Im browzing through documents just now and its trigged a thought as to how much leave did a soldier get each year? Also what is priv leave?
It depended. Not a lot of leave from North Africa or Burma. Most leave of absence was a privilege and not a right. (To understand the full extent to which a British soldier's life is at the disposal of his superiors consider that the basic British Army punishment of Restriction of Privileges is likely to involve hours of unpleasantness and a serious loss of any personal time...) There are at least two forms of leave which were rights, Compassionate leave, for the death of a close relative, and sick leave, the award of either of which would require approval. Absence WithOut Leave (AWOL) was of course a military offence.
Strictly off the top of my hat ......,,, 1 week's embarkation leave March 1943 1 week in Cairo, August 1944 1 week in Velden ( Austria) 1945 4 weeks LIAP 1946 And that was about it......in nearly 5 years ! Ron
Interesting ron, as i said while looking at my documents for one of the soldiers it say that while at chilwell he had 10 days priv leave in august 1942 and in january 1943 just Before embarking for north africa
Hutchie I was lucky to have three times one week embarkation leave - then one week in Tunis '43 before heading for Italy then three days in Rome in '44 - Austria developed 28 days in the UK in '46 for LIAP then demob leave in '47 with Python…. Cheers
hutchie I think the answers are in the details. Leave what's that? Embarkation on my granddads records, it states 07/05/43=13/05/43. 6 Days special leave, warrant issued. AB 64. The army pleased there self when any person had time away! Regards Stuart
Surprisingly the two could come quite close together Fathers Disembarkation leave on return from Italy 10.01.44 till 25.01.44 followed 17 days later with privilege leave 12.02.44 till 20.02.44 (See attached Casualty form,4th and 3rd entry from bottom) Then the only leave I can see before that was 3 days in Cairo before Alamein.
Sheldrake The official term for absence without leave was "AWL" in the British Army- the Americans used the term "AWOL " meaning absence without OFFICIAL leave Cheers
Hello Gentlemen. Tom &Ron hope you are both well? So are we saying that, if the date's are not stated on the Service Form it's not legitimate. I can understand the difference, between being on active service on the home front& doing you're training, you may get more? Whilst being in any theatre of operations, the job needs to be completed! Cotton-Fields spring to mind here. Regards Stuart.
Stuart The cotton fields are a good view of things BUT - we were NOT fighting all the time - so there was time to have some sort of leave but the bar stewards wouldn't give us any for example after a week in Tunis - next day we were on ship to Italy Cheers
Stuart Local short term leave and local one day leaves were not shown in paybooks or Army records. 28 day leaves certainly were and if you visit my photo gallery and look at my Army Records folder you will see examples. http://ww2talk.com/forums/gallery/album/5-rons-army-records/ Ron
Tom & Ron thank-you for your reply's! You have both put my mind at rest! So the army not that mean when it came to leave. Keep pressing them key's. Regards Stuart.
I don't think the question "what is priv" leave has been answered. My uncle wrote that "the fare....would be well covered by a 'priv' ..." - what did this mean (his Service Record also shows "Priv" under "Nature" of leave). Help please.
maggie ann Privilege Leave - was just that - a privilege - not a right -and could be taken away without warning etc cheers
