At the end of the Second World War, there were approximately five million servicemembers in the British Armed Forces. [1] The demobilisation and reassimilation of this vast force back into civilian life was one of the first and greatest challenges facing the postwar British government.
The wartime Minister of Labour and National Service and Britain's first post-war Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, was the chief architect of the demobilisation plan. The speed of its introduction was attributed to the tide of public opinion, which favoured slogans and policies that appealed to peace and disengagement. [2] According to some sources, it was also driven by the labour shortage due to post-war reconstruction. [3] [4] The plan received bipartisan support, which was not seen during the 1930s when Labour and Conservative positions lacked consensus. [5]
The details involving the criteria and framework for demobilisation were unveiled to the public on 22 September 1944. [6] It was scheduled to be implemented on 18 June 1945 and, a month before that date, British soldiers were already well informed about the process, including the welfare system that would support the veterans. [6] Under the plan, most servicemen and servicewomen were to be released from the armed forces according to their 'age-and-service number', which, as its name suggests, was calculated from their age and the months they had served in uniform. A small number of so-called 'key men' whose occupational skills were vital to postwar reconstruction were to be released ahead of their turn. Married women and men aged fifty or more were also given immediate priority. [7]
Service personnel being demobilised passed through special demobilisation centres.
The release process began on schedule, about six weeks after V-E Day. [8] Decommissioned soldiers received a demobilisation grant and a set of civilian clothing, which included the so-called "demob suit", shirts, underclothes, raincoats, hat, and shoes. [3] At the end of 1945, demobilised soldiers reached 750,000 and this number doubled two months later after Japan's surrender. [4] By 1947, about 4.3 million men and women returned to 'civvy street'. [9] [4] The process was not without controversy. Frustration at the allegedly slow pace of release led to a number of disciplinary incidents in all branches of the armed services in the winter of 1945–6, most famously the so-called RAF 'strikes' in India and South East Asia. This frustration led to the abandonment of some of the pre-release programmes. [4]
Aside from the institutional problems of release, returning service-men and -women faced all kinds of personal challenges on their return to civilian life. Britain had undergone six years of bombardment and blockade, and there was a shortage of many of the basic essentials of living, including food, clothing, and housing. Husbands and wives also had to adjust to living together again after many years apart. One indicator of the social problems this caused was the postwar divorce rate; over 60,000 applications were processed in 1947 alone, a figure that would not be reached again until the 1960s. [10]
At the end of World War II, British servicemen and women returned to civilian life by passing through a demobilisation centre. Personnel returning to this country from abroad for the purpose of release passed first through a disembarkation unit. They then went on to a dispersal unit. [11]
| Command or District | Title of Unit | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Southern | No. 1 Military Disembarkation Camp Unit | Ranikhet Camp Reading |
| No. 2 Military Disembarkation Camp, Unit | Slade Camp, Oxford | |
| Eastern | No. 3 Military Disembarkation Camp Unit | Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe, Kent |
| Western | No. 1 Military Disembarkation Camp, Group H.Q. | Hadrian's Camp Carlisle |
| No. 4 Military Disembarkation Camp Unit | ||
| No. 5 Military Disembarkation Camp Unit | ||
| Northern | No. 6 Military Disembarkation Camp Unit | Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Strensall, York. |
| Command or District | Title of Unit | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Scottish | No.1 Military Dispersal Unit | Redford Barracks, Edinburgh |
| Northern | No. 2 Military Dispersal Unit | Fulford Barracks, York |
| Eastern | No. 3 Military Dispersal Unit | Talavera Camp, Northampton |
| No. 5 Military Dispersal Unit | Queen's Camp, Guildford | |
| London | No. 4 Military Dispersal Unit | Regent's Park Barracks, Albany St., N.W.I. |
| Southern | No. 6 Military Dispersal Unit | Sherford Camp, Taunton |
| Western | No. 7 Military Dispersal Unit | North and South Camps, Ashton-under-Lyne |
| No. 8 Military Dispersal Unit | Bradbury Lines, Hereford | |
| Northern Ireland | No. 9 Combined Military Collecting and Dispersal Unit | Victoria Barracks, Belfast |
Demilitarisation or demilitarization may mean the reduction of state armed forces; it is the opposite of militarisation in many respects. For instance, the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland entailed the reduction of British security and military apparatuses. Demilitarisation in this sense is usually the result of a peace treaty ending a war or a major conflict. The principle is distinguished from demobilisation, which refers to the drastic voluntary reduction in the size of a victorious army.
The 55th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army's Territorial Army (TA) that was formed in 1920 and existed through the Second World War, although it did not see combat. The division had originally been raised in 1908 as the West Lancashire Division, part of the British Army's Territorial Force (TF). It fought in the First World War, as the 55th Division, and demobilised following the fighting. In 1920, the 55th Division started to reform. It was stationed in the county of Lancashire throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and was under-funded and under-staffed. In the late 1930s, the division was reduced from three to two infantry brigades and gave up some artillery and other support units to become a motorised formation, the 55th Motor Division. This was part of a British Army doctrine change that was intended to increase battlefield mobility.
Demobilization or demobilisation is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and military force is no longer necessary. The opposite of demobilization is mobilization, which is the act of calling up forces for active military service. Forceful demobilization of a defeated enemy is called demilitarization.
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This is a Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II covering Britain 1939–45.
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The 47th (London) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed during the Second World War and remained in the United Kingdom until the end of the war. In March 1939, after the re-emergence of Germany as a significant military power and its occupation of Czechoslovakia, the British Army increased the number of divisions in the Territorial Army (TA) by duplicating existing units. The 2nd London Division was formed in August 1939 as a second-line duplicate of the 1st London Division; its battalions were all initially London-based.
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