Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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applications for extraordinary leave only if the soldier did not require any monetalY
assistance. 73
The Conscription Department and its General Headquarter's equivalent had the
combined responsibility of administering extraordinary leave, while the Commander-in­
Chief took charge ofnonnalleave provisions. 74 Chaos must have reigned in the two
departments, as they received thousands of requests for extraordinary leave on a weekly
basis from soldiers, their employers, trade boards, and community organisations 75 In 1916,
in an attempt to set some precedents and curb abuses of the extraordinalY leave option,
High Command consulted with the government and set clear quotas. Thirty per cent of a
unit could go on extraordinary leave at anyone time, and 25 per cent of its professional
officer corps, although, due to a NCO shortage, their quota was set at 20 per cent. 76 The two
departments gave priority according to economic requirements. Hence, agricultural workers
received preference at harvest time, as did mine-workers after April 1918. 77 However, as
the government often granted extraordinary leave to entire categories of soldiers (such as
customs officers in May 1915, mayors in February 1917, teachers in September 1917),78 the
quota was often exceeded.
By late 1916, 21 per cent of mobilised troops were unavailable for active service
on anyone day as they were taking their allocation of nonnalleave. Taken together with the
73 "Mobilisatie-verslag nopens het bureel; verloven aan dienstplichtigen" [Mobilisation report about the office; leave
for conscripts] report, no date, in folder "Bijdragen voor het mobilisatie verslag", in SMG/DC, "Mobilisatieverslag"
91A/3.
74 1bid.; Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p.263.
75 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p. 253; Bonebakker, Twee verdienstelijke ojJicierell p. 45. The sheer
volume of requests can be ascertained from the hundreds of letters asking for leave sent from one trade organisation,
the Commission of Trade and Industry, in the city of Dordrecht alone, for which see: SAD, "Archiefvan de
Commissie voor Handel en Nijverheid te Dordrecht" [Archive for the Commision for Trade and Industry in
Dordrecht] archive number 37, inventory numbers 1,2,3; SAD, "Stadsarchief 1851 - 1980" archive number 6,
inventory numbers 5472, 5475, 5474, 5513. See also: ARA, "Archiefvan de Directie van Handel en Nijverheid 1905
- 1943 en vom'gangers, met de werkarchieven van minister Steenberghe, M. H. Hirschfeld en van enkele commissies,
(1815) 1905 - 1943 (1946)" [Archive of the Direction of Trade and Industry 1905 - 1943 and predecessors, with the
work-archives of Minister Steenberghe, M. H. Hirschfeld and of several commissions, (1815) 1905 - 1943 (1946)]
entry no. 2.06.001, inventory no. 1010.
76 L.O. 1916, B 131, in Ravelli, Regelen, Volgens Welke Bijzondere Verloven pp. 22 - 33 (also in ARA, "Archiefvan
de Afdeling Documentatie van de Koninklijke Bibliotheek" entry no. 2.04.53.14, inventory no. 5). See also:
Commander-in-Chief to all authorities in the Army, 20 January 1917, in ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Staf'
entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 636.
77 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p. 260.
78 Commander-in-Chiefto all military authorities, 7 February 1917, in ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Staf' entry
no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 667; Commander-in-Chiefto all authorities in the Army, 16 August 1917, in ARA,
"Archieven van de Generale Staf' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 636; Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p.
261.