SORTING OUT MEN

Demobilisation on a selective basis means sorting out the men in France. After consultation with the military and railway authorities, Marshal Foch has said that on that basis the maximum he can, some time in January, release is about 10,000 a day. If they were taken on a non-selective basis, it would be possible to evacuate 22,000 to 23,000 a day, with the same amount of railway transportation facilities in France. By opening up a passage through Antwerp, it would be possible to increase those numbers considerably, but that would take a certain amount of time. In order to ease the transportation involved in sending men to distribution camps, the authorities will doubtless be obliged in the end to carry out the “sorting” partly in France and partly at home. It has to be borne in mind that a great strain is now being put upon transport facilities by dealing with the men who are being given their well-earned, and in many cases, longdeferred, leave. Upwards of 7,000 leave men per day are being conveyed from France alone, and Sir Douglas Haig is strongly of the opinion that no steps towards demobilisation should be allowed to interfere with this rate of movement. Another matter is the immediate and pressing necessity for repatriation of our prisoners of war. Since the armistice was signed, 115,000 prisoners of war and interned civilians have been repatriated. The evacuation of the hospitals in France is also being undertaken as speedily as possible. The railway effort needed to demobilise the Army is well illustrated by the fact that 13,000 ordinary troop trains will be required. Assuming no other traffic had to be worked, three and half months would be needed to work this number of trains over an ordinary main line.