Subdue prisoner of war with hesitation, moving across to the left (9)
I believe the answer is:
overpower
'subdue prisoner of war' is the definition.
'overpower' can be an answer for 'subdue' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'prisoner of war' bit.
'with hesitation moving across to the left' is the wordplay.
'with' is an insertion indicator.
'hesitation' becomes 'er' (sound used when hesitating).
'moving across' becomes 'pow' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to the left' becomes 'over' (I've seen this before).
'er'+'pow'='erpow'
'erpow' inserted into 'over' is 'OVERPOWER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for overpower that I've seen before include "Subdue by greater strength or numbers" , "Subjugate" , "Defeat with superior strength" , "Get the better of" , "Crush" .)