Demobilisation: Coming Home After the War

When the war ended in 1945, over four million British men and women were in uniform. The process of returning them to civilian life — demobilisation — was one of the largest logistical operations in British history.

The government had learned from the chaos following World War One. A points system based on age and length of service determined the order of release. But the process was slow, and frustration boiled over — most notably in the RAF mutiny at Drigh Road in Karachi in January 1946.

Those who did return home found a changed country. Many marriages struggled under the strain of years apart. Housing was desperately short — over 4 million homes had been damaged or destroyed by bombing. Men returned to find their jobs taken by women or younger workers.

The Beveridge Report and the creation of the welfare state, the NHS, and the 1944 Education Act helped ease the transition. But for many veterans, the psychological scars of war — what we now call PTSD — went unrecognised and untreated for decades.