Demobilisation of the British Armed Forces after the Second World War

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.

[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.

[8] Decommissioned soldiers received a one-time grant of £83 each,[9] the promise of a right to return to their old jobs, and a set of civilian clothing, which included the so-called "demob suit", shirts, underclothes, raincoats, hat, and shoes.

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.

[11] At the end of World War II, British servicemen and women returned to civilian life by passing through a demobilisation centre.