THE year 1945 is now best remembered for the victorious end of war with Germany in May and the election of a Labour government in July. Much less attention is given to the demobilisation of British troops.

The number of troops was massive. In May, over five million were in uniform. A majority had been in service since at least 1941. Arranging to return them to their families was a challenging task. The fear was a repeat of 1918 when troops promised a country “fit for heroes” often faced unemployment and poverty.

Demob day was June 18, when several thousand of the longest-serving soldiers were released. But the pace slowed to barely 3,000 a day. The trouble was that Britain still had commitments. War against Japan was not over. Thousands of the armed forces were required to keep order in Germany. And Britain still required forces in parts of the old empire.

The first men discharged were greeted with open arms, parades and official welcomes. Alan Allport in his excellent study tells of Scottish soldiers edging along the Clyde in June and rejoicing at and with civilians. He adds that an ex-serviceman from Perth arrived a few weeks later, missed any celebrations and felt ignored.

The Labour government — despite overwhelming debts — launched a programme for public housing and other services.

The demand for workers intensified, particularly as numbers of regular workers were retiring. Men still in the forces were desperately required as workers. Demobilisation was quickened. In the first half of 1946 around two million came home.

Allport says of the Labour government: “It could be said that demobilisation after the second world war was a success.”

It was not just housing and factories that were desperate for staff. Schools wanted 70,000 more teachers. The government introduced emergency training schemes which lowered the qualifications required and length of courses. As a boy, I went to a secondary modern school which was suddenly made up to grammar. This meant that a grammar school then had only two teachers with degrees, all the rest being emergency trained. On the whole, the teaching was enthusiastic from men who were obviously supporters of the new welfare state.

Returning to wives and sometimes children was not always easy. The year 1940 saw the marriaged rate at its highest ever as many couples rushed to wed before the husband went abroad. When they met again they might hardly recognise each other. Even those married for some time could be apart for six years, in which time the man adopted a military lifestyle and his wife might have become an almost-independent worker. In addition, the couples often faced a hard lifestyle with food still rationed and a housing shortage which meant that many still shared a home with parents or in-laws.

Then difficulties could arise as fathers met children after years away. In their moving account When Daddy Came Home, Barry Turner and Tom Rennell record scores of interviews with former children. Some took immediately to their fathers and proudly introduced their “heroes” to friends. Others resented that they no longer had sole access to their mother’s attention and no longer shared her bed. More seriously, a few girls carried resentment of men into their later adult lives.

Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that some marriages soon split apart. In 1935, 4,100 decrees absolute were granted in England and Wales. By 1947 it was 60,300, although it started to drop again. Nonetheless, most marriages survived and many more couples got married.

I had three uncles who all were sent to fight in north Africa. Then they all went with the army to Italy before returning home. One uncle soon left his wife and married another woman, for which he was subsequently jailed for bigamy. The second rejoined his wife after nearly seven years apart and they resolved not to have children so as to enjoy their remaining time together alone. He got a job as a shop assistant, his wife as a shorthand typist, and they did just that. The third soon started a family with his wife and happily supported them from his wage at a biscuit factory.

Probably the most adversely affected were the over 40,000 who spent more than five years in Japanese or German prison camps. Many were physically and mentally undermined. Psychological treatments were in short supply and adapting to home and work could be impossible. A survey of WWII veterans in 2001 revealed that one in five continued to show war-related psychological stress.

Today demobbed members of the forces engaged in the Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars still suffer emotional trauma.

Certainly improved mental health services do exist, but are not sufficient. Help to get former members of the armed forces back into civilian life is wanting. Alan Allport points out that one in 10 prisoners and one in four homeless people are ex-servicemen. They are three times more likely to commit suicide.

Yet the possible dire effects of war on participants receives little attention. Not long ago Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and other politicians discussed the need to attack the so-called Islamic State areas with infantry as well as planes.

Attention was given to the costs and which other countries might be involved. No mention was made of the possible terrible effects on participants which surface when they are demobbed — effects which ruin their lives and those of their families.

• Bob Holman is the author of Keir Hardie: Labour’s Greatest Hero? published by Lion Hudson.