Bridging the Gap: The British Prisoner of War & The Civil Resettlement Units 1943-1946

Harper, Jonathan David (2025) Bridging the Gap: The British Prisoner of War & The Civil Resettlement Units 1943-1946. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Despite an estimated 192,335 British servicemen captured during the Second World War, little is known of their experiences outside of captivity or of their transition back to civilian life. The Civil Resettlement Units (CRUs) represent a unique initiative of the Second World War era intended to help former POWs transition back into society. This thesis aims to fill the gap in the post war experience of former POWs and argues that the CRUs were effective as a mass resocialisation project. By examining the process of the planning and operations of the CRUs this research sheds important light onto the POW experience and demonstrates how both the government and communities would respond to the growing evidence that POWs would require assistance in transitioning back to civil life. Incorporating evidence from the Wellcome archive, interviews, and contemporary articles and newspapers, this study demonstrates the active part that communities (both professional and civil) played in shaping how a post war resettlement scheme would shape. In addition, it demonstrates the complex negotiations between the psychiatrists who would run the CRUs, and a government primarily interested in winning the war. In its analysis of the CRUs, this thesis demonstrates that they were an effective way of resocialising returning POWs. Fundamental to this accomplishment, this thesis identifies a hierarchy of factors which underpinned the CRUs success, planning, location, and operations and concludes that of these factors, it was operations which was the most important factor.