The Second World War

[SIRandyraven]

Just watching a drama where an Oxford lecturer has been called up to fight in the Second World War.
I was wondering how did people get paid for loss of earnings?
Myself I used to work in IT and was a decent salary and had commitments to match salary.
If I had been called up to fight would I have still been paid same salary by former employer and they were compensated by the government?
Bit like the Covid furlough in a way.

[Peter Pedant]

It all depended
A lot of people had crap jobs and resigned and joined up
Others were let go but retained seniority in the firm / org - so that when they were back in civvy street they had 5 years seniority

Both my dad and grand-dad resigned (ICS)and when they rejoined the employer saw those others given 5 y seniority. This caused ALOT of ill feeling

they all got army pay

Those abroad or in a POW camp were credited - and some appointed agents to operate their accounts

and yes in Eichstatt Oflag VIh I think but so what
a fella said to my father - "my dear chap my business is going down the tube, I simply must get back to manage it. Can you get me repatriated?"
He wasnt

Lat para - no and no

there are winners and losers in every war .....

One old leddy said to me: "oh peter, the war was just one long mad cocktail party in Italy!" Age meant she was called up in 1943. and then added " O god your father spent five years in a prisoner of war camp!"

My father thought he should have joined up the South African Army when he would have served in North Africa and had a much better war ( but there was still Tobruk)

[MartinMillar]

I suppose it also depends on the rank that he served at.

[Buenchico]

Pay in the armed forces was fixed and unrelated to a person's former pay in civvy street. However married men did get additional pay which was, in theory at least, enough to feed and clothe their wives and children (as well as pay household bill, such as rent). However many regarded such additional pay as insufficient.

See the quotes from Hansard here:
https://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/docs-services-royal-army-pay-corps/

[MartinMillar]

A big standard foot soldier was paid £107 a year equivalent to £7000 today

[Peter Pedant]

He would have been an officer

oddly enough - Saki joined up as a tommy ( killed in trenches)
and so was Mosley -

1915 Mosley ( after which mosley st Manch is named) ALMOST described the neutron in 1915.
They got atomic number - Carbon say - 6
They had got electrons - Carbons has six
they had got atomic weight - - 12

and Mosley was ALMOST at the point of saying - Carbon has six electrons, and so really must have 6 protons to balance- but it weighs 12 so there must be six equally heavy particles with no charge ( neutrons see?)

and someone wrote to the war office - does england have SO many nobel prize winners it can afford to send them to the trenches

and would you believe ...... the next time war came, in all recruiting offices, there were trained staff who would whisper

are you what they call - - - a scientist sir?

and they were siphoned off. Bletchley park was planned. it didnt spring up by chance

+++++++ selection of generals was NOT so successful
at one point Churchill - I think after first alamein - asked (*)- do I have NO generals who can win a battle?

(*) the one Ritchie lost. He was so bad, everyone said beforehand, he is gonna lose this battle

[MartinMillar]

Eh what PP

[Peter Pedant]

I dont know the answer

[Zacs-Master]

PP, you know verey well that if you don't know the answer you MUST give your opinion. AB rule 27 subsection 3 clause B.

[Peter Pedant]

that is the AB version of Rice's theorem innit ?

you cant categorise every answer as known or unknown
because ( lets call it A )
" I dont know the answer" is false - if it is false - then "I dont know the answer" is false and so I do know the answer

and if I dont know the answer is true then "I dont know the answer is false " is false

so A is unclassifiable - and is an example of Rice's theorem.

I try to make my answers cogent and to the point

[Peter Pedant]

I know I am a bad puppy: I shouldnt do this

[Zacs-Master]

'I try to make my answers cogent and to the point'

Do you. really?

Try harder dear boy.

[Peter Pedant]

I doooooo - - I dooooooo
the usual suspects carp the whole time