to carry ‘chocolates and grub’ into battle whereas the young carried arms and ammunition and he recalled his own experiences.

“… how three-quarters of all the space on a tank or truck is filled with food and drink. How they went into action in Italy with hen-houses full of chickens and turkeys sitting on the engine louvres… and how tanks fought in Germany with hams tied on their exhausts. We must be Old Soldiers! G.B.S. may never have been a soldier but he knows the Army.”

“I had an instance of the same thing the other day. I was going down to F.D.S. (Forward Delivery Squadron) the other day as passenger in a 15 cwt. when a Brigade Workshop 15 cwt. coming the other way skidded on the wet road, jumped the curb and performed a magnificent skid into the ditch and several young trees, at about 30 mph. A lovely crash it was, and the wagon finished up at an angle of 45^o with two wheels spinning.”

“I baled out in time to see a very white-faced shaken squaddie climb out of one door and look at me in a dazed fashion. Another followed whilst from the driver’s side came many groans and moans of ‘Oh god, my leg, my foot – get me out’. The two others looked at each other for a second and then simultaneously shot to the back of the wagon, feverishly undid the fastenings and looked inside. They reappeared smiling ‘Thank god the beer’s O.K. We’d’ve been murdered if that was bust – now what the hell’s the matter with Bill’.”

“You have noticed probably that I am now eligible for ‘Python’, that is that I’ve done four years continuous Overseas Service as far as the army is concerned and am therefore entitled to 28 days leave in Blighty plus 14 days embarkation leave before returning to B.L.A.”

Not quite consistent with what I have read, but Jim’s later letters show that he was unclear of the details, perhaps partly because there were several categories into which he might be placed, depending on whether or not he wished to return to his previous job for example, and the conditions for leave varied accordingly.

The next letter consists of 16 sheets and 27 of those 32 pages are devoted to a detailed analysis of Jim’s views on politics and the forthcoming General Election, prompted by a letter just received from Pip. Before that, however, he records his latest understanding of the regulations for leave and demobilisation.

B.L.A. Germany, 12 June 1945

“You have heard by now, probably, that teachers are Class B. What it means I’m not quite sure yet but I should be in it I should think. I’ve not decided 100% whether I shall accept a Class B demob if it is offered – that will depend (a) on when it is offered, (b) whether Python is applicable to 1-26 groups, (c) on when I would get out under Class A, (d) whether the L.E.C. [Liverpool Education Committee] would continue to make up my salary if I turned down a Class B demob, (e) whether it means I’m liable to be sent to teach anywhere in England. Tomorrow I shall write a letter to Geo. Snow of the N.A.S. making a few enquiries.”

“Under Class B release I would get 21 days leave with pay and ration allowance, a liability to recall, a liability to ‘Direction of Labour’, lose my Python. I would be paid for my Overseas Service – one day for every month overseas, ie 50 days, but whether that includes ration allowance and your money too I don’t know. I should say release will be sometime July-August – possibly September.”

“Under Class A I would get 106 days leave with full pay and allowances, six weeks Python leave (I hope) sometime between now and my demob – roughly January, less liability to recall and no direction of labour. BUT the big snag is – will my salary be made up (will the L.E.C. ever know I was offered release anyway) and will Python apply to early demob groups? If Class B does not work earlier than September or even later than that, then it means that I’m merely gaining three or four months of which six weeks would be Leave At Home anyway. We shall see what transpires – nothing official has come through yet.”

A thoroughly Byzantine set of possibilities; no wonder Jim was reluctant to make a decision.

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